Donald Talton (on another thread) asked:
Is there any literature out there regarding Objectivism and the mind/body problem? Indeed, there is, quite a bit of it, stretching all the way from Rand's wonderful 1963 review of John Herman Randall's Aristotle up to my and Diana Hsieh's 2003 pieces. I have compiled a brief bibliography of books, essays/articles (some online), and taped lectures for your perusal. No doubt other sources exist, for instance, in Objectivity and less prominent Objectivist-related journals. Also, Robert Efron's late 60s and early 70s essays in academic journals should be consulted for helpful nuggets. But this should get you started!
And, by the way, the following list construes mind-body rather more broadly than you may have been asking about. The issue of free will/determinism and "mental causation" so frequently overlaps the mind-body issue that I decided to throw it all in together. Happy reading/listening! REB
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Rand, Ayn. 1963. Aristotle by John Herman Randall. The Objectivist Newsletter, May 1963, Vol. 2, No. 5, 18-19.
Locke, Edwin. 1966. The contradiction of epiphenomenalism. British Journal of
Psychology. Vol. 57, 203-204.
Efron, Robert. 1968. Biology without consciousness—and its consequences. In The Objectivist, Vol. 7, Nos. 5-8 (February to May), 405-14, 423-7, 441-7, 457-61.
Branden, Nathaniel. 1969. The Psychology of Self-Esteem: a New Concept of Man’s Psychological Nature. (See especially the first several chapters, including the section “The Contradiction of Determinism.”)
Dwyer, William. 1972. The contradiction of the “The Contradiction of Determinism.” The Personalist. Winter 1972.
____________. 1973. A reply to David Bold. Summer 1973.
Bissell, Roger. 1974. Dual-aspect theory of mind. Reason Papers.
http://members.aol.com/REBissell/indexmm3.html (See Bissell 2003 below for a more recent, more fully developed version of the view presented in this essay.)
Machan, Tibor R. 1974. The Pseudo-Science of B. F. Skinner.
Kelley, David. 1981. The primacy of existence. The Objectivist Forum. Vol. 2, No. 5 (October).
___________. 1986. The Evidence of the Senses. Baton Rouge, LA: Lousiana State University Press. (Kelley’s 1981 essay is reproduced in the opening chapter of this book.)
___________. 1986. The nature of free will. The Foundations of Knowledge. Audio lecture available from Principal Source, Poughkeepsie, New York.
Binswanger, Harry, 1991. Volition as cognitive self-regulation, in OrganizationalBehavior and Human Decision Processes. Available as booklet from Ayn Rand Store website.
Peikoff, Leonard. 1991. Objectivism: the Philosophy of Ayn Rand. (See especially his discussion of materialism and idealism.)
Mozes, Eyal. 1994. Reality of Mind. Objectivity, vol. 2, no. 1.
Branden, Nathaniel. 1997. The Art of Living Consciously. (See chapter 6 for a view of mind-body that is definitely not mainstream Objectivism, but, Branden claims, consistent with conversations he held with Rand on the subject.)
Binswanger, Harry. 1998. The Metaphysics of Consciousness. Taped lecture series. Available from Ayn Rand Book Store website.
______________. 1999. Free Will. Same information as above.
______________. [Undated]. Free Will and Values. Same information as above.
Machan, Tibor R. 2000. Initiative: Human Agency and Society.
Kelley, David. 2001. Free will vs. determinism. Perennial Questions of Objectivism, lecture 5. Summer Seminar of The Objectivist Center, Johnstown, Penn. Available from Principal Source, Poughkeepsie, New York.
Dwyer, William. 2001. Do knowledge, ethics, and liberty require free will? Journal of Ayn Rand Studies. Fall 2001. Vol. 3, No. 1.
Lyons, George B. 2002. Compatibilism and evolution. Journal of Ayn Rand Studies. Fall 2002. Vol. 4, No. 1.
Machan, Tibor R. 2002. Free will reconsidered. Journal of Ayn Rand Studies. Fall 2002. Vol. 4, No. 1.
Dwyer, William. 2002. Free will and determinism. Journal of Ayn Rand Studies. Fall 2002. Vol. 4, No. 1.
Bissell, Roger. 2003. Mind and will as objective phenomena: the ontological status of introspective data. Advanced Seminar of The Objectivist Center, Waltham, Mass.
http://www.objectivistcenter.org/events/advsem03/BissellMindandWill.pdf
(Note: this paper is currently under extensive revision for future publication. Please address questions to the author at rebissell@aol.com before assuming that this is the author’s current position on the matter.)
Hsieh, Diana. 2003. Analytics on Mind: An Objectivist Survey of Analytic Philosophy of Mind. Advanced Seminar of The Objectivist Center, Waltham, Mass.
http://www.objectivistcenter.org/events/advsem03/HsiehAnalyticsontheMind.pdf
__________. 2003. Mind in Objectivism: A Survey of Objectivist Commentary on Philosophy of Mind. http://www.dianahsieh.com/papers/mio.doc
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