Cognition and causation in human experience.

M J Mahoney

doi:10.1016/0005-7916(95)00030-4

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Cognition and causation in human experience.

M J Mahoney

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Abstract

Arguments that thoughts cannot have the power to cause or influence behavior are briefly addressed. Despite being couched in traditional behavioristic terminology, some of these arguments actually invoke the very dualism that they criticize. Likewise problematic are portrayals of scientific activity as being necessarily grounded in an ontology of physical extension and an epistemology that grants the visual system (and hence observability) sole and supreme authority. Contemporary cognitivists challenge classical mind-body dualism and refer to thoughts and other "mental" phenomena as activities of the living system. Three conclusions are drawn: (1) humans think, (2) human thinking influences human behavior, and vice-versa, and (3) dialogues on this topic would be well served by a refinement of the questions under consideration.

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M J Mahoney. 1995. Cognition and causation in human experience.. https://doi.org/10.1016/0005-7916(95)00030-4

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