In this innovative study of the relationship between persons and their bodies, E. J. Lowe demonstrates the inadequacy of physicalism, even in its mildest, non-reductionist guises, as a basis for a scientifically and philosophically acceptable account of human beings as subjects of experience, thought and action. He defends a substantival theory of the self as an enduring and irreducible entity - a theory which is unashamedly committed to a distinctly non-Cartesian dualism of self and body. Taking up the physicalist challenge to any robust form of psychophysical interactionism, he shows how an attribution of independent causal powers to the mental states of human subjects is perfectly consistent with a thoroughly naturalistic world view. He concludes his study by examining in detail the role which conscious mental states play in the human subject's exercise of its most central capacities for perception, action, thought and self-knowledge.

This innovative study proposes and explores a distinctly non-Cartesian dualism of self and body.
Reviews
'... provocative and invigorating, and at the same time both metaphysically satisfying and empirically well informed. This is an elegant and powerful book that philosophers of mind would do well to read and reread carefully.' John Heil, The Times Literary Supplement



Book Information
ISBN 9780521475037
Author E. J. Lowe
Format Hardback
Page Count 220
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 404g
Dimensions(mm) 224mm * 145mm * 20mm