Intro: The Mind and Body Problem

Question 1

What were Rene Decartes’ contributions to the mind-body problem?

Answer 1

• He looked at animal behaviour through the analogy of a machine
• Suggested that our spinal reflexes are connected to our neural pathways
• Believed that our free will and moral choice could not arise from a machine (our mind was separate)

Question 2

What is Phrenology? How did it contribute to neuroscience?

Answer 2

The study of bumps on the brain; the belief that our personality is determined by the size of these bumps.

It was pseudoscience but it let to the localization of function: the understanding that certain parts of the brain are responsible for certain functions

Question 3

What is dualism?

Answer 3

the mind and body are seperate but there is communication between the two.
Our animal behaviour takes place in the machine (brain), our free will and moralism comes from the mind.

Question 4

What is monism?

Answer 4

The mind and body are one

All thought and behaviour come from an organic substrate.