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?