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Egenis Book launch: Mind as Metaphor, by Adam Toon—with a response by Professor Daniel D. Hutto (University of Wollongong)

Egenis seminar series

This event will celebrate the publication of Adam Toon’s new book, Mind as Metaphor: A Defence of Mental Fictionalism (Oxford University Press, 2023).


Event details

We often think of the mind as an inner world. Once, this inner world might have been a spirit or soul - a ‘ghost in the machine’, in Gilbert Ryle's memorable phrase. Nowadays, we are told it will be found in the brain. Mind as Metaphor argues that this is a mistake. In fact, our concept of mind is fundamentally metaphorical: we project the ‘outer world’ of human culture onto the ‘inner world’ of the mind. This is an enormously powerful way of making sense of people and their behaviour. But we must not forget that this inner world is only a useful fiction.

The event will feature a talk responding to the book by Professor Daniel D. Hutto, Senior Professor of Philosophical Psychology at the University of Wollongong. Professor Hutto is one of the world’s leading philosophers of mind and cognitive science. His most recent books include Folk Psychological Narratives (MIT, 2008) as well as Radicalizing Enactivism (MIT, 2013) and Evolving Enactivism (MIT, 2017) (both co-authored with Erik Myin).

Venue: Byrne House, St German's Road, Streatham campus.

Online: via Zoom

Register here

Mind as Metaphor (Oxford University Press)