Dualism (Descartes) Flashcards
What are the two approaches to the mind-body problem
1) Monism
2) Dualism
Define Monoism
monoism is:
either physical or non-physical
physicalists believe in the physical and idealists believe in the non-physical. However, they only believe in one.
Define Dualism
Dualism is the belief that there is the physical and non-physical in the world. Dualists believe in both as opposed to the belief in just one
What are the two types of dualism in a Theory of Mind
Interactionism and Non-interactionism
What is interactionism?
it is a kind of dualism that maintains the mind and body causaly interact
What is Non-interactionism?
mind and body do not consciously interact
Why would one believe in dualism (3)
1) how we know about our minds is in a substantially (uniquely) different way than the way know about bodies, physical objects, even our own bodies.
2) Mental content is private and subjective. Bodies are public and objective
3) What we know about our minds is more clear than what we know about bodies
4) We seem to have free will
When did Rene Descartes live?
March 31st 1596 - February 11th 1650
What were the three studies Descartes engulf himself in?
1) Philosopher
2) Scientist
3) Mathematician
Who was the “father of modern philosophy”
Renes Descartes
What was Renes Descartes an early supporter of?
Rationalism
Who invented the Cartesian Coordinate System?
Renes Descartes
What are the two major areas in the meditations?
Epistemology and Meta-physics
What is the goal of the mediations?
To establish thing that are stable and likely to last
What is the skeptical worry in mediations?
Some beliefs that are perceived to be true turn out to be false
What is the problem in Meditations?
The problem is how can one determine which beliefs are reliable
What its the solution to the problem in Meditations?
Hyperbolic Doubt
What is hyperbolic doubt?
1) consider each belief and if one has any reason to doubt the belief whatsoever, then admit it they dont know it to be true
2) if any belief is impossible to doubt, then one can find certainty in that belief
Lay-terms: any reason to doubt is reject. Impossible to doubt= knowledge
What are the problems with knowing (arguments)?
1) Argument from senses
2) The Dream Argument (argument from insanity)
3) The Demon Argument
Describe Argument from Senses
1) The senses deceive (think mirages)
2) beliefs from sense aren’t perfect reliable
Describe The Dream Argument (Argument from Insanity)
- could be asleep
-could be seriously mentally ill
-could be a patient in a mental hospital that has made up an elaborate illusion
-could be dreaming and we are asleep
-no way to distinguish dreaming from being awake
Describe the Demon Argument
There is a superior being that is supremely evil. The being is deceiving knowledge or beliefs (1+1=2 one when it could be 3). Could be deceiving that a physical, external world even exists.
What are the overall themes in Mediation 2
1) a description of the human mind
2) the second one is how it’s better known than the body
What is the first item of knowledge Descartes discovers in the 2nd mediation
if one is being deceived (by the demon) then to be deceived one must therefore exist, even if mistaken on all other aspects.
“_________________ is necessarily true whenever it is put forward by me or conceived in my mind.”
I am, I exist
What is the famous words of Descartes put into lay-terms?
I think therefore I am
“I am____”
a thinking thing
What does Descartes affirm he is?
Thinking
“What am I?…A thing that ___________________, and also imagines and has sensory perceptions.”
doubts, understands, affirms, denies, willing and unwilling, imagines and sensory perceptions
What is the upshot of Descartes First item of knowledge
even if the body doesn’t exist I still exist
Explain the goals of the wax passage?
1) To determine the essential nature of a particular body of wax or to determine the nature of a physical object.
2) is to look at how do we identify particular physical objects?
“The ______ was not after all the sweetness of the honey, or the fragrance of the flowers, or the whiteness, or the _____, or the _____, but was rather a _____ which presented itself to me in these various forms a little while ago, but which now exhibits different ones…take away everything which does not belong to the wax, and see what is left: _________________.”
“The ___wax___ was not after all the sweetness of the honey, or the fragrance of the flowers, or the whiteness, or the _shape____, or the _sound____, but was rather a ___body___ which presented itself to me in these various forms a little while ago, but which now exhibits different ones…take away everything which does not belong to the wax, and see what is left: ___merely something extended, flexible and changeable__.”
The essential natures of the bodies is_________
extension (something located in space)
were the essential features of the wax smell, sight etc..? According to Descartes
No these are not the essential natures because when they change we still recognize it as wax or candle
What is extension according to Descartes?
If something has extension it means that the object is located in space (extending in space) (occupying spaces)
The essential nature of bodies is_______
extension
Summary of Argument 1:
1) all physical things are_____
2) But I (my mind) is_________
3) And thinking things are___________________
4) So I (my mind)____________
5)Therefore, I (my mind) am_________________
1) essentially extended things
2) essentially a thinking thing
3) not essentially extended thing
4) is not essentially an extended thing
5) not essentially a physical thing
what is the goal of mediation 6
to identify and argue the distinction of mind and body
what is another goal from mediation?
to prove the material world exists (ignore this goal though)
what is the expression or formula for understanding
C/D about x=x
Fill in the following blanks for the following argument
The________Argument
1) Whatever I can clearly and distinctly__________________
Real Distinction
1) understand it could be is exactly how I understand it
Provide an Example to the Real Distinction Argument
If I can clearly and distinctly understand a mountain of gold then it is possible (doesn’t mean that it is true) but it is possible versus a married bachelor
Fill in the blank for the second premise of The real distinction argument:
2) If I can clearly and distinctly_____________________
2) understand one thing apart from another they must be distinct
Fill in the blanks for the following argument
The_______Argument
1) Whatever I can_____________ it could be is exactly how I understand it
2) If I can clearly and distinctly_____________________
3) well I have a _____________________
4) I can clearly and distinctly understand my_________
5) Therefore,_______________________
1) clearly and distinctly understand
2) understand one thing apart from another they must be distinct
3) clear and distinct understanding of my mind
4) mind apart from my body
5) my mind and body must be distinct
Fill in the blanks for the following quote on the_________argument
“…there is a great difference between the mind and the body; inasmuch as the body is by its very nature ________, while the mind is utterly _________. For when I consider the mind, or myself in so far as I am merely a thinking thing, I am unable to distinguish ___________; I understand myself to be something quite single and complete…I recognize that if a foot or arm or any other part of the body is cut off, nothing has thereby been taken away from the mind.
1) divisible
2) indivisible
3) any part within myself
summarize the Divisibility Argument
1) I can ____________
2) But I cannot _____________
3)
4) this entails that ________________
5) Therefore, _____________
6)
7) So the mind must be _____________________
1) divide physical objects
2) divide my mind
3) If the physical object can always be divided but my mind cannot be divide, my mind can’t be a physical object.
4) my mind cannot be a brain since a brain is an example of a physical object
5) my mind is not the same as my brain
6)
