Episode 153: Richard Rorty: There Is No Mind-Body Problem (Part Two)
Summary: Continuing on Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature, Part I.<br> Rorty relates the immateriality of mind to the ontology of universals: The gap between individual dogs and the concept "dogness" is really the only ontological gap we have, and conceiving the mind as the faculty that apprehends universals (i.e. <a href="http://partiallyexaminedlife.com/2016/01/11/ep131-1aristotle-mind/" target="_blank">"nous" in Aristotle</a>) was the first step into this mistaken (according to Rorty) picture of an inner realm that somehow needs to be pierced to reach the outer, physical world. Are pains and other mental entities actually entities at all, or are they activities? Plus, the return of the semantic/syntactic distinction!<br> Listen to <a href="http://partiallyexaminedlife.com/2016/12/05/ep153-1-rorty-mind/" target="_blank">part one</a> first, or get the <a href="http://partiallyexaminedlife.com/2016/12/04/ep153-rorty-mind-citizen/" target="_blank">Citizen edition</a>. <a href="http://www.partiallyexaminedlife.com/support">Please support PEL!</a><br> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0691141320/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0691141320&linkCode=as2&tag=theparexalif-20&linkId=9f3ff7564cd9da9abe9dd4c17ddfd399" target="_blank">Buy the book</a> or <a href="http://pages.uoregon.edu/koopman/courses_readings/rorty/rorty_PMN_full.pdf" target="_blank">try this online version</a>.<br> End song: "Wall of Nothingness" from Sky Cries Mary from <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000005LAA/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000005LAA&linkCode=as2&tag=theparexalif-20&linkId=10d737be504a1d3f7f153e96e14a99fa" target="_blank">This Timeless Turning</a> (1994). Listen to Mark's interview with the band's frontman, Roderick Romero, in <a href="http://partiallyexaminedlife.com/2016/03/19/nem9-roderick-romero/" target="_blank">Nakedly Examined Music ep. 9</a>.<br>
