-
6Tallis in Wonderland: Laws of NaturePhilosophy Now 144 60-61. 2021.A little while back I touched on the ‘laws of nature’ in the course of a defence of free will. I argued that if we were entirely subject to such laws, then neither the experimental science by which they were discovered nor our capacity to exploit them through technology would be possible. Our undeniable ability to manipulate states of matter inside scientific laboratories in pursuit of knowledge of its general properties, and to apply that knowledge outside of the laboratories in support of our …Read more
-
21The Nature of Art.On Certainty.The Case for DualismThe Pursuit of Mind.Goals, No-Goals and Own GoalsTheory of Knowledge and Metamind.Conditionals (review)Philosophical Quarterly 42 (167): 261. 1992.
-
1The unnatural selection of consciousnessThe Philosophers' Magazine 46 28-35. 2009.Long before self-awareness, memory, foresight and powers of conscious deliberation emerge to give an advantage over those creatures that lack those things, there is a more promising alternative to consciousness at every step of the way: more efficient unconscious mechanisms, which seem equally or more likely to be thrown up by spontaneous variation. If you had to undertake something really difficult – for example growing in utero a brain with all its connexions in place – consciousness is the la…Read more
Manchester, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Areas of Interest
Metaphysics |
Philosophy of Mind |