PhilosophersUllin T. Place
Ullin T. Place
Consciousness is a brain process, as lightning is an electrical discharge.
Analytic philosophy1924 · 2000 United KingdomNorthallerton
Life
British philosopher and psychologist (1924-2000), known for his 1956 paper arguing that consciousness is a brain process. He understands this identity like that of lightning with an electrical discharge, established by science rather than by logic. With Smart and Feigl he is a founder of the identity theory of mind.
Main works
1956
Is Consciousness a Brain Process?
The identity of consciousness with a brain process is a reasonable scientific hypothesis.
In his own words
« ‘Consciousness is a process in the brain’, on my view is neither self-contradictory nor self-evident; it is a reasonable scientific hypothesis, in the way that the statement ‘lightning is a motion of electric charges’ is a reasonable scientific hypothesis. »
Positions
click a row to see the evidenceIs the mind more than matter?Mind and body
MaterialismDualism
Stated
Consciousness is a process in the brain, identical to it as lightning is to an electrical discharge.
Place, "Is Consciousness a Brain Process?", British Journal of Psychology (1956)