...Cartesian Dualism vs. the Identity Theory Dualism is a view that attempts to explain the relationship between mind and matter. Aristotle and Plato have tackled their version on dualism. Cartesian means “pertaining to the thought of Descartes” according to Edward Feser, “Philosophy of Mind.” Cartesian Dualism originates from Rene Descartes whose version of dualism is well known and an accepted explanation of the mind and body being vastly different. Let’s go deeper in the thoughts of Descarte’s and the support to the validity of his view on dualism. According to Professor Edward Feser’s book “Philosophy of Mind” Descarte’s “dualism claims that there is a difference between the mind and the body. Basically the mind is different from the body. We need a body to sustain life, whereas Descarte’s view is that the mind is an immaterial object. The mind allows a person to think, hope, believe and even doubt. These exist only in the mind and not a physical object. They are not physical, but the body is. Cartesian dualism clearly separates the conscious (mind) as a separate non-material form. Now let’s look deeper into the physical aspects of the body and the physical aspect of the mind. Descarte’s view depicts the body and the mind as extremely different. The body is a materialistic object; it has height, width, has movement and takes up physical space. The body itself is full of chemicals, water, tissue, organs and a skeletal frame that makes the body a physical object. These...
Words: 1232 - Pages: 5
...Philosophy of mind * Dualism: Mind and body distinctly exist -Plato, Descartes * Substance dualism: the mind is an independently existing substance * Property dualism: the mind is a group of independent properties that emerge from and cannot be reduced to the brain, but that it is not a distinct substance * Monism: mind and body are not ontologically distinct kinds of entities, i.e. independent substances. -Parmenides, Spinoza * Physicalist: only entities postulated by physical theory exist, and that mental processes will eventually be explained in terms of these entities as physical theory continues to evolve. * Behaviorism: dualism and physicalism both make categorical mistakes * Type identity theory: Type the tokenevery token instantiation of a single mental type corresponds to a physical token of a single physical type. * Anomalous monism: Token without typeType identity: the token-token correspondences can fall outside of the type-type correspondences. Davidson: mental events are identical with physical events, the mental is anomalous, and i.e. relationships between these mental events are not describable by strict physical laws. Supervenience vs realization * ------------------------------------------------- Functionalism: mental states (beliefs, desires, being in pain, tic.) are constituted solely by their functional role, i.e. they are causal relations to other mental states, sensory inputs and behavioral outputs. *...
Words: 625 - Pages: 3
...Substance Dualism vs. Materialism At the center of the debate over human nature, the existence of free will, and the validity of science are two opposing viewpoints: materialism and dualism. Dualism is the belief that a person is made up of two kinds of substances: physical matter and above all else, an immaterial force known as the mind, or soul. Materialism refutes dualism, asserting that man and matter are inseparable, and that there is no mysterious, supernatural force directing our actions. Both viewpoints were derived in an attempt to place philosophy on firmer, more scientific ground. The arguments of Descartes and Hobbes for substance dualism and materialism, respectively, are representative of this debate. Although materialism and dualism have their own internal problems and flaws, I will argue that many of the objections that have been leveled against materialism can be met and that, on the whole, materialism is a much more plausible theory than dualism. The Greek philosopher Socrates believed that nothing could be certain without divine knowledge, which no man possesses. However, René Descartes, a 16th century French philosopher believed that some things could be determined to be certain as long as they were deduced through the proper methods. This method, known as the method of doubt, led Descartes to the foundational beliefs that became the basis for Substance Dualism. Simply put, Substance Dualism is the belief that there are two types of substances:...
Words: 1973 - Pages: 8
...Humanities prof. Coleridge Chris Final essay “Brain vs Mind” [pic] Alessandro Acquaviva E060478 INDEX The Mind-Brain Problem 3 Background of the problem 4 Evaluating the three proposed solutions 6 Weak Dualism 7 Strong Dualism 9 The relevance of Parapsychology 11 Conclusions 12 The Mind-Brain Problem The mind-brain problem raises the question as to whether the mind is no more than the idle side-effect of our brain processes or whether the mind can, in some degree, influence behaviour. Here we rehearse the arguments on both sides plus some recent attempts to eliminate mind altogether. However contentious, the philosophical problem, as distinct from the physiological problem, can be stated quite simply as follows: What, essentially, is the relationship between events in the brain and those private, subjective experiences that together constitute our inner mental life? We need not assume here that consciousness is synonymous with mind - consciousness may well be no more than just one aspect of mind - but, with respect to the problem at issue, it is the existence of consciousness that is critical. Stated thus, the problem admits of only three basic answers: 1) Events in the brain, operating in accordance with the laws of physics, determine completely both our behaviour and our subjective experiences. 2) Mental events may be elicited by events in the brain or they may, in turn, elicit brain events and so influence the course of our behaviour...
Words: 5362 - Pages: 22
...Cervantes Society of America FORUM Against Dualisms: A Response to Henry Sullivan* HOWARD MANCING n a recent essay entitled “Don Quixote de la Mancha: Analyzable or Unanalyzable?” published in this journal, Henry W. Sullivan makes the case for the psychoanalysis of literary characters. While there is much to ponder in Sullivan's essay, there are two points, both involving dualisms, that I would like to discuss. In the first case, Sullivan argues insightfully and convincingly against an absolute distinction between how we know and think about fictional characters and how we know and think about real people. In the second case, however, Sullivan insists on an absolute (Cartesian) mind-body dualism as a cornerstone of psychoanalytic theory. I would like to repeat and extend Sullivan's argument in the first case, but refute it and deny its validity in the second. First dualism: Fact/Fiction Sullivan cites as representative of a certain widely-shared approach Maud Ellmann's insistence that there is an important distinction between a “human being made of flesh and character made of words” (5), a distinction that allows us to make one kind statement about the former but not the latter. Ellmann is not alone in making the real-life/fictional distinction a fundamental matter of ontology. We are all familiar with arguments like hers, having heard * For a response to this response, see “Don Quixote & the ‘Third Term’ as Solvent of Binary Dualisms: A Response to Howard Mancing”, by...
Words: 7711 - Pages: 31
...between those 2 cones/ if miss L, then can’t tell red from green Blue/yellow: (s-s+m/2) Explicit: conscious Episodic/semantic Implicit: skill memory LTP: stronger synaptic connection Long term: grow more receptors on post synapse anatomical Short term: amount of neurons Turing machine Single vs double dissociation Single: one manipulation Double: two manipulations Visual angle Grandmother cell a lot of cells respond for Halle Berry Do not respond only to Halle Berry Math: impossibly large number of neurons Only 100 images do not necessarily show that those cells only respond to one concept Size constancy: If no depth cue/ with out size constancy; then same visual angle same proximal size and same perceived size. s Alternative: different difficulties of those 2 tasks Mediate by separate part of brain regions Color constancy Binding: different percepts What is intelligence? (Cartesian) Dualism, identity theory, functionalism The Turing test (and objections to it) Aunt Bertha machine Linear vs. exponential scaling Dualism: mind is nonphysical substance Identity theory: same mind state means the same brain state Problem of strict...
Words: 4004 - Pages: 17
...physiological basis of psychology and most importantly behaviour. The perspective primarily uses the experimental method and has been criticized for being too reductionist and for using non-human animals. Strengths By knowing the physiological basis of behaviour we can treat symptoms with drugs evolutionary theory can explain things that would otherwise be unexplainable Weaknesses It is difficult to seperate genetic influence from environmental influence It's reductionistic Can't explain altruism well Historical Context The biological perspective was created as a reaction to the theory of dualism, that the mind and the brain are two seperate entities. Some important researchers in the development of the biological perspective are: Plato-nativism Darwin- Outlined evolution and the idea of nativism and heredity Jean Baptiste Lamarck-studied heredity Phineas Gage- Brain injury has the ability to affect behaviour II. Key Concepts Heredity- influence of genes Nativism- certain traits are inately hardwired at birth Evolution Hemisphere specialization Neurotransmission Localization Evolution Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS = Alarm, Resistance, Exhaustion) Biological preparedness Basic Assumptions There are four main basic assumptions of the biological perspective: Behavior is biologically determined Behavior has a genetic basis Localization of function Animals may be used to help understand human behavior Which basic assumption would...
Words: 575 - Pages: 3
...well as an array of other scenarios trigger such behaviors. “Humans are complex creatures whose psychological experience lies at the intersection of biology and culture”(Kowalski & Westen, 2005). Psychology was (in some perspectives) stumbled upon in very early biological studies. It was observed that patients with head trauma injuries were test subjects to the identification of the correlation between the human brain and physical responses. This discovery opened the door to the study of human psychology. The finding that the human brain interacted with the body in producing reactions and actions led to an entirely new world of study filled with fascinating aspects, now known as psychology. The foundation of psychology is built largely upon philosophy and was rooted from such philosophers such as Aristotle and Descartes. Psychology has been traced back as far as the seventeenth century, but did not evolve into a separate discipline until the 1800’s. Rene Descartes was the first to introduce dualism. Dualism is the assertion that the mind and body are two separate entities that interact together to form the human experience. The debates of yesterday are still often contemplated. For example...
Words: 1340 - Pages: 6
...is timeless, REASON, we get his nature via revelation Tillich - symbols unlock things from God Bultmann -demythologising stories Wittgenstein -picture theory of language, language games James -physcology, empiricism,pluralism, pragmatism -passive, ineffable, noetic, transient -Philosopher/ Phychologist -rel exp has mental dimension, not just this -truth is in the results! Otto -Wholly Other Schliemacher -emotional experiences Buber -I thou relationship Feuerbach - God is man in large letters Freud - God stems from childhood Jung -rel exp is a result of collective unconscious Alston -rel exp may be the same as normal exp? Broad -blind society Hume -“transgression of a natural law” = miracles -miracle occurred Vs witnesses mistaken? (whats more likely?) -practical case against miracles (insane,supernatural, ignorant,pluralism) Holland -“too coincidental...
Words: 588 - Pages: 3
...history people around the world thought if one with illness, physical, sensory or mental impairment were thought of as under the spell of witchcraft, possessed by demons or big sinners, being punished by god for wrong doing by themselves or their parents (Medical model vs social model, 2007). These ideas still remain some power, in different cultures. Before the development of medical science, quasi – religious views of health and illness were dominant, whereby illness was connected with sin, penance and evil spirits. This dominant view had conceived the body and soul as a sacred entity beyond the power of human intervention. The influence of scientific disconnect, linked diseased organs with symptoms observed before death. Pasteur’s germ theory, eventually endorsed a belief in the separation of body and soul. This view came to be known as mind/body dualism, referred to a Cartesian dualism after the philosopher Rene Descartes 1590-1650 which refers to a belief that the mind and body are separate entities, which ignores the psychological and subjective aspects of illness. Descartes suggest that although the mind and body interacted with one another with the say of “I think therefore I am”. He identifies that the brain was part of the physical body, whereas the mind existed in the spiritual realm. Therefore medicine could rightly practise on the body while religion could focus on the soul (Capra, 1982; Porter, 1997). This created their intervention of the biomedical model, as disease...
Words: 1364 - Pages: 6
...should the subject of psychology deal with? What methods of research should be used when studying psychology? Should research be used in order to influence education, public policy and other aspects of human behavior? Is psychology a science? Should psychology focus on internal mental processes or on observable behavior? Physiology and Philosophy While psychology did not really emerge as a separate science until the latter half of the 19th century, its initial history can be traced right back to the ancient Greeks. During the 1600's, the famous French philosopher, Rene Descartes, introduced the concept of dualism, which stressed on the fact the body and the mind were basically two separate entities that interacted together to form the normal human experience. Many of the other issues that are still debated by psychologists today, like relative contributions of nature vs. nurture, are deep-rooted in these early philosophical concepts. So why is psychology different from...
Words: 1199 - Pages: 5
...Consciousness and its Place in Nature David J. Chalmers 1 Introduction1 Consciousness fits uneasily into our conception of the natural world. On the most common conception of nature, the natural world is the physical world. But on the most common conception of consciousness, it is not easy to see how it could be part of the physical world. So it seems that to find a place for consciousness within the natural order, we must either revise our conception of consciousness, or revise our conception of nature. In twentieth-century philosophy, this dilemma is posed most acutely in C. D. Broad’s The Mind and its Place in Nature (Broad 1925). The phenomena of mind, for Broad, are the phenomena of consciousness. The central problem is that of locating mind with respect to the physical world. Broad’s exhaustive discussion of the problem culminates in a taxonomy of seventeen different views of the mental-physical relation.2 On Broad’s taxonomy, a view might see the mental as nonexistent (“delusive”), as reducible, as emergent, or as a basic property of a substance (a “differentiating” attribute). The physical might be seen in one of the same four ways. So a fourby-four matrix of views results. (The seventeenth entry arises from Broad’s division of the substance/substance view according to whether one substance or two is involved.) At the end, three views are left standing: those on which mentality is an emergent characteristic of either a physical substance or a neutral substance,...
Words: 20912 - Pages: 84
...FUNCTIONS OF BRAIN PARTS - AMYGDALA: memory, emotion, aggression - HYPOTHALAMUS: basic biological functions (hunger thirst, temperature, sexual arousal, emotion - MEDULLA: vital functions (breathing, heart rate) - CEREBELLUM: coordinated movement, language, thinking - THALAMUS: switching station for sensory info; memory - SPINAL CORD: transmits signals between brain & rest of body CORTICAL HOMUNCULUS (Sensory & Motor) - picture representation of the anatomical divisions of primary motor & primary somatosensory cortex - “distortion” not based on size of body part greater representation = greater sensitivity - areas have to do with motor neurons DORSAL ANTERIOR -------(< ‘ )-------POSTERIOR (ROSTRAL) (CAUDAL) VENTRAL LATERAL -------- < : )8( MEDIAL )~ -------- LATERAL METHODS OF LOCALIZATION - assign specific functions to particular places in the cerebral cortex - LESION STUDIES: any pathologic or traumatic discontinuity of brain tissue - SURGERY: Wada Test (anesthetize one hem), Tumor Removal, Split Brain - INFERENCE STUDIES (talk while balancing broom) - FUNCTIONAL IMAGING - PET (positron emission tomography): track blood flow associated w/ brain activity; used to assess physiology, including glucose & oxygen metabolism, and presence of specific neurotransmitters - SPECT (single photon emission...
Words: 4014 - Pages: 17
...Psych 100, Notes Sept. 6, 2012 History and Perspectives * Definitions of Psychology * The science of mental life (William James, 1890) * “The study of human or animal behaviour” (Webster’s Dictionary 1988) * “The scientific study of behavior and mind” “The scientific study of behaviour and its causes” (Passer & Smith) * Roots of the Word * Psyche – Greek for soul * Logos – Greek for the study of a subject * Related Fields * Philosophy * Rene Decartes (1595-1650) Dualism (interactionism) * Body is physical entity * Mind is nonphysical entity * Mind and body are separate, distinct entities involved in the production of behaviour * Pineal gland (Used for mind and body to communicate) * Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) * Materialism – position that since nothing exists other than matter and energy the concept of soul is meaningless * Form of monism * Empiricism (Position that all human knowledge and thought are derived from sensory experience * Branch of Biology concerned with the scientific study of how living organisms function (Muller, Helmholtz, Fechner) * Birth of Psychology * Wilhelm Wundt * Established first independent psychology lab at university of Leipzig 1879 (birth of psychology) * Established first psychology journal 1881 * Studied consciousness (one’s awareness...
Words: 1977 - Pages: 8
...RENE DESCARTES’ METHODS OF DOUBT Introduction The theory of knowledge and analytical method advanced by the French philosopher Rene Descartes is often summed up in the famous phrase, Cogito ergo sum- “I think, therefore I am.” While this phrase does express the final step in his systematic process of “doubting everything,” it is a gross over-simplification of Descartes’ methods. Descartes did use systematic doubt to find the starting point for his theory of knowledge, but his other philosophical inquiries involved several different methods of doubting, from simply imagining that which is contradictory, to carrying logical postulates to absurd conclusions, to the more traditional methods of testing syllogisms and analyzing proofs. In this essay, I will examine Rene Descartes’ various methods of doubt, to show that the philosopher did not rely on the single reductio ad absurdum in his famous proof of his own existence. Descartes, as we will see, employed several different approaches to philosophical proofs, and he was not the mechanistic logician that his mathematical background might suggest. It will be the argument of this essay that Descartes applied different methods of doubt to different problems, depending upon whether the problem was epistemological, scientific or theological in nature. Existential Doubt: Do I Exist? The first and best-known method of doubt employed by Descartes involves reductionism, in the sense that he used a negative or reverse logical path...
Words: 2190 - Pages: 9
