Physicalism
The Philosophical Foundations
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Oxford University Press
Published:20th Jan '94
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Physicalism is a programme for building a unified system of knowledge based on the view that everything is a manifestation of the physical aspects of existence. Jeffrey Poland presents a comprehensive exploration of the philosophical foundations of this programme. He investigates the core ideas, motivating values, and presuppositions of physicalism; the constraints upon an adequate formulation of physicalist doctrine; the epistemological and modal status, the scope, and the methodological roles of physicalist principles. He reviews and evaluates major objections to the programme, and considers its significance for philosophy, science, society, and individual persons. An important theme of the book is that recent attempts to formulate a `non-reductive' version of physicalism are inadequate and that the role of supervenience relations in expressions of physicalist thought is significantly limited. This is the first sustained and systematic discussion of the major philosophical aspects of the physicalist programme. Professor Poland also examines the relations between physicalism and other philosophical positions, such as realism, empiricism, and relativism, and suggests that physicalism is compatible with a tolerant pluralism in the philosophical, cultural, and personal domains.
Jeffrey Poland's book defends a version of physicalism along these lines, and anyone interested in the issue of physicalism, and in this kind of view, will want to read his book ... Poland's thorough and ambitious book is ultimately for initiates: those who have decided that they are physicalists, but want to know exactly what this means. * Times Literary Supplement *
Physicalism is a much needed examination of the physicalist programme and a valuable contribution to the philosophy of science and metaphysics ... some of the most interesting parts of the book are precisely where he attempts to show a lack of entailment between physicalism and other philosophical positions. This is clearly a valuable philosophical contribution. Physicalism is an excellent and important work which should be read by anyone interested in metaphysics and philosophy of science, language or mind. * Australasian Journal of Philosophy *
As far as the selection of topic is concerned, it is certainly a timely and much needed work ... I believe Poland's book is a valuable contribution to the debate on the physicalist programme, and ought to receive appropriate attention in future discussions of this topic. * Mind *
An impressive achivement: its scope is well-focused: it is painstakingly thorough; and it has a good balance between critical and original material. It is demanding of the reader, but in return, it rewards the reader by imparting a very common-sensical vision of a significant and plausible thesis of physicalism ... Jeffrey Poland's Physicalism provides a valuable map of the moves and countermoves concerning the formulation and discussion of one of the most attractive, and yet elusive, theses of our century. * Philosophical Psychology *
ISBN: 9780198249801
Dimensions: 223mm x 156mm x 28mm
Weight: 620g
392 pages