1 / 16

The Mind Body Problem

Our minds seem to be non-physical and different from our bodies. Our bodies seem to be something different from our minds. Are they actually different? What is a mind? What is a body? How do they relate?. The Mind Body Problem. Substance Dualism. Our bodies and minds are separate things

ralphqualls
Download Presentation

The Mind Body Problem

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Our minds seem to be non-physical and different from our bodies. Our bodies seem to be something different from our minds. Are they actually different? What is a mind? What is a body? How do they relate? The Mind Body Problem

  2. Substance Dualism • Our bodies and minds are separate things • Substance – a “thing” which exists independently from other things (e.g. a horse, a cat, a human). It has properties, but is not a property of another thing • Property – a quality that a substance has (e.g. red, round, cold) Substance: Socrates Balding head Grey Hair

  3. Descartes Meditations • Meditation 1 – I can’t be sure that I have a body, that other people, or my past or the world outside my head really exists. I could be tricked • Meditation 2 – But, I cannot doubt that I exist because I am thinking about myself. I am a permanent self-contained, self-conscious ego B 1596 D 1650 Meditations 1641

  4. Argument for Substance Dualism • The Conceivability argument (Descartes): P1: I can doubt that my body exists (from Meditation 1) P2: I cannot doubt that my mind exists (from Meditation 2) P3: If A differs in any way from B, then A is not B --------------------------------------------------------- C: So, my mind is not my body

  5. Analogy to the Conceivability Argument • P1: I can doubt that I’m drinking H20 • P2: I cannot doubt that I’m drinking water • P3: If A differs in any way from B, then A is not B • -------------------------------------------------------- • C: So, Water is not H20

  6. Descartes’ Divisibility Argument • P1: My body is divisible • P2: My mind is not divisible • P3: If A differs in any way from b, A is not B • ----------------------------------------------------- • C: So, my mind is not my body

  7. Princess Elizabeth’s Objection to Descartes How can a totally non-physical mind cause things to happen to a totally physical body? How can a totally physical body cause things to happen to a totally non-physical mind?

  8. The “Life after Death” argument • P1: If substance dualism is false, then my mind cannot exist independently from my body • P2: My mind can exist independently from my body (NDEs, ghosts, reincarnation, etc) • ---------------------------------------------------------------- • C: So, Substance dualism is true

  9. Physicalism The mind is the brain itself and nothing more. In other words, mind = brain

  10. Argument for Physicalism Neuroscience has shown a strong link between what happens to and in our brains and what happens to and in our minds

  11. The Case of Phineas Gage

  12. Against Physicalism A complete physical description of our brains and bodies, even in every detail, still seems to leave out something. What is left out is our personal/subjective experience, the “what it's like for us.”

  13. The Case of Mary

  14. Inverted Spectrum Case

  15. Property Dualism vs. Substance Dualism • Substance Dualism: • Mind is not Body • Mind can exist apart from body; in other words, mind & body are independent substances • Property Dualism: • Not all mental states are physical states • Mind cannot exist apart from body; in other words mind & body are two aspects of ONE AND SAME substance

More Related