The really hard problem : meaning in a material world

305 Pages·2007·2.72 MB·English

by  Flanagan

The Really Hard Problem

The Really Hard Problem
MeaninginaMaterialWorld
OwenFlanagan
ABradfordBook
TheMITPress
Cambridge,Massachusetts
London,England
(2007MassachusettsInstituteofTechnology
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedinanyformbyanyelec-
tronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information
storageandretrieval)withoutpermissioninwritingfromthepublisher.
Forinformationonquantitydiscounts,[email protected].
Set in Stone Serif and Stone Sans on 3B2 by Asco Typesetters, Hong Kong. Printed
andboundintheUnitedStatesofAmerica.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Flanagan,OwenJ.
Thereallyhardproblem:meaninginamaterialworld/OwenFlanagan.
p. cm.
‘‘ABradfordbook.’’
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-0-262-06264-0(hardcover:alk.paper)
1.Meaning(Philosophy) 2.Cognitivepsychology. 3.Materialism—Psychological
aspects. I.Title.
B105.M4F53 2007
1210.68—dc22 2007002664
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
toGu¨venGu¨zeldereandDavidWong,dearfriendsandspiritually
advancednaturalphilosophers

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xi
1 MeaningfulandEnchantedLives:AThreatfromtheHuman
Sciences? 1
2 FindingMeaningintheNaturalWorld:TheComparative
Consensus 37
3 ScienceforMonks:BuddhismandScience 63
4 NormativeMindScience?Psychology,Neuroscience,andtheGood
Life 107
5 Neuroscience,Happiness,andPositiveIllusions 149
6 SpiritualityNaturalized?‘‘AStrongCatwithoutClaws’’ 183
Notes 221
Bibliography 265
Index 285

Acknowledgments
The occasion for this book was an invitation to give the Templeton
ResearchLecturesattheUniversity ofSouthernCalifornia.Iwasinvited—
with a year’s preparation—to talk about how things, considered in the
broadestpossiblesense,hangtogether(iftheydo)inthebroadestpossible
sense.Specifically,Iwasasked—orsoIinterpretedtheinvitation—tofocus
on the implications of mind science for our conception of ourselves. The
original title of the series of lectures that became this book was Human
Flourishing in the Age of Mind Science. I gave the lectures in Los Angeles
over a glorious two-week period in February of 2006. I could not have felt
more welcomed than by the USC group that sponsored the lectures and
their wonderful support staff. Firdaus Udwadia and Nicolas Lori seemed
always at my side, thankfully sharing my view that the scientific image
need not be understood as disenchanting. Several graduate seminars at
Duke University provided chances to try out some of the material. I am
especially grateful to Joost Bosland for reading the lectures carefully and
designing a wonderful PowerPoint presentation with artwork beyond my
dreams. Jeremy Evans, Sahar Akthar, Russ Powell, and Robert Williams
stand out for making me think very hard about some parts of my overall
line of argument. Then there are David Wong and Hagop Sarkissian. I
trusted them with most every word you have before you and they gave
wonderful,toughcriticalresponses.
Thereisalsothe‘‘MindandLife’’crowd.Weareagroupofphilosophers
andscientistswho havebeeninvolvedindiscussionswiththe DalaiLama
about science and spirituality in many meetings in India and America
over the last decade. I am grateful to them all. Alan Wallace and Rob
Hogendoornstandoutasespeciallyhelpfulcritics.Finally,asalways,there
are public lectures. I owe gratitude to the audiences in Los Angeles who