Anthony Jack, assistant professor of cognitive science, philosophy and psychology, will discuss his work investigating why minds and brains are perceived as two different things at the Buffalo Annual Experimental Philosophy Conference on Friday, Oct. 11, at the University of Buffalo.
Jack will present “A Scientific Case for Conceptual Dualism: The Problem of Consciousness and the Opposing Domains Hypothesis,” arguing that scientists have been taking the wrong approach to understanding human consciousness by seeking its biological basis.
“Thinking of the mind as nothing but a mechanism is what scientists deliberately do. My work shows it is also how psychopaths naturally view the mind,” Jack said. “Our everyday beliefs about the structure of the world are not just driven by analytic reasoning, which allows us to understand physical mechanisms, but also by empathy, which allows us to understand the experiences of others. You can’t capture that kind of human insight with a detached scientific account.”