Dual-Aspect Monism and the Deep Structure of Meaning

Dual-aspect monism is a metaphysical position that considers the mental and physical as two aspects of one underlying undivided reality that is psychophysically neutral. It is inspired by analogies with modern physics and driven by conceptual problems. The authors reconstruct the formal structure of these approaches and compare their conceptual emphases, strengths, and weaknesses. They also address challenging themes for current and future interdisciplinary research.

Format: Hardback
Length: 222 pages
Publication date: 30 March 2022
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Dual-Aspect Monism and the Deep Structure of Meaning delves into the metaphysical stance of dual-aspect monism, with a particular focus on the notion of meaning as a fundamental aspect of the fabric of reality. As an alternative to other positions, mainly dualism, physicalism, idealism, that have been proposed to understand consciousness and its place in nature, the decompositional version of dual-aspect monism considers the mental and the physical as two aspects of one underlying, undivided reality that is psychophysically neutral. Inspired by analogies with modern physics and driven by its conceptual challenges, Wolfgang Pauli, Carl Gustav Jung, Arthur Eddington, John Wheeler, David Bohm, and Basil Hiley are the originators of the approaches studied. A radically novel common theme in their approaches is the constitutive role of meaning and its deep structure, relating the mental and the physical to a psychophysically neutral base. The authors reconstruct the formal structure of these approaches and compare their conceptual emphases as well as their relative strengths and weaknesses. They also address a number of challenging themes for current and future interdisciplinary research, both theoretical and empirical, that arise from the presented frameworks of thinking.

Dual-Aspect Monism and the Deep Structure of Meaning will be of interest to researchers and advanced students working in consciousness studies, philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, philosophy of physics, metaphysics, and the history of 20th-century philosophy and physics.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781032212647