Patricia Churchland Quotes
Patricia Smith Churchland is a Canadian-American philosopher, professor emerita at the University of California, San Diego, and one of the founders of the field she named neurophilosophy. Neurophilosophy: Toward a Unified Science of the Mind-Brain argued that the categories of folk psychology must be revised in the light of mature neuroscience, while Braintrust: What Neuroscience Tells Us About Morality and Conscience: The Origins of Moral Intuition have defended a naturalistic account of human morality grounded in the neurobiology of attachment and care. The quotes below are attributed to Patricia Churchland, organized by topic.
Patricia Churchland on Knowledge
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“Introductory message at her homepage at the University of California, San Diego , 2013”
Although many philosophers used to dismiss the relevance of neuroscience on grounds that what mattered was “the software, not the hardware”, increasingly philosophers have come to recognize that understanding how the brain works is essential to understanding the mind.
Patricia Churchland on Mind
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Attributed to Patricia Churchland:
“Folk psychology is to neuroscience what folk physics is to physics.”
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Attributed to Patricia Churchland:
“There is no philosophy of mind that does not take the brain seriously.”
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Attributed to Patricia Churchland:
“The self is not an illusion, but it is a process of the nervous system, not an inhabitant of it.”
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“Although many philosophers used to dismiss the relevance of neuroscience on grounds that what mattered was “the software, not the hardware”, increasingly philosophers have come to recognize that understanding how the brain works is essential to understanding the mind.”
Introductory message at her homepage at the University of California, San Diego , 2013
Patricia Churchland on Virtue
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Attributed to Patricia Churchland:
“Morality is rooted in the neurobiology of attachment, not in pure reason alone.”
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Attributed to Patricia Churchland:
“Conscience is what it is to care about anything at all.”