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Patricia Smith Churchland

Patricia Smith Churchland is Chair of the Philosophy Department and the UC President's Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, San Diego, and Adjunct Professor at the Salk Institute. She is past president of the American Philosophical Association and the Society for Philosophy and Psychology.

Titles by This Author

Brain-Wise

Studies in Neurophilosophy
By Patricia Smith Churchland

Progress in the neurosciences is profoundly changing our conception of ourselves. Contrary to time-honored intuition, the mind turns out to be a complex of brain functions. And contrary to the wishful thinking of some philosophers, there is no stemming the revolutionary impact that brain research will have on our understanding of how the mind works.

On the Contrary

Critical Essays, 1987-1997
By Paul M. Churchland and Patricia Smith Churchland

Paul M. and Patricia S. Churchland are towering figures in the fields of philosophy, neuroscience, and consciousness. This collection was prepared in the belief that the most useful and revealing of anyone's writings are often those shorter essays penned in conflict with or criticism of one's professional colleagues. The essays present the Churchlands' critical responses to a variety of philosophical positions advanced by some two dozen philosophical theorists.

Mind-Brain Continuum

Sensory Processes
By Rodolfo R. Llinás and Patricia Smith Churchland

The Computational Brain

By Patricia Smith Churchland and Terrence J. Sejnowski

How do groups of neurons interact to enable the organism to see, decide, and move appropriately? What are the principles whereby networks of neurons represent and compute? These are the central questions probed by The Computational Brain. Churchland and Sejnowski address the foundational ideas of the emerging field of computational neuroscience, examine a diverse range of neural network models, and consider future directions of the field.

Neurophilosophy

Toward a Unified Science of the Mind-Brain
By Patricia Smith Churchland

Neurophilosophy is a rich interdisciplinary study of the prospects for a unified cognitive neurobiology. Contemporary research in the empirical neurosciences, and recent research in the philosophy of mind and the philosophy of science, are used to illuminate fundamental questions concerning the relation between abstract cognitive theory and substantive neuroscience.

Patricia Smith Churchland is Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, San Diego. A Bradford Book.