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The argument from neural dependency

The argument from neural dependency. A natural consequence of dualism should be that the mind itself is not damaged whenever the brain is damaged. A natural consequence of materialism is that when the brain is changed, the mind of the person is also changed

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The argument from neural dependency

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  1. The argument from neural dependency • A natural consequence of dualism should be that the mind itself is not damaged whenever the brain is damaged. • A natural consequence of materialism is that when the brain is changed, the mind of the person is also changed • Empirical neuroscience supports the belief that changes in the physical brain affects also the mind.

  2. Dualistic response • Dualism does not imply that mental states are not dependent on brain states. It only says they are distinct from those states. • Mental states can causally depend on physical states (states of the brain) while still being distinct from those brain states.

  3. What is it like to be a Bat? Suppose you knew everything there was to know about bat physiology Would this knowledge give you also knowledge of what it is like for the bat to be a bat (E.G. would it tell you what is like to perceive the world through echolocation.

  4. Intentionality • A common feature of mental states is that they are about something other than themselves. If I am thinking, I am thinking of something—a horse, a dog, the moon.. • But physical states do not exhibit this “aboutness” or intentionality. • Therefore, materialism is false (b/c it fails to explain the intentional character of mental states.

  5. Nagle: no it would not • But if materialism is true, then complete knowledge of bat physiology should give us also complete knowledge of everything about a bat—including the bat’s conscious states • Therefore, a materialistic theory of the universe leaves out a crucial feature of the universe, subjective experiences.

  6. Another knowledge argument Suppose that Mary is a brilliant physiologist who has studied color perception extensively. She knows all that can be known about the physiology of color perception. But she has also lived her entire life in a completely black and white room. When she leaves the room and experiences color for the first time, does she experience something new?

  7. If she does, then there is something left out of the material description of the human organism (what she learns in her black and white room)—the qualitative character of the experience, what it is like to see something blue or purple.

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