The Meaning of Mind: Language, Morality, and Neuroscience - Couverture souple

Szasz, Thomas Stephen

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 081560775X ISBN 13 : 9780815607755

Editeur : Syracuse University Press, 2002

Synopsis

In The Meaning of Mind, Thomas Szasz argues that only as a verb does the word "mind" name something in the real world, namely, attending or heeding. Minding is the ability to pay attention and adapt to one's environment by using language to communicate with others and oneself. Viewing the "mind" as a potentially infinite variety of self-conversations is the key that unlocks many of the mysteries we associate with this concept. Modern neuroscience is a misdirected effort to explain "mind" in terms of brain functions. The claims and conclusions of the diverse academics and scientists who engage in this enterprise undermine the concepts of moral agency and personal responsibility. Szasz shows that the cognitive function of speech is to enable us to talk not only to others but to ourselves (in short, to be our own interlocutor) and that the view that mind is brain - embraced by both the scientific community and the popular press - is not an empirical finding but a rhetorical ruse concealing humanity's unceasing struggle to control persons by controlling their vocabulary. The discourse of brain-mind, unlike the discourse of man as moral agent, protects people from the dilemmas intrinsic to holding themselves responsible for their own actions and holding others responsible for theirs. Because we live in an age blessed by the fruits of materialist science, reductionist explanations of the relationship between brain and mind are more popular than ever, making this book an indispensable addition to the seemingly recondite debate about, simply, who we are.

A propos du livre

À propos de l?auteur

Thomas Szasz is professor emeritus of psychiatry at the State University of New York Health Science Center in Syracuse. The author of more than six hundred articles and twenty-four books, he is widely recognized as the leading critic of various coercive forms employed by the psychiatric medical establishment. His books include Law, Liberty, and Psychiatry; The Manufacture of Madness and Our Right to Drugs: The Case for a Free Market, all published by Syracuse University Press.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Syracuse University Press
• Date d'édition: 2002
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 081560775X
• ISBN 13: 9780815607755
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 182
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible