Massimi - Philosophy and the Sciences for Everyone

What is the origin of our universe? What are dark matter and dark energy? What is our role in the universe as human beings capable of knowledge? What makes us intelligent cognitive agents seemingly endowed with consciousness? Scientific research across both the physical and cognitive sciences raises fascinating philosophical questions. Philosophy and the Sciences for Everyone introduces these questions and more. It begins by asking what good is philosophy for the sciences, before examining the following topics:

the origin of our universe

dark matter and dark energy

anthropic reasoning in philosophy and cosmology

evolutionary theory and the human mind

consciousness

intelligent machines and the human brain

embodied cognition.

Designed to be used on the corresponding Philosophy and the Sciences online course offered by the University of Edinburgh this book is also a superb introduction for anyone looking for a concise overview of key themes in philosophy of science and popular science.

Michela Masami, David Carmel, Andy Clark, Jane Suilin Lavelle, John Peacock, Duncan Pritchard, Alasdair Richmond, Peggy Seris, Kenny Smith and Mark Sprevak are all based at the University of Edinburgh, UK.

Edited by
Michela Massimi

David Carmel
Andy Clark
Jane Suilin Lavelle
John Peacock
Duncan Pritchard
Alasdair Richmond
Peggy Seris
Kenny Smith
Mark Sprevak

This edition published 2015

by Routledge
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Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2015 David Carmel, Andy Clark, Jane Suilin Lavelle, Michela Massimi, John Peacock, Duncan Pritchard, Alasdair Richmond, Peggy Seris, Kenny Smith and Mark Sprevak

The right of David Carmel, Andy Clark, Jane Suilin Lavelle, Michela Massimi, John Peacock, Duncan Pritchard, Alasdair Richmond, Peggy Seris, Kenny Smith and Mark Sprevak to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Philosophy and the sciences for everyone / by Michela Massimi
[and 9 others].
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Science-Philosophy. I. Massimi, Michela.
Q175.P51216 2015
501-dc23
2014024531

ISBN: 978-1-138-785441 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-785434 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-767772 (ebk)

Typeset in Times New Roman
by Taylor & Francis Books

For centuries, philosophy and the sciences have gone hand in hand. Throughout the seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries, 'natural philosophy' provided the blueprint for modern physics, chemistry, astronomy, no less than botany and medicine. Newton, for example, called his masterpiece Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, and philosophical reflections about the nature of space and time played a central role in Newton's physics. In the eighteenth century, Kant's philosophical speculations about the origins of the universe led him to the nebular hypothesis, later developed by Laplace as one of the first attempts at a modern scientific explanation in cosmology. But what good is philosophy for the sciences? And what can contemporary philosophers learn from the sciences? While still at the beginning of the twentieth century, philosophy had a profound influence on the discoveries of Einstein, Bohr, and other pioneers of the time, it might seem that the dialogue between philosophy and the sciences has come to an end. After all, we live in an era where scientific research is so specialized, diversified, and run on such a large scale that - the sceptics argue - there is very little that philosophy can contribute to contemporary science.

This book is our modest attempt at proving the sceptics wrong. The dialogue between philosophy and the sciences has never been richer, more pervasive, and timely. What is the origin of our universe? What are dark matter and dark energy, and what reasons do we have for believing in their existence? Is the universe such as to allow life to evolve? Has the human mind evolved as a series of 'mini-computers', adapted to solve problems that our ancestors faced? And to what extent, is our mind - in its functioning - like a computer? What makes us conscious human beings? And what role do technology and environment play in understanding how our minds work? These are central, timely, and cutting-edge questions in contemporary science that will occupy us in the course of this book - as a journey from the cosmos, to consciousness, and computers.

Of course, this selection of topics is not intended to be a comprehensive or exhaustive introduction to the many ways in which philosophy and the sciences (broadly construed) are still engaged in a mutually beneficial dialogue (we would need a much bigger book for that). Instead, we selectively focus on some timely topics in the philosophy of the physical sciences, and the philosophy of cognitive sciences, with the hope of probing each of them a little bit deeper than a whistle-stop tour through the sciences, broadly construed, would have allowed.

Hence the book is structured in two parts. In the first part we focus on three key issues in contemporary philosophy of cosmology. We start in , we ask the question of why our universe seems to be such as to allow life to have evolved, according to the anthropic principle. We clarify what the anthropic principle says, and how these philosophical reflections may or may not find a counterpart in inflationary cosmology and the hypothesis of a multiverse.

After these chapters on philosophy of cosmology, we turn our attention to philosophy of cognitive sciences. This is a thriving area where philosophers of mind, cognitive scientists, psychologists, and linguists are joining forces to provide a better grasp of how the human mind has evolved and how it functions. We start in , we review the state of the art in the blossoming area of 'embodied cognition". This is a recent trend that has brought to the general attention the importance of going beyond the 'neurocentric' view of how our mind works, and re-evaluating the central role of technology and environment in developing our cognitive capacities.