Dartmouth Events

The current position of the various cognitive sciences is that mind and consciousness can (some day) be fully accounted for as reducible to brain structures and processes. But despite the remarkable achievements of the past few decades, cognitive neuroscience is no closer than ever to accounting for consciousness. The alternative theory, increasingly attractive to a minority of investigators, is that consciousness and some other aspects of mind are not reducible to the brain. There are reasons for predicting that the attractiveness of this alternative, with its serious challenge to present-day scientific materialism, will continue to grow. The strong resistance to such a revolution is bolstered by the absence of a reasonable theory that can accommodate irreducible mind. Some avant-garde investigators are currently laying groundwork for such a theory, which may provide a reasonable account not only of consciousness but also of telepathy and other “psi" phenomena whose existence is being systematically ignored under the currently prevailing paradigm of cognitive science.

This event is free and open to the public!

This event is sponsored by the Linguistics and Cognitive Science Program.