The Mystery Of Mind And It’s Elimination

The mind problem with its rejuvenating magic, there is always a new development in it. Though Marxist philosophers failed to establish an independent theory of consciousness or philosophy of mind, their elaboration on and specification of it in the construction of "new materialism" have provided us with theoretical basis and methodologies in the furthering of it.Contemporary philosophy of mind offers favorable opportunities for clarification of the basic propositions of it and promotion of its evolvement as well as puts forward some new problems Marxist consciousness theory has never referred to. Colin McGinn, an eminent philosopher in contemporary England, deepens the research of philosophy of mind from a unique perspective. In his view, the core of philosophy of mind is the mind-body problem which originates from the cognitive closure; and the reason of it is combinatorial paradigm or CALM mode of thinking. Since the confusion of the ontological problem of the mind with the epistemological problem besets the study of philosophy of mind with a crisis, a radical conceptual revolution in the position of transcendent naturalism is badly in need, so that the study of philosophy of mind can get out of the current predicament, and the consciousness puzzle can be resolved. The study of McGinn’s ideas of philosophy of mind is of great help to our grasp of the general features and tendency of contemporary philosophy of mind, reflection on the methodological premise and basic design of Chinese philosophy of mind, and acceleration of the conversation and communication between Marxist philosophy and western philosophy.This dissertation focuses on the two issues that most concern contemporary philosophy of mind, consciousness and intentionality (mental content), with an emphasis of McGinn’s diagnosis of the plight and crux of his related study and an organization of his basic propositions and main argument in terms of the above two problems, and endeavors to make a precise interpretation of Marxist consciousness theory. This dissertation constitutes by seven parts. Part One (Introduction) expounds the basic propositions of Marxist consciousness theory and challenges it encounters, McGinn’s basic ideas and research features, and the significance of the study of McGinn’s philosophy of mind. Part Two (Chapter1) explores the plight of contemporary philosophy of mind and its origin, and analyzes McGinn’s idea of cognitive closure, CALM mode of thinking and transcendental naturalism. Part Three (Chapter2-3)examines the mystery of consciousness and it’s elimination. Chapter2analyzes McGinn’s conception of the deep structure or implicit structure of consciousness and his idea of mental atomism.Chapter3discusses about the issue of concept revolution, with an analysis of McGinn’s idea of spatial concept revolution and its expansion to the concept revolution in the whole physical world.Part Four (Chapter4) probes into the relationship between consciousness and intentionality, with a stress on relationship between McGinn’s pessimist conclusion in the field on consciousness and intentionality. Part Five (Chapter5-7) discusses McGinn’s mental content theory. Chpater5studies the "metaphysical question" in intentionality, mainly emphasizing on McGinn’s analysis of the meaning of "being", the relationship between intentional object and non-being, and the constituents of mental content. Chapter6investigates McGinn’s weak externalism.Chapter7examines the causation and implementation mechanism of mental content. Part Six (Chapter8) examines the relation between subjective views and their ways of representing the world. Part seven (Conclusion) is about the nature of McGinn’s philosophy of mind, its enlightenment to contemporary philosophy of mind and interpretation of Marxist consciousness theory, and its limitations.