Identity Theories Flashcards
What is identity theory?
identity theory is a reductive materialist theory. They claim that mental states and brain state are not just connected but are the same thing, they claim that mental states can be ontologically reduced to brain states but cannot be analytically reduced to brain states.
‘Mental states are brain states’ is a contingent, synthetic and a posteriori truth.
To say that mental states are brain state is a similar statement to “water is H20”
Explain the morning star analogy.
Say there is a star that I see in the morning and a star that I see at night. I call one the morning star and the other the evening star. When I refer to them, I mean different things but they can ontologically be reduced to the same thing as the star that I see in the morning is the same star I see in the evening. There is also the superman analogy.
What are the strengths of identity theory?
.1. There are many current examples of language referring to one thing and different, more scientific language referring to the same thing.
2. Occams Razor. The simplest explanation is the most practical. Dualism overcomplicates. The dualism idea of consciousness is a nomonological dangler.
What are nomonological danglers?
Nomonological danglers are things that don’t fit into science’s laws. As dualism makes consciousness a nomonological dangler, it is impossible to believe that consciousness isn’t physical.
What is type identity theory?
Specific instances of physical effects can be grouped within the different peoples brains activity. For example, if 10 people were to visit a dental clinic all complaining of kanine teeth pain, the same part of the brain would be showing c-fibre excitation.
What are the problems with type identity theory?
No two brains are identical
Mental states are multiply realisable, there are a range of mental states with corresponding brain states with varying commonalities. RESPONSE TO RESPONSE: (Wittgenstein and family resemblance)
What is token identity theory?
Token identity theory is the view that each specific token of a type of mental state (e.g a headache is a token of pain or red is a token of colour) is identical to a specific brain state.
So the physical process of my being in pain is a token of the physical process associated with being in pain in the same way that my being in pain is a token of the mental state associated with being in pain. This is different to type identity theory in that the specific token is different for each person whereas the type is the same for each person.
What are the problems with token identity theory?
What is it that all of these tokens have in common that makes them tokens of the same mental-state type? They cannot say that what they have in common are the same irreducibly mental properties because their whole idea was to eliminate or get rid of such irreducible mental properties. Nor can they say that they are the same type of brain state because the whole move from type to token was to avoid having to say that every token of a particular mental-state type is identical with a token of a certain brain-state type.
How does the indivisibility argument work against identity theory?
You can divide the brain but you can’t divide the mind so the two things must be different
Response: just because you can’t chop something in half doesn’t mean it’s non-physical
How does the mary/knowledge argument work against identity theory?
Mary learns something new when she is exposed to the experience of something. There must be something different between the mental state and the brain state
Response: She doesn’t know anything about colour, she isn’t learning anything, just experiencing the same fact.
How do the doubt/conceivability argument and the zombie argument work against identity theory?
It is possible to conceive of a mind with no brain or a brain with no mind.
Response: The mind is a physical necessity and we will always have first person subjective experience. It is only conceivable because you don’t understand the universe.
