The Mind and its World

Since Descartes the mind has been thought to be in the head separable fromthe world and even from the body it inhabits. In <strong>The Mind and its World</stron... » 

Since Descartes the mind has been thought to be in the head separable fromthe world and even from the body it inhabits. In The Mind and its WorldGregory McCulloch considers the latest debates in philosophy and cognitivescience about whether the thinking subject actually requires an environment inorder to be able to think.McCulloch explores the mindbody duality from the Enlightenment to the 20thcentury. He examines such figures as Descartes Frege Locke and Wittgenstein.His method is comparative and his insights are illuminating. By pittingDescartes against such thinkers as Wittgenstein and Frege McCulloch produces adynamic account of the implications of the Descartian argument aboutconsciousness and the mind. The contrast evolves into McCullochs originaltheory of externalism the notion that the mind is not in the head and isconstituted by environmental and linguistic object relations.The Mind and its World is a clearand compelling reading of the one of thedominant elements and debates within Western philosophy. Its synthesis of thearguments and controversies will make this book necessary reading for thegeneral reader who is interested in the claims the Enlightenment and itsaftermath have made about consciousness our minds and even our brains._ «