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The Mind-Body Relation

The Mind-Body Relation. Dualism : human beings are composed of a material body and an immaterial mind which are distinct from each other (Descartes) Problems: interaction? freedom? other minds?

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The Mind-Body Relation

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  1. The Mind-Body Relation Dualism: human beings are composed of a material body and an immaterial mind which are distinct from each other (Descartes) Problems: interaction? freedom? other minds? Proposed answers: parallelism (Leibniz), occasionalism (Malebranche) Reductive materialism: all so-called mental actions are really nothing more than measurable physical processes (Hobbes)

  2. Contemporary Materialist Theories Mind-Brain (Identity) Theory: thoughts and states of consciousness are simply brain states Problem: brain states and consciousness have different (e.g., spatial) properties Behaviorism: to have a mind is to behave or be disposed to behave in certain ways Functionalism: mental states are patterned associations of sensory stimuli and behaviors Eliminative Materialism: we should replace terms like “thought” with material expressions

  3. The Turing Test If there is no difference between the performances of a computer and a human being, the computer can be said to think Objection: thinking or understanding involves more than following a program or manipulating symbols according to rules; it involves awareness or consciousness of what following the program means (Searle)

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