Analysing mind , body and soul Flashcards
Descartes’ substances dualism, arguments against
1 Brain Davies questioned the concept of thinking what is and what is not. He cites the idea of thinking that you are sober when you may not be in fact.
2 Norman Malcom forwards: if it were valid to argue “I can doubt that my body exists, nut not that I exist, ergo I am not a body” then it would be equally valid to argue, “I can doubt that there exists a being whose essential nature is to think, but I cannot doubt that I exist, ergo I am not a being whose essential nature is to think”
3 Just because Descartes cannot doubt the existence of his own mind does not mean that his own mind is not wholly dependent on his body”. In other words, what one thinks to be or not to be possible is not a good guide to how things are.
4 “Masked man fallacy” It may be possible to doubt that my father is the masked robber and impossible to doubt that he is married to my mother, but this does not mean that both cannot be true. Whether we are able to doubt something isn’t a property of the thing itself, it is a property of our minds. Just because I think that one thing is uncertain and another thing is certain does not mean that this is the case
Materialist critiques of dualism and dualist responses to materialism:
Rational and scientific evidence FOR dualism
1 One argument is that the mental and physical realms have very different properties. Mental events have subjective qualities such as what does it feel like, what it looks like, or what does it sound like. Sensations like these really cannot be reduced to something physical
2 The existence of the science of psychology implies the existence of the mind. The psychology of materials is not rational
3 There is no place in the brain where electric stimulation can cause a person to believe or decide. Although our thoughts can be true or false our brain states cannot be true or false. Nobody can tell what we are thinking by measuring brain waves. We must be asked what we are thinking
Materialist critiques of dualism and dualist responses to materialism:
Rational and scientific evidence AGAINST dualism
1 The dualist argument depends upon the presumption that the supernatural or another realm or dimension exists that could account for the interaction of body and mind
2 Another argument is based upon what happens when the brain gets damaged. When damage occurs from physical trauma, drug abuse, or pathological diseases our mental powers are always compromised. The argument holds that if the brain and the mind were actually separate, our mental powers would not be compromised. This is a compelling argument. However, it also depends upon the presumption that the supernatural does not exist and that God does not have a reason for letting our brain limit our mental function while we are living.
Descartes’ arguments FOR substance dualism
Divisibility- The body is divisible- it can be separated into parts. The mind is indivisible as it is not possible to separate the “I” that is conscious into different parts
Doubt- Yet the cogito shows it is not possible to doubt the existence of the “I”
Plato’s argument for Dualism
1 Innate knowledge- Plato argues that the soul is required to explain a prior knowledge. In his dialogue, the meno, Plato shows Socrates questioning an uneducated salve who with gentle encouragement and the right questions is able to come up with Pythagoras’ theorem. This and our innate understanding of other forms seems to suggest a soul that pre-exists the body.
2 The linguistic argument- Plato draws a distinction between how we speak of ourselves and our body. Whereas we say, “I am happy” or “I am thinking” in terms or our mental states, we say “I have a body” in the same way that we might say “I have a house”
Response to Plato’s arguments for Dualism
1 Innate knowledge- The dialogue itself contains some quite leading questions and the argument relies on an acceptance of the existence of the forms
2 The linguistic argument- This is reading too much into our language
Evaluating materialism
Arguments FOR
1 Neuroscience- we know which parts of the brain are responsible for language, memory, and emotions. Our states of consciousness are affected by brain chemistry; one example being depression. The belief that eventually we will be able to identify all mental processes with the brain.
2 The problem of interaction- How can a non-physical mind or soul interact with a physical body/brain?
3 Category error- descartes and other dualists are thinking of the mind the wrong way
4 Simplicity- Materialists argue that consciousness being explained by physical and material events in the brain is the simplest explanation. Ockham’s Razor- the philosophical principle that you should not multiply entities beyond necessity; that it is usually best to take the simplest explanation
Evaluating materialism
Arguments AGAINST
Dualists refer to the phenomenon of “qualia”. This is the actual feel of our conscious experiences. They argue that no matter how much knowledge we acquire of brains, this is knowledge from the outside. However, consciousness is a first-person phenomenon and cannot be solved by third-person science
What arguments would you draw upon to analyse and argue against Dawkins?
Once the DNA has developed the brain, it can begin to think for itself as an individual and consider the consequences of its own actions - Is this simply what others call the soul?
Although Dawkins believes that everything points away from a creator- where did this information/ DNA originally come from? was there no mind behind this?
Objections to behaviourism
We can question how behaviourism originally came about who or what started the chain of learned behaviour?
