Ernst Mach’s contributions to the philosophy of mind *
Routledge eBooks July 6, 2018 DOI: 10.4324/9780429508134-5 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Historical analysis Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Philosophy of mind |
| Key points | Recounts Mach's transition from physics to psychology in 1860 and his self-experimentation in Graz after lacking a laboratory and funds. It reports that Mach's hypothesis was challenged by Morrone et al., who attributed the phenomenon to spatial frequency Fourier components, yet the hypothesis survives in some form, including explanations based on retinal on- and off-center surround regions identified by Hubel and Wiesel. |
Abstract
Ernst Mach was trained as a physicist in Vienna. He entered psychology in 1860, when the appearance of Fechner&s;s two-volume Elemente der Psychophysik had an electrifying effect upon him. As regards philosophy, Mach tells us later in the Analysis of Sensations that, during the 1860s, he was pulled toward a Herbartian "psycho-physical monadology" and toward panpsychist and "idealist" views. Mach&s;s first job was as a professor of mathematics in Graz. Lacking a physical laboratory and funds to do research, he turned to a series of psychological experiments, with himself as subject. Mach&s;s hypothesis has been challenged, for example by Morrone et al., who claimed the spectrum of the spatial frequency Fourier components accounted for the phenomenon, but it still survives in some form, even today where the phenomenon is accounted for in terms of on- and off-center surround regions in the retina discovered by Hubel and Wiesel.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on philosophy of mind, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Psychosis as a state of aberrant salience: a framework linking biology, phenomenology, and pharmacology in schizophrenia. | 2003 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| From dopamine to salience to psychosis--linking biology, pharmacology and phenomenology of psychosis. | 2005 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| How do the brain's time and space mediate consciousness and its different dimensions? Temporo-spatial theory of consciousness (TTC). | 2017 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The phenomenology of deep brain stimulation-induced changes in OCD: an enactive affordance-based model. | 2013 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Looking for the Self: Phenomenology, Neurophysiology and Philosophical Significance of Drug-induced Ego Dissolution | 2017 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |