K.T. Maslin's Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind - A Book Review

An Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind by Keith T. Maslin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

K.T. Maslin's Introduction to the Philosphy of Mind

Review by Scott M. Forbes

This book educates one as far as that goes. If you are a reader who is interested in studying what has been written by philosophers about the mind, this book serves as a sort of hasty but lengthy introduction. If you are trying to find something about psychology and what goes on in the brain, this book has little to nothing to offer to you.

Apparently, philosophers arent' interested in science per se. They are interested in reading science books, just for extrapolating potential theories about the ideas contained therein.

And apparently, philosophers do not account for the mind by physicality, or do only in reference to the idea that the mind is somehow separate or identical to the brain, or is somehow added onto the top of the brain. They are only interested in the ephemeral notion of thoughts, not much on feelings, a little bit on perception, and not much on the brain, if we are to believe what is printed in this book.

In other words, philosphers only want to know why that the mind can exist seemingly independently or dependently on the brain. They want to know why there is a mind, and not just a physical brain. What they ignore is that it is not a contradiction to understand that the mind is not different from the brain, and the brain is not different from the mind. They are one and the same organ, and this organ is subject to explanation only after it has been studied more scientifically.

I am of the persuasion to believe that the philosophers are at least looking for evidence about somethign we all experience. We all know there is something ephemeral about consciousness, but where it is not quantifiable, all that we are left with is speculation and not very good speculation.

I also tend to believe that there is a holism to the brain that allows for such ephemera to be emergent properties of the physical brain. I believe that it is real, because it is a common experience, if only as an experiential level of reality. And I think that is where the philosophers are stumped. They don't know how to study the brain to determine what it is about the brain that we don't commonly experience. We don't experience neuronal firing, and so on, but we do experience the mind's user interface, our thoughts and feelings. The philosphers are content to speculate about why that we experience it this way, but they are not looking to anything that cannot be a common experience to explain a common experience. I think if more philosphy was based on empirical study, and less time experiencing one's own thoughts, that there would be a better book here.

Due to no fault of K.T. Maslin, this book is in the category of a book that promises to tell you the state of philosophy, but might disappoint you as you learn that philosophy really cannot and has not told us much yet.

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