...Materialism: The view that only the material world (matter) is truly real, and that all processes and realities observed in the universe can be explained by reducing them down to their most basic scientific components, e.g., atoms, molecules Dualism: The view that the world consists of or is explicable as two fundamental entities, such as mind and matter. Eliminative Materialism: Eliminative materialism is the radical claim that our ordinary, common-sense understanding of the mind is deeply wrong and that some or all of the mental states posited by common-sense do not actually exist. Support Reductive Materialism Michael Tye * Proposes that understanding something is not the same as knowing something. * “Understanding what something is is not the same as knowing what it is like to experience that thing.” * The reductive materialist claims that after an adequate explanation of the reduction, the dualist will see that there is a sense in which the mental state is the material state. * Reductive materialism holds that we do have “mental state”, which are the actual experiences themselves, the sensations that are presented to us, whether they be sights, sounds, feelings, tactile sensations, or the woman in red. Dualism The mental state is not identical to the brain state. Paul Churchland * Proposes that...
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...PHI130 10-17-2011 Abstract In the present paper, the issue of mind is discussed in the framework of mind/body problem. While in the times of Aristotle and Plato it was named differently and explained through objects materiality and soul divinity, the modern perception of the same correlation was emphasized by Descartes as body/mind problem. In the present paper, the essence of the problem is outlined in the context of one of the modern philosophies of mind, meaning physicalism. The main aims of this essay is to identify the corner stone of physicalist concept, its main supporting and opposing arguments, and distinguish which position is the strongest one and understand the reason why. Key words: physicalism, body/mind problem, knowledge, exclusion, consciousness. What is mind? In the history of human thought, there were various dilemmas which the brightest minds of their times were trying to solve and which remained enigmas until our times. The mind/body problem is one of those issues. While, in times of Aristotle and Plato, it was named differently and explained through the objects materiality and soul divinity, the modern perception of the same correlation was shaped by Descartes as body/mind problem. In the present paper, the essence of the problem is explained in the context of one of the modern philosophies of mind, meaning physicalism. The main aims of this essay is to identify the corner stone of physicalist concept, its main supporting and opposing arguments...
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...There is a major debate in philosophy called the mind and body debate. This is the debate about what gives us our personal identity as to whether it is our minds, our bodies or whether it is both. A number of philosophers have commented on the mind and body debate. These are dualists, monists and materialists all of which have theories explaining what gives us our personal identity. Dualists believe that the mind and body are separate, monists believe that the mind and body are one but can be separated and materialism is the view that there is no such thing as a mind or a soul and that when we die we die. Philosophers such as Plato and Descartes are dualists. In this dualist argument, Plato presents four arguments for the immortality of the soul which are cyclical – everything comes into existence from its opposite which sets up the cycle of birth and death, recollection- Plato believed that the knowledge we acquire is not learnt but remembered or recollected. Plato believed that the soul existed in a realm of forms before coming into the body, where it acquires this knowledge. As evidence of this he cites the slave boy who has no education but can grasp complex mathematical concepts just like the film ‘Good will hunting’, Affinity – Plato believed that the body has an affinity with the earth and that the soul has the affinity with the eternal real of forms. Because the soul is composite, at death it is dispersed at death and so it returns to the real of form to which it has...
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...Distinction One of the deepest and most lasting legacies of Descartes’ philosophy is his thesis that mind and body are really distinct–a thesis now called “mind-body dualism.” He reaches this conclusion by arguing that the nature of the mind (that is, a thinking, non-extended thing) is completely different from that of the body (that is, an extended, non-thinking thing), and therefore it is possible for one to exist without the other. This argument gives rise to the famous problem of mind-body causal interaction still debated today: how can the mind cause some of our bodily limbs to move (for example, raising one’s hand to ask a question), and how can the body’s sense organs cause sensations in the mind when their natures are completely different? This article examines these issues as well as Descartes’ own response to this problem through his brief remarks on how the mind is united with the body to form a human being. This will show how these issues arise because of a misconception about Descartes’ theory of mind-body union, and how the correct conception of their union avoids this version of the problem. The article begins with an examination of the term “real distinction” and of Descartes’ probable motivations for maintaining his dualist thesis. Table of Contents 1. What is a Real Distinction? 2. Why a Real Distinction? 1. The Religious Motivation 2. The Scientific Motivation 3. The Real Distinction Argument 3. The First Version ...
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...Contemporary theories in cognitive science and the philosophy of mind lend support for the materialist position regarding the mind-body problem. A few of these theories: naturalism, and behaviourism form the basis of why I am a materialist. Dualist approaches offer counter-arguments to Materialism, such as Spiritualism and Interactionism but both empirically fall short. Current research materialistically concludes that mental states are nothing but physical states. As a materialist I would say: There are no souls, the mind is just the brain, everything can by expressed or explained physically. The naturalist in me would more thoroughly assert that nothing exists beyond the natural world, that natural laws are the rules that govern the structure and behavior of the natural universe. That the changing universe at every stage is a product of these laws and this is what forms the basis of my material beliefs. I do not believe in the supernatural, or souls. I believe that biology, neurology and psychology fulfill the soul's supposed function and that the universe developed naturally, without any "creator". inversely, a popular rebuttal to Naturalism is Spiritualism. The Spiritualist would assert we do indeed have souls, and that when we die our soul’s survive the death’s of our bodies by ascending into a spirit existence. While this can be argued for theoretically and rationally, there is no empirical evidence to support such a belief. That leads me to doubt in the validity of...
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...Materialism is a belief in matter, whereas dualism is not its opposite and "vs" has no relevance or meaing because materialism cannot vs dualism. Those who are deprived of the spiritual insights undersand dualism in a lower pedestal than the meaning it has or indicates. Dualism is a state of being or existence in two seemingly opposite entities. Dvaita (dualistic) as clearly defined in Sankhya Philosophy as opposed to Advaita (non-dualistic) monism as clearly defined by Adi Shri Shankaracharya. Though Plato did believe in Dualism and reached a stage of defining the fifth element Ether but he could not grasp the spiritual essense of it completely due to lack of spiritual progress in life. That pertains to matter is materialism. That pertains to Spirit is spiritualism. Spirit and matter are dual states of existence, like night and day, black and white, good and evil and all such seemingly opposites. But, the fact remains that the seemingly opposites cannot exist in isolation from the source and remains within or connected to the source and therefore everything in the world is one unit of undifferentiated Brahman or Sat Chit Ananda (Truth(Existance), Consciousness and Bliss). If the cosmos is a one Monistic Unit of Undifferentiated Brahman, due to the illusion of the senses, the undifferentiated brahman is seen by human beings as differentiated and having separate entitties. Here the division begins, the pattern of two is dualism, then the pattern of three, the pattern of four and...
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...Epiphenomenalism and Physicalism Physicalism, which is often, in contemporary philosophy interchangeably called Materialism, asserts that the physical world, and everything in it conforms to a certain condition, that of being Physical, either as a causal force or as material. The main argument against Physicalism, Jackson’s argument claims that there exists a contradiction between the existence of Qualia (The felt qualities of experience) and Physicalism. Jackson’s argument is given in the form of a thought experiment in which Mary, a neuroscientist, isolated in a black and white room is given all of the physical facts regarding other people, and so must therefore know everything there is to know about other people. However, it is evident in the second premise that because she learns something new about these people upon being released, she must not have known everything there is to know, though the facts she understood hold true, her experience yields new understanding, and as such falsify the first premise. The conclusion to be reached from this argument is that “There are truths about other people (and herself) that escape the physicalist story.”(Stoljar) The Ability Reply, well summarized by David Lewis, distinguishes knowing-that, that is, knowledge of facts, from knowing-how, which would be the ability to imagine, remember, and process in other ways. He identifies knowledge of qualitative experience with specific abilities. In particular, the ability for recall of a specific...
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... 2004). Descartes: Well young man, let me explain a few things that will support my premise in a substantial way that may indeed change your position. First of all, the mind can exist without the present of the body. You see John; the existence of my body is dubitable whereas my mind is not. Therefore my mind does not consist of the same properties of my body. This is a clear distinction that my mind is separate from my body. John: Mr. Descartes, we can agree to disagree with some matters of the mind and body. I am troubled that many people think that they have a mind or soul and a body. I am also concerned that some people think they have all three. (Searle, 2004). Western Philosophers are often portraying some type of dualism and people have accepted this theory for many years. Descartes: And rightfully so Mr....
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...Mbogo .W.A. (Moi) The course number: The date of submission: The instructor’s name: WHAT IS MIND? The mind is a complex element in a living organism that assists to understand the world around them, be able to interpret experiences and internalize ideas pertaining reality in general. Dualism and physicalism are two philosophical entities that attempt to explain reality with regards to the mind and body relationship. Physicalism dimension is normally taken to be synonymous with materialism. The two entities perceive the relationship between the mind and body from different perspectives which brings about their differences. Dualism for instance, which is derived from the concept “duo” , meaning two, holds the view of the mind/body relationship from a duality perspective. It sees the two entities as being different from each other. Dualists believe that the mind and the body cannot be reduced to be the same thing because doing so will ultimately lead to the deviation of the true meaning of reality. Their focus is aimed at critical analysis of the perspectives that normally bring the differences between the mind and the body. The body is a physical reality. The brain which is part of the body is not equivalent to the mind. Physical manipulation of the brain can be achieved to attain its well-being. For example, surgery can be done to the brain if it is malfunctioning to enhance its efficiency. On the contrary, complex processes which are not physical in nature...
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...Functionalism states it the function of something which defines something as what it is. Whatever it may be, everything is defined by its function. In terms of it inputs and outputs for a given function is what defines something as being itself. It is the function that is absolutely important. For example a kidney has a function and its function is what makes it a kidney. The kidney receives blood as an input and produces urea with filtered blood as an output. This is its function. In the same way an artificial kidney has the same function and so can still be regarded as a kidney. It has different properties; it is larger, made of plastic and metal. It has completely different “engineering” but its function remains the same. This defines it as a kidney. Because of this view from functionalism it allows this theory to overcome problems of many other materialist theories, hard behaviourism in particular. Functionalism is an advance on hard behaviourism as behaviourism states there is only objective behaviour; this is all there is to behaviour. It is actions as that is all we can empirically observe. For example hard behaviourists would state if we can see someone crying, all we can observe is their behaviour of crying, the tears leaving the eye and running down this person’s miserable face. There are no mental states and nothing happening in-between the thing that makes the person cry and saline tears being secreted from the tear duct. Behaviourism does not explain the place between...
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...Identifying Parts of the Problem Statement Directions: For each of the following problem statements, identify the four primary components. Remember that professional problem statements are not always so cut and dry. 1) The use of sexuality as a marketing tool has become a commonplace in the world of advertising. In the past few years, however, some companies have used sexually-oriented ads to generate controversy (and therefore sales) by pushing the limits of acceptable taste. Calvin Klein, for instance, recently ran a series of magazine ads featuring a nearly nude Kate Moss in positions that suggest bestiality, masturbation, and violence. If we care at all about the kinds of sexual messages being presented to our children, then ads like this one are simply unacceptable. It is the responsibility of the U.S. government to create a new agency whose role it will be to monitor the use of sexual content in magazine advertisements. 2) Most contemporary literary critics agree that ‘William Shakespeare’ designates an actual person who lived from 1564-1616 in England. Recent evidence, however, suggests that ‘Shakespeare’ was actually a name used by various Renaissance writers who wanted to remain anonymous. If this is the case, then nearly four hundred years of Shakespeare criticism will have to be re-evaluated, if not totally dismissed. The present essay will argue that there are indeed good reasons for believing that ‘William Shakespeare’ never existed, thus requiring...
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...Is The Mind and The Body Separate Elements? Descartes proposed that body (physical) and mind (spiritual) are separate entities (dualism). Empiricists propose that the mind is a physical property of the brain. Similarly, some philosophers think that selfawareness is a sensation perceived by the brain like any other of our physical senses. In chapter 4, the discussion is about whether the mind and body are two separate entities. In Chapter 4 the story, I Sing The Body Electric, by Walt Whitman, he male is not less “ T the soul nor more ” (Kass, p.211). Whitman believed that the mind and the body were one unit. In the story,hat the body knows, W by Chrita Banerjee Divakaruni. Aparna realizes that the mental aspect of things is in fact in conjunction with the body. Aparna believes that the body knows one thing and the mind knows another but they work in conjunction. Aparna develops a crush on her doctor which bring her back to health. Even though that there is an actual difference between the mind and the body they do work together. Some stories throughout the text conclude that the mind and the body are completely separate from each other, but we often wonder if machinery could take over our existence. In this article, we determine from Antonio Regalado that he Brain is not computable. The debate is whether or not the brain can reproduced, for example like a lung or a kidney has. Some individuals believe that the brain can ...
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...Consciousness is about the general state of the mind that experience have qualitative character (Morton 376), experience can be anything such as colors, smell, and feelings like pain, anguish; and they have been termed in different ways. Nagel and Jackson refer experience as subjective character, and qualitative character as “the aspect of sensation that has to do with what experience is like. Regarding the concept of consciousness, Nagel and Jackson have arguments against the possibility of physical accounts of consciousness. Both object that the qualitative aspect like consciousness and experience cannot be explained. Nagel, in context to his article “What is it like to be a bat?,” he argues that it is impossible to explain and understand the qualitative character of consciousness and that a qualitative character like consciousness can never be reduced to its fundamental form; just like psychology or physical science cannot be reduced to it fundamental principle. Based on his statement Nagel objects the concept of reductionism. “Reduction is an explanation of one set of entity by a more fundamental set of entity (Morton 378).” For example, the reduction of water into steam. One can explain the properties water, which is one fundamental set of entity, when the water gets reduced to steam, which is another fundamental entity. Based on the concept, Nagel argues that the mind and body cannot undergo reductionism because of the very fact that the mind is the very essence of consciousness...
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...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:...
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...The mind/body problem is one that consists of the inconsistent tetrad, which states that: 1. the human body is a material thing, 2. the human mind is a spiritual thing, 3. mind and body causally interact, and 4. spirit and matter do not causally interact. The Identity Theory attempts to solve this problem by denying number 2. It is a materialists’ theory which claims that the human mind is not a spiritual, but a physical thing. The theory claims that states and processes of the mind are identical to states and processes of the brain.” Smart says that experiences such as pain, seeing something, or having a mental image are not just correlated with events that take place in the brain, but that they are brain processes, and nothing more. Smart insists that at the level science is going soon even the behaviour of man will “be explicable in mechanistic terms”. To help understand this theory, one can look at and observe this example: what we know commonly in our society as water is also known as H20. The two are one in the same, just a different name for the same thing. Another example that can be used is that of lightning. When we see lightning flashing during a thunderstorm, we see it as just that, lightning. However, to a scientist, or someone knowledgeable in that area, it is also known as an electrical discharge. As in these cases, the same can be said for any emotion, sensation, or event that takes place within someone’s “mind”. If someone feels pain, for...
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