Methodology and Metaphysics in the Sciences of the Mind (Scholars Award)

这个项目将批判性地审视哲学和科学辩论中关于心灵的本质及其在自然世界中的地位的两种最新趋势的汇合，形而上学的复兴（对世界的基本性质和结构的研究）和自然主义的回归（认为哲学的方法和结果应该与经验科学的方法和结果一致并受其影响）。该项目的总体目标是打破两种类型的物理主义对心灵的描述，即还原物理主义和非还原物理主义之间的辩论僵局。它将通过将辩论置于自然主义方法论的大背景中来做到这一点。从历史上看，这场辩论一直假设两个截然相反的立场之一是正确的：要么心理学可以归结为生物化学，要么心理学是完全自主的。当代的跨学科研究表明，心理学和生物化学之间存在着更为复杂的相互关系。生化假设是用心理学的数据来检验的，这反过来又促进了新的生化研究，这些研究可以用来检验和完善心理学模型。PI将制定并捍卫一种自然主义的心灵哲学方法，称为包容物理主义，旨在阐明和利用这种相互关系。包容性物理主义的一个主要组成部分是一个旨在实现这些目标的一般形而上学框架。其中一个目标是描绘关于心灵形而上学的个人争论的可能结果空间（例如，精神属性的不可约性等于什么以及支持它的各种关系）。另一个是提供一种方法来回应抽象的、一般的论证，这些论证试图表明这种不可约性与物理主义是不相容的。该项目还将纳入几个案例研究，包括最近关于安慰剂镇痛的生化和心理机制的研究，以便说明这一框架的好处和上述相互作用的方法过程。这些案例研究也将证明关于还原的辩论的实际重要性，这在哲学文献中经常被忽视。此外，整个项目是否有潜力改善公众的生活？我们对精神和身体特性之间关系的理解，这可能会为广泛存在的精神障碍带来更好的治疗结果。

This project will critically examine the convergence of these two recent trends in philosophical and scientific debates about the nature of the mind and its place in the natural world, the resurgence of metaphysics (the study of the fundamental nature and structure of the world) and the return of naturalism (the view that the methods and results of philosophy should be consonant with and informed by those of the empirical sciences).The overall goal of the project is to break the stalemate in the debate between two types of physicalistic accounts of the mind, reductive and non-reductive physicalism. It will do so by situating the debate within the larger context of naturalistic methodology. Historically, this debate has assumed that one of two diametrically opposed positions is correct: Either psychology is reducible to biochemistry or psychology is completely autonomous. Contemporary, interdisciplinary research suggests that there is a more complicated reciprocal relation between psychology and biochemistry. Biochemical hypotheses are tested using data from psychology, which in turn prompts new biochemical studies that can be used to test and refine the psychological models. The PI will formulate and defend a naturalistic approach to philosophy of mind called inclusive physicalism that is designed to elucidate and exploit this reciprocal relation.One major component of inclusive physicalism is a general metaphysical framework that is intended to accomplish to goals. One goal is to delineate the space of possible outcomes in individual disputes about the metaphysics of mind (e.g., what the irreducibility of mental properties amounts to and the various relations that support it). The other is to offer a means of responding to abstract, general arguments which seek to show that such irreducibility is incompatible with physicalism.The project will also incorporate several case studies, including recent research on the biochemical and psychological mechanisms of placebo analgesia, in order to illustrate both the benefits of this framework and the reciprocal methodological process outlined above. These case studies will also demonstrate the practical importance of debates about reduction, which is often overlooked in the philosophical literature. Further, the project as a whole has the potential to improve the general public?s understanding of the relation between mental and physical properties, which could possibly lead to better treatment outcomes for widespread mental disorders.