Prehension Prehended

Did I mention that my book Prehension recently came out? I have held it in my hands. It’s a funny book. It’s not really a philosophy book, but a science book. But it’s more like nineteenth century science, informal and personal, as well as “scientific”. The title alludes both to gripping with the hands and grasping with the mind (any reference to Whitehead is quite accidental). I adopt a very biological view of the mind, though without the usual reductionism. I intend it to be “meaningful” in the sense of summing up the human condition. We are very odd creatures when you look at it closely; my book is odd too.

Share
6 replies
  1. Alan
    Alan says:

    I thoroughly enjoyed reading Prehension, thank you.
    …stab (!) in the dark here…
    If human language and the thoughts conveyed by it each result from a prehensive palimpsest then does that offer theoretical support for the truth of externalism as a theory of mental content?
    Furthermore, if thoughts involving ostensive concepts have their roots in prehension, then can’t the self (itself a locus of indexicality) be ‘explained’ in prehensive terms?
    The (human) self is just that which deictically grasps?

    Reply
  2. Alan
    Alan says:

    Whilst I cannot plausibly imagine how feeling could be a kind of grasping, I thought (part of) your thesis was that perception is basically how a human subject ‘grasps’ its environment? Grasping is in some sense anterior to and perhaps even necessary for perception?

    Reply
  3. Alan
    Alan says:

    Actually the self can’t usually grasp anything without feeling it too. And this is in some way literally the case. Not playing with words.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.