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The Naturalization of Consciousness and the Meaning of Subjectivity
Toráčová, Pavla ; Moural, Josef (advisor) ; Hill, James (referee) ; Marvan, Tomáš (referee)
The thesis deals with the problem of the existence of consciousness in the physical world. It denies the approach that is prevailing in the contemporary philosophy of mind that treats the phenomenal consciousness and intentionality separately. The position held in this thesis is to claim that the phenomenal character of consciousness and intentionality are inseparable and that it is impossible to understand the former without understanding the latter, and vice versa. The problem of the existence of consciousness in the physical world is viewed as the problem of the existence of (conscious) intentionality in the physical world. With the aim to achieve an analysis of intentionality that would keep its phenomenal character and the first person point of view, and, at the same time, shed light on its realization in the physical world, thoughts of Peter Strawson, G. E. M. Anscombe, Tim Crane, Colin McGinn and John Searle are discussed. The result is an outline of intentionality that allows to explain the fundamental level of intentionality as a physical process and the higher levels of intentionality as a development of the fundamental level. Two principles are crucial for this approach: the development of intentionality from the fundamental level to the higher level is comprehensible only if we keep the...
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Legal and philosophical aspects of free will
Kutílek, Lukáš ; Maršálek, Pavel (advisor) ; Tryzna, Jan (referee)
This thesis seeks an answer to a question of whether social normative systems, particularly law and morality, are consistent with the most recent scientific and philosophical findings. Those in fact often conclude that the human will is not free and that the human decision- making is only a physiological process governed by the laws of physics. Such findings thus, at a first glance, collide mainly with the concept of responsibility, through which law and morality are implemented. Therefore, the paper begins with a brief introduction of the current state of knowledge concerning free will and presents mainly determinism and indeterminism. The conclusion of the first part called Free Will and Determinism introduces a view of the world, which best suits the current state of knowledge and is further referred to as Physicalism. The second part called Law, Morality, Physicalism, briefly presents law and morality as regulators of human behavior, for which the concept of free will is fundamental. The focus of the thesis then shifts towards the institutions of criminal and civil law, that seem to be threatened by Physicalism the most. However, general consistency of Physicalism and the examined normative concepts is concluded, while it is argued that within the physicalistic view of the world, law and morality...
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Consciousness in Nature. A Russellian Approach
Mihálik, Jakub ; Hill, James (advisor) ; Hvorecký, Juraj (referee) ; Coleman, Sam (referee)
Jakub Mihálik: Consciousness in Nature. A Russellian Approach Abstract: This thesis attempts to provide a philosophical answer to the question of how phenomenal consciousness, or experience, can exist in the physical world, i.e. in the world as it is described by science. The thesis has three parts: In the first part (chapter 1) I explicate the concept of phenomenal consciousness and contrast it with other concepts of consciousness common in the literature. Moreover, I suggest that the project pursued in this thesis can be naturally viewed as a part of the more general project of trying to find a stereoscopic view of man, taken by Wilfrid Sellars to be a crucial task for contemporary philosophy. In the second part of the thesis (chapters 2 to 4) I offer a detailed evaluation of the attempts at a materialist reduction of consciousness. While in chapter 2 I explore and critique the approach of apriori physicalism (Dennett, Lewis, Rey, etc.), in chapters 3 and 4, I focus on the more recent doctrine of a posteriori physicalism and especially its most prominent variety called the phenomenal concept strategy (Loar, Papineau, Levin, Schroer, etc.). One problem with a posteriori physicalism is that, as Nida-Rümelin, Goff and others argue, the view cannot make sense of the plausible thesis that our phenomenal...
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Legal and philosophical aspects of free will
Kutílek, Lukáš ; Maršálek, Pavel (advisor) ; Tryzna, Jan (referee)
This thesis seeks an answer to a question of whether social normative systems, particularly law and morality, are consistent with the most recent scientific and philosophical findings. Those in fact often conclude that the human will is not free and that the human decision- making is only a physiological process governed by the laws of physics. Such findings thus, at a first glance, collide mainly with the concept of responsibility, through which law and morality are implemented. Therefore, the paper begins with a brief introduction of the current state of knowledge concerning free will and presents mainly determinism and indeterminism. The conclusion of the first part called Free Will and Determinism introduces a view of the world, which best suits the current state of knowledge and is further referred to as Physicalism. The second part called Law, Morality, Physicalism, briefly presents law and morality as regulators of human behavior, for which the concept of free will is fundamental. The focus of the thesis then shifts towards the institutions of criminal and civil law, that seem to be threatened by Physicalism the most. However, general consistency of Physicalism and the examined normative concepts is concluded, while it is argued that within the physicalistic view of the world, law and morality...
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The Naturalization of Consciousness and the Meaning of Subjectivity
Toráčová, Pavla ; Moural, Josef (advisor) ; Hill, James (referee) ; Marvan, Tomáš (referee)
The thesis deals with the problem of the existence of consciousness in the physical world. It denies the approach that is prevailing in the contemporary philosophy of mind that treats the phenomenal consciousness and intentionality separately. The position held in this thesis is to claim that the phenomenal character of consciousness and intentionality are inseparable and that it is impossible to understand the former without understanding the latter, and vice versa. The problem of the existence of consciousness in the physical world is viewed as the problem of the existence of (conscious) intentionality in the physical world. With the aim to achieve an analysis of intentionality that would keep its phenomenal character and the first person point of view, and, at the same time, shed light on its realization in the physical world, thoughts of Peter Strawson, G. E. M. Anscombe, Tim Crane, Colin McGinn and John Searle are discussed. The result is an outline of intentionality that allows to explain the fundamental level of intentionality as a physical process and the higher levels of intentionality as a development of the fundamental level. Two principles are crucial for this approach: the development of intentionality from the fundamental level to the higher level is comprehensible only if we keep the...
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