the philosophy of mind

7/27/2019 The Philosophy of Mind

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The Philosophy of Mind

Dualism vs Monism


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What is the Philosophy of mind

Relationship between mind and body

Identity Individual knowledge


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Philosophers from ancient times to the present have struggled

to understand the nature of the mind or soul, the nature of

body, and the relations between them.

Ancient thinkers, both eastern and western, have questioned

whether there is some essential connection between the soul

and God, whereas others have claimed that minds are physicalthings.

Are the mind and body one entity or are they two entirely

different entities?

What do you guys think before we start?


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Dualism

There are three basic kinds of dualism Substance (Descartes)

Mental substances are different from physical substances.

Not only are the properties of a mental state are different from theproperties of a physical state but they are made of different things

Property The qualitative nature of consciousness is different from merely

physical states it is emergent from those physical states but not thesame

Predicate1) Mental predicates are necessary for a complete theory of the world

2) Mental predicates cannot be reduced to physical predicates

E.g. water = h2o vs pain = firing of nerve fibres


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Dualism

The differences between them are significant

but for the purposes of this session we will

look at Descartes notion of dualism


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How do the mind and body interact?

If the mind and body are two separate entities

then there must be some way in which they

interact right?

What do you guys think how can they

interact?


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Descartes Fast facts

Born 31 March 1596

La Haye en Touraine, Touraine,France

Died 11 February 1650 (aged 53)

Stockholm, Sweden

Nationality French

Era 17th-century philosophy

Region Western Philosophy

Religion Roman Catholic

Main interests Metaphysics, Epistemology,

Mathematics

Notable ideas Cogito ergo sum,

method of doubt,Cartesian coordinate system,

Cartesian dualism,

ontological argument for the

existence of Christian God,


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Descartes response Descartes dedicated much time to the study of the pineal (Pine-cone

shaped) gland, has called it the "principal seat of the soul." He

believed that it was the point of connection between the intellect

and the body.

Descartes attached significance to the gland because he

believed it to be the only section of the brain which existed

as a single part, rather than one half of a pair.

He argued that because a person can never have "more than

one thought at a time," external stimuli must be united

within the brain before being considered by the soul, and he

considered the pineal gland to be situated in "the most

suitable possible place for thispurpose," located centrally in

the brain and surrounded by

branches of the carotid arteries


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Interactionism

To at least some degree mental states can cause physical states and

vice versa

Epiphenomenalism

Mental events are caused by physical events but not vice versa

Parallelism

Mental events and physical events are in a kinds of continual harmony

but neither causes the other


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A dualist problem

The strangeness of the mental Mental events have two unique properties

Subjectivity i.e. we experience them in a way which ispotential different from others

Intentionality i.e. we at least feel as though we intentionallychose a particular action (back to the free will debate)

Physical events have Extension is space and time i.e. they take place in the 3D

universe that we experience

Are causally connectedi.e. are linked to previous events (aswe discussed in the last session)

How do we locate subjectivity and intentionality inspace and time?


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Dualism conclusion

Essentially the idea is based on some notion

of the soul or higher power which is involved

in human action

What do you thinkare you convinced?


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Monism

The entire universe is made up of one entity


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Spinoza fast facts

Born 24 November 1632

Amsterdam, Dutch Republic

Died 21 February 1677 (aged 44)

The Hague, Dutch Republic

Residence Netherlands

Nationality DutchEra 17th-century philosophy

Region Western Philosophy

Religion Jewish

School Rationalism, founder of Spinozism

Main interests Ethics, Epistemology, Metaphysics

Notable ideas Pantheism, Determinism,neutral

monism, intellectual and religious

freedom/separation of church and state,

Criticism of Mosaic authorship of some

books of the Hebrew Bible, Political

society derived from power not contrac


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Spinoza

Spinoza argued that based on Cartesian* assumptions,the apparent interaction of body and soul is a completemystery, those assumptions must be altered.

This is an early insight into the scientific method i.e.something which cannot be verified can be assumed tobe true or false

*Descartes name is Cartesius in Latin


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Spinoza continued

Spinoza argues that the entire universe is soul-

like

Spinozas monistic idealism identifies all that

exists with God. God and nature are two

aspects of one thing. There is no distinct

physical substance apart from God.


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Physicalism

Physicalism is essentially the claim that

everything is physical

If we think about it in terms of the human

being it would argue that all of our thoughts,

emotions, experiences are the result of

chemical processes there is nothing deeper


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The Physicalism problem

Qualia A term used in philosophy to refer to individual

instances of subjective, conscious experience. Examples of qualia

are the pain of a headache, the taste of wine, or the perceived

redness of an evening sky.

A famous neuroscientist is confined to a black and white

room. She learns about the world via black and white

media such as tv, computers, newspapers, etc. Through

study, she learns (knows) all that physical theory can teach

her. When she is released into the world of colour, it isclear that she did not know what it is like for both herself

and others to see colours.


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Another challenge

Intentionality

The aboutness of thought is difficult to explain within a physicalist account of meaning

via a dispositional theory of meaning

a word means what its use suggests e.g. we use the word blue to talk about blue

things)

Imagine a situation in which:

(a) the dispositional theory (i.e. the word blue means the colour blue) is

true

(b) the word red means red for a Josh Back

(c) Josh Back misapplies the word e.g. he describes a white object viewed

through red lenses as red (he doesnt know it s white)

So Josh applies red to things which are either red or white but viewed throughred lenses

Therefore the combination of a, b and c leads to a contradiction

The dispositional account of meaning cannot be true

This idea relies on the theory of knowledge which is the topic for our next session


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The Zombie Case

A zombie is a hypothetical being that is indistinguishable froma normal human being except that it lacks consciousness,qualia1, or sentience2Since a zombie is indistinguishable from human beingsphysiologically and contains all processes that are required tomaintain a human being; its hypothetical possibility is anargument for the presence of advanced human consciousnesswhich is more than the sum of human neurological pathwaysand brain state.

1 The ability to feel, perceive, or be conscious, or to experience subjectivity

2 A term used in philosophy to refer to individual instances of subjective, conscious experience.

Examples of qualia are the pain of a headache, the taste of wine, or the perceived redness of an

evening sky.


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This leads to the question of identity

Is identity the product of our physical

existence or does it represent some deeper

spiritual/metaphysical* world

* Meta - Beyond; transcending


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Teleportation

Lets say we have a teleporterwhich works by mapping everyquantum particle of you,creating an exact replica at the

destination. At the same instant destroying

the original.

The person who steps out of

the machine on the other endwill be an exact replica of me.This person will look, think, andbehave exactly as I do.


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But will this person be me?


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Lets say that the machine breaks and replicates

me at the destination but doesnt destroy me at

the original site.

Are both of these people me?


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More on this next time.


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What do you guys think?

Where do you fall on the monism vs dualism

debate?

Where do you fall on the question of identity?

the philosophy of mind

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