Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction. Analytic versus continental: arguments on the methods and value of philosophy
- PART I FORMATIVE ENCOUNTERS: A SHORT HISTORY OF THE “DIVIDE”
- PART II METHOD
- PART III INTERPRETATION OF KEY TOPICS
- 15 Ontology and metaphysics
- 16 Truth, objectivity and realism
- 17 Time: a contretemps
- 18 Mind, body and representationalism
- 19 Ethics and politics: theoretical and anti-theoretical approaches
- 20 Problem(s) of other minds: solutions and dissolutions in analytic and continental philosophy
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
20 - Problem(s) of other minds: solutions and dissolutions in analytic and continental philosophy
from PART III - INTERPRETATION OF KEY TOPICS
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction. Analytic versus continental: arguments on the methods and value of philosophy
- PART I FORMATIVE ENCOUNTERS: A SHORT HISTORY OF THE “DIVIDE”
- PART II METHOD
- PART III INTERPRETATION OF KEY TOPICS
- 15 Ontology and metaphysics
- 16 Truth, objectivity and realism
- 17 Time: a contretemps
- 18 Mind, body and representationalism
- 19 Ethics and politics: theoretical and anti-theoretical approaches
- 20 Problem(s) of other minds: solutions and dissolutions in analytic and continental philosophy
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Given its resonance in both traditions, the problem of other minds seems to us especially suitable as a case-study, or a symptom, in order to make clear some of the different methodological and meta-philosophical commitments of the two traditions. Although there is no canonical account of the problem(s) of other minds that can be baldly stated and that is exhaustive of both traditions, several aspects of the problem can be set out. It seems to have: (i) an epistemological dimension (How do we know that others exist? Can we justifiably claim to know that they do?); (ii) an ontological dimension incorporating issues to do with personal identity (What is the structure of our world such that intersubjectivity is possible? What are the fundamental aspects of our relations to others and how do they impact upon/constitute our self-identity?); and (iii) some involvement with one's conception of the nature of mind (How does the mind – or the concept of “mind” – relate to the brain, the body, and the world?). While these three issues are co-imbricated, analytic engagements with the problem of other minds generally treat it as a straightforward sceptical problem, of much the same kind as Hume's problem of induction, Descartes' arguments for global scepticism, Russell's scepticism about the past and so on. Hence in the analytic tradition the focus is on epistemic matters primarily, although conceptual issues to do with “mindedness” also arise.
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- Analytic versus ContinentalArguments on the Method and Value of Philosophy, pp. 235 - 252Publisher: Acumen PublishingPrint publication year: 2010