Sensations: A Defense of Type Materialism | National Humanities Center

Work of the Fellows: Monographs

Sensations: A Defense of Type Materialism

By Christopher S. Hill (NHC Fellow, 1987–88)

Epistemology; Materialism; Philosophy of Mind; Sensations; Cognitive Science; Metaphysics

Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1991

From the publisher’s description:

This is a book about sensory states and their apparent characteristics. It confronts a whole series of metaphysical and epistemological questions and presents an argument for type materialism: the view that sensory states are identical with the neural states with which they are correlated. According to type materialism, sensations are only possessed by human beings and members of related biological species; silicon-based androids cannot have sensations. The author rebuts several other rival theories (dualism, double aspect theory, eliminative materialism, functionalism), and explores a number of important issues: the forms and limits of introspective awareness of sensations, the semantic properties of sensory concepts, knowledge of other minds, and unity of consciousness. The book is a significant contribution to the philosophy of mind, and has much to say to psychologists and cognitive scientists.

Subjects
Philosophy / Psychology / Epistemology / Materialism / Philosophy of Mind / Sensations / Cognitive Science / Metaphysics /

Hill, Christopher S. (NHC Fellow, 1987–88). Sensations: A Defense of Type Materialism. Cambridge Studies in Philosophy. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1991.