The Intellectual Powers A Study of Human Nature [Paperback]

The Intellectual Powers is a philosophical investigation into the cognitive and cogitative powers of mankind. It develops a connective analysis of our powers of consciousness, intentionality, mastery of language, knowledge, belief, certainty, sensation, perception, memory, thought, and imagination, by one of Britain’s leading philosophers. It is an essential guide and handbook for philosophers, psychologists, and cognitive neuroscientists.

• The culmination of 45 years of reflection on the philosophy of mind, epistemology, and the nature of the human person
• No other book in epistemology or philosophy of psychology provides such extensive overviews of consciousness, self-consciousness, intentionality, mastery of a language, knowledge, belief, memory, sensation and perception, thought and imagination
• Illustrated with tables, tree-diagrams, and charts to provide overviews of the conceptual relationships disclosed by analysis
• Written by one of Britain’s best philosophical minds
• A sequel to Hacker’s Human Nature: The Categorial Framework
• An essential guide and handbook for all who are working in philosophy of mind, epistemology, psychology, cognitive science, and cognitive neuroscience

Preface xi

Introduction: The Project 1 Prolegomena 9

Chapter 1 Consciousness as the Mark of the Mental 11

1. Consciousness as a mark of modernity 11

2. The genealogy of the concept of consciousness 15

3. The analytic of consciousness 19

4. The early modern philosophical conception of consciousness 33

5. The dialectic of consciousness I 40

6. The contemporary philosophicall3-