科學哲學和心靈哲學中,認知的封閉是指,人類的心靈是沒有能力解決一些討論了很久的哲學問題的。[1] 歐文·弗蘭納根把這種立場叫做非建設性自然主義。新神秘主義的首提倡者柯林·麥金,[2][3]稱其爲先驗自然主義,承認解決方法可能只能由某種非人類智慧生物提出。根據麥金,難以解決的哲學問題包括心物問題、人格同一性、意義問題、自由意志以及知识论,無論是從先天證明的角度,還是從经验主义的立場[4]。
伊曼努尔·康德在《纯粹理性批判》中,認爲人類的思想不可避免地受到範疇的限制。
量的範疇 – 單一、多數、全體
這些限制了人類的思維。可以瞭解的是現象,範疇之外不可瞭解的是本體,即物自體。
變成蝙蝠會怎樣?湯瑪斯·內格爾這樣發問。 他提到了對於經驗的主觀性認知封閉的可能性,以及其對於唯物主义、还原论、科学的意義。 歐文·弗拉納根在1991年的著作《心靈的科學》(Science of the Mind)中提到,一些當代思想家認爲意識永遠不會得到解釋。弗拉納根把他們叫做“新神秘主義者”,根據的是樂隊Question Mark and the Mysterians的名字[7]根據麥金,心物問題的正確答案不能被理解,深深地寫在我們的基因裏面。
显现唯物论是個類似但不同的理論,認爲人類還不夠聰明以決定“心靈與物質的關係”。[來源請求][可疑]
儘管意識的本性是複雜的,但是根據一些哲學家,這並不意味著認知的封閉性,因此,麥金的論證是錯誤的。[8][9][10]
McGinn's stance, while he denies the possibility of ever understanding the causal connection, may be regarded as "naturalistic" in the sense that he does not reject the validity of neuro-physiological theory, and does not doubt that brain activity accompanies conscious states..
it combines deep epistemic transcendence with the denial that what thus transcends is thereby non-natural.
1. Explanation is delimited by the apparatus of classification (the mind)... 2. An apparatus of classification cannot explain anything more complex than itself... 3. Therefore, the mind cannot fully explain itself...
Nothing he says gets him the conclusion that we cannot solve the mind-body problem, given any of these interpretations of what is cognitively closed to us
He recognizes that many will find this outrageous; and indeed I think that his reasoning is fundamentally flawed and his central thesis false. But it will be worth trying to discover what has gone wrong.
it is incoherent to suppose that we cannot understand what would count as a solution to a problem we can and do understand
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