Methodology and Metaphysics in the Sciences of the Mind (Scholars Award)

College Of William And Mary, Williamsburg VA

Investigators

Abstract

This project will critically examine the convergence of these two recent trends in philosophical and scientific debates about the nature of the mind and its place in the natural world, the resurgence of metaphysics (the study of the fundamental nature and structure of the world) and the return of naturalism (the view that the methods and results of philosophy should be consonant with and informed by those of the empirical sciences). The overall goal of the project is to break the stalemate in the debate between two types of physicalistic accounts of the mind, reductive and non-reductive physicalism. It will do so by situating the debate within the larger context of naturalistic methodology. Historically, this debate has assumed that one of two diametrically opposed positions is correct: Either psychology is reducible to biochemistry or psychology is completely autonomous. Contemporary, interdisciplinary research suggests that there is a more complicated reciprocal relation between psychology and biochemistry. Biochemical hypotheses are tested using data from psychology, which in turn prompts new biochemical studies that can be used to test and refine the psychological models. The PI will formulate and defend a naturalistic approach to philosophy of mind called inclusive physicalism that is designed to elucidate and exploit this reciprocal relation. One major component of inclusive physicalism is a general metaphysical framework that is intended to accomplish to goals. One goal is to delineate the space of possible outcomes in individual disputes about the metaphysics of mind (e.g., what the irreducibility of mental properties amounts to and the various relations that support it). The other is to offer a means of responding to abstract, general arguments which seek to show that such irreducibility is incompatible with physicalism. The project will also incorporate several case studies, including recent research on the biochemical and psychological mechanisms of placebo analgesia, in order to illustrate both the benefits of this framework and the reciprocal methodological process outlined above. These case studies will also demonstrate the practical importance of debates about reduction, which is often overlooked in the philosophical literature. Further, the project as a whole has the potential to improve the general public?s understanding of the relation between mental and physical properties, which could possibly lead to better treatment outcomes for widespread mental disorders.