10/3/2016

Philosophy of Mind and the Mind-Body Problem

A classic philosophical debate

Definitions

 Philosophy  The search for wisdom and knowledge  Metaphysics  A branch of philosophy that examines the nature of reality  Explains the fundamental nature of being and existence  Not an easy term to define  The Mind-Body Problem  A metaphysical problem  Is the mental world part of the physical material world?  How are mental properties related to physical properties?  What is the mind? How is it related to the brain? Options? How would you phrase this question/problem in your own words?

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Basic Ideas of the Nature of Mind  Monism – only one kind of substance in the universe  Aristotle (384-322 B.C.E.)  Difference between matter (body) and form (mind)  Varieties of Monism  Solipsism  Mental substance is the only substance; no physical realm  Universe exists only in one’s mind  Physicalism  Physical substance is the only substance  Everything that exists is physical, consisting of atoms  Operations of the mind are operations of the brain  Reductive and non-reductive physicalism  Functionalism  Mental states conform to physical states Critiques?

Basic Ideas of the Nature of Mind  Dualism – both mental and physical substances exist  Plato (427-347 B.C.E.)  Mind and body exist in two separate worlds  World of forms vs. world of material (e.g., perfect circle)  Varieties of Dualism  Classic dualism – mind controls the body (thought produces action)  Parallelism – mind and body distinct, having no effect on each other  Epiphenomenalism – body controls the mind (brain produces thought)  Interactionism – body can affect the mind, mind can affect the body  Functionalism – mental states might not be reduced to any particular physical state; look at what the mind does, not what it is made of Critiques?

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Functionalism  Dominant view in cognitive science since the 70’s  Physical kinds vs. Functional kinds  Material composition vs. actions or tendencies (e.g., phones, cars)  Application to the idea of mind  Physical kind or functional kind?  Mental states are not just physical states, but also the functioning or operation of those physical states  Implications?  Same mental state could be realized in different ways in different physical systems  Different phones displaying the same image  Different people having the same thought  Number of possible mental/computational states exceeds number of possible physical states  For both thinking organisms and computers (Recall our TM discussions)  How come on both lists (monism and dualism)? Critiques?

Consciousness  A mystery that blurs the monism-dualism categories  No single definition  Subjective quality of experience  Individual subjective awareness of mental states  Emotions, sense of self, conscious thought, sensation, perception, etc.  Your definition?  Relationship to mind?  Equivalent? Component? Necessary feature?  Types of consciousness other than normal, awake, alert  Unconscious, asleep, hypnotized, drug-induced, etc.  Do these change your ideas of how consciousness is related to mind?

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Consciousness  If consciousness means having some sort of experience, what is experience like?  What is it like to be a bat and have sonar?  What is it like to beat the world grandmaster at chess?  Reflect on previous discussion of functionalism  Problem: consciousness is inherently subjective and science can only provide objective descriptions of phenomena  Consciousness/mind as an emergent property  Property of the brain, but not of its parts  Monist or dualist?  Can conscious experience be explained by any of the theories previously discussed?

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