How to be a Scientifically Respectable "Property-Dualist"
Ran Lahav, Southern Methodist University and Niall Shanks, East Tennessee State University
The Journal of Mind and Behavior , Summer 1992, Volume 13, Number 3, Pages
211-232, ISSN 0271-0137
We argue that the so-called "property-dualist" theory of consciousness
is consistent both with current neurobiological data and with modern theories of
physics. The hypothesis that phenomenal properties are global properties that are
irreducible to microphysical properties, whose role is to integrate information across
large portions of the brain, is consistent with current neurobiological knowledge.
These properties can exercise their integration function through action on microscopic
structures in the neuron without violating the laws of quantum mechanics. Although
we offer no positive argument for the existence of irreducibly global properties,
the conclusion is that this view is a scientifically respectable hypothesis that
deserves to be investigated.
Request for reprints should be sent to Ran Lahav, Ph.D., Philosophy Department,
Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas 75275.
A Plea for the Poetic Metaphor
Paul G. Muscari, State University College of New York at Glens Falls
The Journal of Mind and Behavior , Summer 1992, Volume 13, Number 3, Pages
233-246, ISSN 0271-0137
What is the future of the poetic figures in a technological and scientific world
where a more restricted view appears to be emerging as to what is adequate and relevant
about metaphors? What part should the radical trope play in a script where the figures
that are heralded are usually those that are perceived as having practical importance,
i.e., those that fill in the gaps of existing knowledge? It will be the intent of
this paper to show that the current preoccupation of much of philosophy and psychology
with structural explanation and cognitive theory has certainly contributed to establishing
a coordinated and unified theory of metaphors, but left unto itself such a concern
is severely limited and does not adequately explain the full potential of metaphorical
expressions.
Requests for reprints should be sent to Paul G. Muscari, Ph.D., 28 Broadacres
Road, Queensbury, New York 12804.
Quantum Mechanics and the Involvement of Mind
in the Physical World: A Response to Garrison
Douglas M. Snyder, Berkeley, California
The Journal of Mind and Behavior , Summer 1992, Volume 13, Number 3, Pages
247-258, ISSN 0271-0137
Garrison's recent article is the background for discussing a number of issues. Among
these issues are (1) the nature of probability in quantum mechanics; (2) the relation
of observation to the wave packet in quantum mechanics; and (3) the role of immediate
change upon measurement in the quantum mechanical wave function throughout space
as the basis for the correlations among space-like separated events found in the
Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen gedankenexperiment. A proposed empirical test of simultaneous,
mutually exclusive situations (indicated by Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen's work)
is discussed in the context of Stratton's work on the orientation of the visual field,
and objects within it, upon inversion of the retinal image. The logical nature of
simultaneous, mutually exclusive situations is discussed in the context of Gödel's
Incompleteness Theorem.
Requests for reprints should be sent to Douglas M. Snyder, Ph.D., 459 North Spaulding
Avenue, Los Angeles, California 90036.
Turnabout on Consciousness: A Mentalist View
R.W. Sperry, California Institute of Technology
The Journal of Mind and Behavior , Summer 1992, Volume 13, Number 3, Pages
259-280, ISSN 0271-0137
Conceptual foundations for the changeover from behaviorism to mentalism are reviewed
in an effort to better clarify frequently contested and misinterpreted features.
The new mentalist tenets which I continue to support have been differently conceived
to be a form of dualism, mind-brain identity theory, functionalism, nonreductive
physical monism, dualist interactionism, emergent interactionism, and various other
things. This diversity and contradiction are attributed to the fact that the new
mentalist paradigm is a distinctly new position that fails to fit traditional philosophic
dichotomies. Formerly opposed features from previous polar alternatives become merged
into a novel unifying synthesis, an unambiguous description of which demands redefinition
of old terms or/and the invention of new terminology. The present analysis and interpretation
are backed by statements from the early papers.
Requests for reprints should be sent to R.W. Sperry, Ph.D., California Institute
of Technology 156-29, Pasadena, California 91125.
Intentionality, Consciousness, and Subjectivity
Thomas Natsoulas, University of California, Davis
The Journal of Mind and Behavior , Summer 1992, Volume 13, Number 3, Pages
281-308, ISSN 0271-0137
Searle restricted intrinsic intentionality (intentional contents, aspectual shapes)
to occurrent neurophysiological states that are conscious in the sense that their
owner has awareness of them when they occur; all occurrent nonconscious states of
the brain have, at most, a derivative intentionality by reliably producing, unless
obstructed, conscious intentional states. The grounds for thus restricting intrinsic
intentionality are explored, and traced to Searle's conviction that aspectual shapes
(intentional contents) must be "manifest" whenever actually exemplified
by an instance of any mental brain-occurrence. By "manifest," Searle seems
to mean that aspectual shapes must be not only contents but also, at the same time,
objects of the very states whose contents they are. This is accomplished due to the
self-intimating character of all conscious states, that is, their individually including
awareness of the state itself. The question is why manifestation in this sense is
necessary for an occurrent mental state to possess intentionality. Why cannot an
occurrent (nonconscious) mental state possess intentionality without also "manifesting"
the aspectual shape that it exemplifies? If contents (including aspectual shapes)
depend for existence on the individual's being aware, why must this be inner rather
than outer awareness? Why can the essential awareness not be awareness of something
outside the mental state, rather than awareness of the state's intentional content
itself? Outer awareness should be able to accomplish in this regard all that inner
awareness can accomplish.
Requests for reprints should be sent to Thomas Natsoulas, Ph.D., Department of
Psychology, University of California, Davis, California 95616.
Book Review ª Mending Minds: A Guide to
the New Psychiatry of Depression, Anxiety, and Other Serious Mental Disorders
Leonard L. Heston. New York: Freeman, 1992,
Reviewed by William E. Roweton, Chadron State College
The Journal of Mind and Behavior , Summer 1992, Volume 13, Number 3, Pages
309-310, ISSN 0271-0137
[Note: First paragraph, no abstract available.] Leonard L. Heston, M.D. is a Professor
of Psychiatry at The University of Washington and is the Director of The Washington
Institute for Mental Illness Training and Research. Dr. Heston writes about "a
QUIET revolution [which] has been occurring in psychiatry" (p. 1). Dr. Heston's
"new psychiatry" focuses on the "actual study of the brain as a biologic
tissue" (p. 3) and avoids "elaborate theorizing, guru-isms, blaming of
mothers for unhappiness, backbiting among contending schools, or [popular and simple]
prescriptions for instant mental health. Such topics were a product of prescience..."
(p. 4). Heston wishes to distance himself from traditional Freudianism. Most importantly,
according to Heston, his biological and scientific psychiatry portends greater hope
for the "nearly one person in five [who] will develop a major psychiatric illness..."
(p. 1).
Requests for reprints should be sent to William E. Roweton, Ph.D., Professor
of Education and Psychology, Chadron State College, Chadron, Nebraska 69337.
Book Review ª Interdisciplinarity: History,
Theory, and Practice
Julie Thompson Klein. Detroit: Wayne State University, 1991
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Summer 1992, Volume 13, Number 3, Pages 311-314,
ISSN 0271-0137
Reviewed by John J. DeWitt, Wayne State University
[Note: First paragraph, no abstract available.] U.S. Higher Education is generally
recognized as the best in the post-contemporary world, thanks to increased democratization
of access, inter-institutional competition, and "consumer choice." Paradoxically,
planned institutional change, effectively implemented in general education and in
research at the most fundamental levels is of critical importance because of epochal
change occurring right now, due primarily to technology, the continuous information
explosion, and ethnic emergencies.
Requests for reprints should be sent to John J. DeWitt, Division of Theoretical
and Behavioral Foundations, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan 48202.