Brian McLaughlin

contemporaryAnalytic Philosophy of Mind

b. 1951

Brian P. McLaughlin is an American philosopher of mind and professor at Rutgers University, known for his work on consciousness, mental causation, and the philosophy of psychology. He has contributed significantly to debates about physicalism, emergentism, and the explanatory gap, and co-edited influential volumes including the Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Mind.

Notable Achievements

Coined the term 'British Emergentism' in influential work tracing the history of emergentist thought

Co-edited the Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Mind (2009)

Significant contributions to debates on the explanatory gap and a priori deducibility in consciousness

Extensive work on mental causation and the exclusion problem

Long-standing professorship and chairmanship at Rutgers University's philosophy department

Positions & Arguments(1)

Consciousness & Mind

claim

Whether a priori deducibility from the explanans is sufficient for explaining consciousness depends in part on the nature of the premises from which the deduction proceeds