Do any of the items on the reading list besides Yudkowsky's sequence deal with dissolving the question to cognitive algorithms? I don't know if this idea has been spotted in academia or if it's just a LessWrong/AI-researcher-turned-philosopher thing.
Also, I would recommend adding Gary Drescher's Good and Real to the list.
Duh, Drescher! Added. Thanks.
As for dissolving the question to cognitive algorithms, there are certainly many philosophers and scientists who have written about why the brain produces certain unfounded debates in philosophy. See...
...in this comment.
Reductionism "from mystery to science" is hardly a reductionism...
Godel Escher Bach (by Douglas Hofstadter) is what put me into the reductionist camp, but I imagine other things could do it faster.
I'm really glad that I read Hayawaka's Language in Thought and Action after Eliezer's recommendations.
Physics textbooks helped me gain some insights. Reductionism is in the equations. The way that complex behavior such as masses bouncing on springs or arbitrary waves can always be broken down into sums of simpler behavior. I would look up Fourier transforms and superimposition of normal modes.
The way that complex behavior such as masses bouncing on springs or arbitrary waves can always be broken down into sums of simpler behavior
"Always" in textbook examples. Not always in all cases: the intractable cases don;t make it into textbooks. Physiists have written against the assumption of universal reductionism.
I can't endorse everything in all these works, but they each provide insights into understanding reduction.
What else do ya'll recommend?