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Patricia Churchland

 

 
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Patricia Churchland
 
 
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Patricia Smith Churchland (born July 16, 1943 in Oliver, British Columbia
Oliver, British Columbia

Oliver, British Columbia, is a small town located in the South Okanagan. Billing itself as the "Wine Capital of Canada," Oliver is renowned for its high quality wine....
, Canada
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
) is a Canadian-American philosopher working at the University of California, San Diego
University of California, San Diego

The University of California, San Diego is a public research university in San Diego, California, California. The school's campus contains 694 buildings and is located in the La Jolla, San Diego, California community....
 (UCSD) since 1984. She is currently a professor at the UCSD Philosophy Department, an adjunct professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, and an associate of the Computational Neuroscience Laboratory (Sejnowski
Terry Sejnowski

Terrence Joseph Sejnowski is an Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and is the Francis Crick Professor at The Salk Institute where he directs the Computational Neurobiology Laboratory....
 Lab) at the Salk Institute. She won a MacArthur prize in 1991. Educated at the University of British Columbia
University of British Columbia

The University of British Columbia is a Canada Public university research university with campuses in Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia....
, the University of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh

The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, United States....
, and the University of Oxford
University of Oxford

The University of Oxford , located in the city of Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation in the English-speaking world....
 (B.Phil.
Bachelor of Philosophy

Bachelor of Philosophy is the title of an academic degree. The degree usually involves considerable research, either through a thesis or supervised research projects....
).






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Quotations


Conscious awareness is what a certain complexity of neuronal firings feels like in much the same way that temperature is the subejctive experience of molecular motion.

paraphrased





Encyclopedia


Patricia Smith Churchland (born July 16, 1943 in Oliver, British Columbia
Oliver, British Columbia

Oliver, British Columbia, is a small town located in the South Okanagan. Billing itself as the "Wine Capital of Canada," Oliver is renowned for its high quality wine....
, Canada
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
) is a Canadian-American philosopher working at the University of California, San Diego
University of California, San Diego

The University of California, San Diego is a public research university in San Diego, California, California. The school's campus contains 694 buildings and is located in the La Jolla, San Diego, California community....
 (UCSD) since 1984. She is currently a professor at the UCSD Philosophy Department, an adjunct professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, and an associate of the Computational Neuroscience Laboratory (Sejnowski
Terry Sejnowski

Terrence Joseph Sejnowski is an Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and is the Francis Crick Professor at The Salk Institute where he directs the Computational Neurobiology Laboratory....
 Lab) at the Salk Institute. She won a MacArthur prize in 1991. Educated at the University of British Columbia
University of British Columbia

The University of British Columbia is a Canada Public university research university with campuses in Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia....
, the University of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh

The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, United States....
, and the University of Oxford
University of Oxford

The University of Oxford , located in the city of Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation in the English-speaking world....
 (B.Phil.
Bachelor of Philosophy

Bachelor of Philosophy is the title of an academic degree. The degree usually involves considerable research, either through a thesis or supervised research projects....
). She taught philosophy at the University of Manitoba
University of Manitoba

The University of Manitoba, in Winnipeg, Canada, is the largest university located in the province of Manitoba. It is also Manitoba's most comprehensive and only research-intensive post-secondary educational institution.....
 from 1969 to 1984 and is the wife of philosopher Paul Churchland
Paul Churchland

Paul Churchland is a philosopher noted for his studies in neurophilosophy and the philosophy of mind. He is currently a Professor at the University of California, San Diego, where he holds the Valtz Chair of Philosophy....
.

Churchland has focused on the interface between neuroscience and philosophy. According to her, philosophers are increasingly realizing that to understand the mind one must understand the brain. She is associated with a school of thought called eliminativism or eliminative materialism
Eliminative materialism

Eliminative materialism is a materialism position in the philosophy of mind. Its primary claim is that people's common-sense understanding of the mind is false and that certain Class of mental states that most people believe in do not Existence....
, which argues that folk psychology
Folk psychology

Folk psychology is the set of assumptions, constructs, and convictions that makes up the everyday language in which people discuss human psychology....
 concepts such as belief
Belief

Belief is the psychological state in which an individual holds a proposition or premise to be true....
, free will
Free will

The question of free will is whether, and in what sense, rational agents exercise control over their actions and decisions. Addressing this question requires understanding the relationship between freedom and Causality, and determining whether the laws of nature are causally deterministic....
, and consciousness
Consciousness

Consciousness is a difficult term to define, because the word is used and understood in a wide variety of ways, so that it frequently happens that what one person sees as a definition of consciousness is seen by others as about something else altogether....
 will likely need to be revised as science understands more about the nature of brain function.

She was interviewed along with her husband Paul Churchland
Paul Churchland

Paul Churchland is a philosopher noted for his studies in neurophilosophy and the philosophy of mind. He is currently a Professor at the University of California, San Diego, where he holds the Valtz Chair of Philosophy....
 for the book Conversations on Consciousness by Susan Blackmore
Susan Blackmore

Susan Jane Blackmore is an England freelance writer, lecturer, and Presenter on psychology and the paranormal, perhaps best known for her book The Meme Machine....
, 2006.

She attended and was a speaker at the Beyond Belief
Beyond Belief: Science, Religion, Reason and Survival

Beyond Belief: Science, Religion, Reason and Survival was the first event of the annual Beyond Belief which brings together a group of scientists and philosophers to explore questions and answers about human nature and society....
 symposium on November 2006 and November 2007.

Bibliography

  • Neurophilosophy: Toward a Unified Science of the Mind-Brain. (1986) Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press.
  • The Computational Brain. (1992) Patricia S. Churchland and T. J. Sejnowski. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press.
  • Neurophilosophy and Alzheimer's Disease. (1992) Edited by Y. Christen and Patricia S. Churchland. Berlin: Spinger-Verlag.
  • The Mind-Brain Continuum (1996). Edited by R. R. Llinas and Patricia S. Churchland. The MIT Press.
  • On the Contrary: Critical Essays 1987-1997. (1998). Paul M. Churchland and Patricia S. Churchland. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press.
  • Brain-Wise: Studies in Neurophilosophy. (2002) Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press.


External links

  • on "Philosophy Talk"
    Philosophy Talk

    Philosophy Talk is a talk radio program co-hosted by John Perry and Kenneth Allen Taylor, who are professors at Stanford University. The show is also available as a podcast....