The Mind-Body Problem: Exploring Consciousness and Intentionality
Delve into the intriguing questions surrounding the mind-body problem, such as the nature of consciousness, intentionality, subjectivity, and causation. Explore the mysteries of how thoughts, beliefs, and sensory experiences interact with the physical body and the external world. Contemplate the enigma of how the non-physical mind influences the physical realm and ponder the complexities of mental states and their relation to reality.
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The Mind Body Problem The Mind The Mind- -Body Problem Body Problem
What is that we call mind? Is it the brain? What exactly are thoughts? How are thoughts able to cause you to act? How can the brain 3-lb oatmeal-like organ think? How can a thought, which is non-physical, move the physical? Since thought is non-physical, is thought possible without physical matter?
These and other questions are what we know as the mind-body problem. Why a problem? Because humans have not yet been able to understand The existence of consciousness/mental life are mysterious.
1. Consciousness. 2. Intentionality. 3. Subjectivity. 4. Causation.
You have been conscious most of your life. You have all kinds of sensory experiences. 1. Consciousness Your experiences have a quality to them. Why is the physical body conscious?
You have many beliefs, thoughts, many mental states. Your mental states have a mental content: they are about college, a city, and a certain relation between these things. 2. Intentionality Also, you believe that it is false that the moon is made of cheese, and it is true that you go to college.
But how can thoughts be about things? How can thoughts relate to the world? How can thoughts be true or false? How can a state in your brain be about something or have any intention?
Your conscious experiences are subjective personal, private. They cannot be experienced by anyone else. Others can have similar experiences, but you and you alone know what it is like to taste an apple. I cannot get inside your head. 3. Subjectivity A brain surgeon can open your head and see what you see/feel. What happens in your experience is inside your mind not inside your brain. But then where do these experiences and mental states occur?
Your thoughts make your body move. But how can immaterial thoughts and desires cause anything? How can nonphysical thoughts give rise to the physical without violating the laws of the conservation of mass, of energy and of momentum? 4. Causation Are we supposed to believe that thoughts can grab the axons or push the dendrites of your nerve cells and make you move?
These 4 problems (Consciousness, Intentionality, Subjectivity, Mental causation) constitute the so-called mind-body problem. Mind-body problem = how the mental and the physical relate and interact. The Mind-body problem has puzzled scientists for centuries. The problem has been addressed by two distinct positions: Materialism (or physicalism) and Dualism
Materialism (physicalism): mental states are physical states states of the brain, which is a physical thing. Physical things can be accounted for by physics, biology, chemistry, etc. Dualism: Mental states are not states of any physical thing; they are non-physical entities. Non-physical things cannot be investigated by the sciences.
Substance Dualism Each mind is a distinct nonphysical thing, independent of any physical body. The brain is a physical substance The mind is a non-physical substance
Property Dualism There aren't two kinds of substances, the mind and the brain, but two kinds of properties physical and non-physical properties. Two kinds of property dualism: (1) epiphenomenalism and (2) interactionism Mental properties are emergent properties. Mental states are irreducible: they are beyond prediction or explanation by physical science .
1. Epiphenomenalism: Mental phenomena ride on top of brain processes, but don t ever affect the brain. Mental states have no causal powers. This is unbelievable. 2. Interactionism: Mental properties, mental states, are nonphysical but interact with the brain. But how do they interact?
What motivates Dualism? Arguments for dualism:
The argument from religion: God exists. God is a mind. God is immaterial.
The argument from introspection When one introspects, one finds desires, beliefs, sensations. These are not like neuro- chemical processes. So, the mental is not physical.
The argument from irreducibility If there are mental phenomena for which no physical explanation could be given, we must conclude that the physical is not all there is. The ability to use language, Mathematical reasoning are such mental phenomena. Therefore, they are non-physical.
The argument from personal identity I am not the same person I wasat the age of 3. Every cell in my body is completely different. But then why do I have the same thoughts, memories, etc.? Because I am the same person! The body constantly changes (including the brain). The mind is consistent and therefore separate from body. So I am not my body but my mind (non-physical).
The argument from simplicity Simpler theories are better than complex theories. Materialism is a simpler theory than dualism. Dualism is false.
The explanatory power of materialism Neuroscientist can explain a great deal of behavior. The dualist can tell us nothing about this mind stuff. So dualism is false Thus, we ought to endorse materialism.
The argument from neural dependence If thinking, reasoning, emotion, really are performed by a special mental entity, then one would expect reason, emotion, and consciousness to be invulnerable. But illness or damage to the brain always causes loss or change of mental functions. So the mind is physical
The argument from evolutionary history The origin of our species is explained by reference to evolution. Brains evolves. Thus, brain is the result of a purely physical process.
Four Materialist Theories: 1. Behaviorism 2. Identity Theory 3. Functionalism 4. Eliminative Materialism
Behaviorism There is no mind-body problem because claims about people s mental states are just claims about people s dispositions to behave in certain ways. Mental state (beliefs, desires, hopes, etc.) are descriptions of behaviors that do not correspond to mind.
Identity Theory (or Reductive Materialism) Mental states are identical to brain states. Pain is identical to the firing of certain neurons in a brain. For every individual mental state, there is an individual brain state identical to it. There are many scientific discoveries that have shown us various phenomena are identical to other. (Wetness of water)
Functionalism: A mental state is defined by its causal relations (its function). Pain isa state caused by damage or trauma, causes distress, thinking about stopping it, etc. A thought depends on its function, or the role it plays, in the cognitive system of which it is a part.
Eliminative Materialism Advances in neuroscience reveal to us that theory about the mind is a bad theory. Historical examples of a theory being eliminated: - Heat was thought to be a fluid, a substance, called caloric, but we now know that heat is the motion of molecules. - Burning and rusting was thought to be a matter of a thing called phlogiston leaving the object that was burning or rusting. - People thought there were witches, when in fact there was just psychosis. So: The concepts psychology belief, desire, fear, sensation, pain, joy, and so on in time will be eliminated.
The End Questions?
