Alien worlds, alien laws, and the Humean conceivability argument

The alien hand syndrome: What makes the alien hand alien?

The alien hand syndrome is a deeply puzzling phenomenon in which brain-damaged patients experience their limb performing seemingly purposeful acts without their intention. Furthermore, the limb may interfere with the actions of their normal limb. We report a case of alien hand syndrome following a left medial frontal and corpus callosum ischemic lesion. From our clinical observations and the pa...

Alien hand sign or alien hand syndrome?

Phenomenology and delusions: who put the 'alien' in alien control?

Although current models of delusion converge in proposing that delusions are based on unusual experiences, they differ in the role that they accord experience in the formation of delusions. On some accounts, the experience comprises the very content of the delusion, whereas on other accounts the delusion is adopted in an attempt to explain an unusual experience. We call these the endorsement an...

The Conceivability Argument for Dualism

I finally turn to an all too cursory discussion of the application of the foregoing considerations to the identity thesis. Identity theorists have been concerned with several distinct types of identifications: of a person with his body, of a particular sensation (or event or state of having the sensation) with a particular brain state (Jones's pain at 06:00 was his C-fiber stimulation at that t...

Alien invaders

Thousands of species have invaded new territories in recent decades, often aided by global trade and man-made habitat change. While many remain harmless, some may cause serious damage. Therefore, we need improvements in surveillance and in our understanding of which factors make a successful invasion possible.