Background
Abelson, Raziel Alter was born on June 24, 1921 in New York City. Son of Alter and Anna (Schwartz) Abelson.
(While the ancients described the world as a single organi...)
While the ancients described the world as a single organism and the medieval view was theological in nature, modern thought has envisioned the world as a mechanism composed of smaller mechanisms. Raziel Abelson argues that this mechanistic explanation, when applied to human action, is dangerous because it 'threatens us with a kind of spiritual annihilation and it undermines our belief in freedom of the will and with it the reality of choice, value, and moral responsibility. In "Lawless Mind", he presents a theory about the relationship between mind and body in order to show how voluntary actions can be causally explained while still allowing for free will. Abelson attempts to reconcile the centuries-old debate between determinists and free-willers by making a distinction between two kinds of causality. 'The impact of this mechanistic view on psychology, ethics, and politics is such as to replace moral judgment with the search for causal mechanisms. In psychology it results in reducing moral wisdom to medical therapy, in politics it reduces statesmanship to game theory and rational persuasion to behavioral modification, and in ethics it reduces moral responsibility to social conformity. If we are all programmed automata, as mechanism suggests, then the way to improve our performances is to hire a mechanic of the mind to tinker with our wiring. Is this the way to think about ourselves? I shall try to show that it is not'. Abelson's novel theory of mind and psychological causality provides solutions for problems in metaphysics, ethics, psychology, and the social sciences. The issues addressed include free will and responsibility, mind-body interaction, models of psychotherapy, causal explanations in sociology, and the difference between minds and computers. Raziel Abelson is Professor of Philosophy at New York University and author of "Persons: A Study of Philosophical Psychology".
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0877225796/?tag=2022091-20
(This book is meant to be more than a collection of distin...)
This book is meant to be more than a collection of distinguished essays. It is intended to demonstrate the method, as it presents the material, for teaching students to think philosophically about good and evil." Includes philosophical essays by great philosophers such as: Plato, Aristotle, John Dewey, Immanuel Kant, David Hume, St. Thomas Aquinas, Bertrand Russell and more.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BU46C2/?tag=2022091-20
Abelson, Raziel Alter was born on June 24, 1921 in New York City. Son of Alter and Anna (Schwartz) Abelson.
Student, Brooklyn College, 1938-1940; Master of Arts, University of Chicago, 1950; Doctor of Philosophy, New York University, 1957.
Instructor philosophy Hunter College, New York City, 1950-1952. Professor philosophy New York University, since 1953. Visiting professor Columbia University, 1962, University Hawaii, 1965.
Visiting professor State University of New York at Buffalo, 1967, University California at San Diego, 1970. Visiting scholar Institute Advanced Studies Behavioral Sciences, Stanford, 1965.
(While the ancients described the world as a single organi...)
( Ethics for Modern Life, an anthology of classic and con...)
(a book on the moral concerns of the individual dealing wi...)
(This book is meant to be more than a collection of distin...)
(Slight shelf wear, few creases to cover. Some writing but...)
Served with United States Maritime Service, 1941-1946. Member American Association University Professors, American Philosophical Association.
Son of Alter and Anna (Schwartz) A. M. Ulrike Koenigsfeld, August 24, 1947 (divorced). 1 son, Gabriel; m. Marie-Louise Friquegnon, 1973.
1 daughter, Maris.