Introduction to Philosophy of the Mind

Question 1

What did Socrates live in a state of?

Answer 1

Enhanced ignorance (aporia).

Question 2

Why did Socrates conclude he was the ‘wisest’?

Answer 2

Because at least he knew he didn’t know things.

Question 3

What did Socrates believe everyone possessed?

Answer 3

Moral truths.

Question 4

What was Socrates’ key question?

Answer 4

What are virtues? eg. justice/courage

Question 5

What did Plato focus on?

Answer 5

The knowledge we acquire.

Question 6

What did Plato like the idea of? What are these? What is this a form of?

Answer 6

Forms. These are idealised, eternally existing, perfect exemplars. This is a form of rationalism.

Question 7

What did Plato believe knowledge was?

Answer 7

Knowledge of Forms (and not of actual things).

Question 8

Plato argued that our character/knowledge was ____ . This makes him a _____ .

Answer 8

Innate, Nativist.

Question 9

What were the 3 souls that Plato proposed?

Answer 9

Appetitive, Spirited, Rational.

Question 10

What is the appetitive soul? Where is it located?

Answer 10

Pleasure drives (food/sex). Found in the belly/genitals.

Question 11

What is the spirited soul? Where is it located?

Answer 11

Courage/glory. Found in the chest/heart.

Question 12

What is the rational soul? Where is it located?

Answer 12

Comes from the realm of Forms. Located in head/brain.

Question 13

Who was Aristotle a student of?

Answer 13

Plato.

Question 14

What was Aristotle?

Answer 14

An empiricist.

Question 15

What 4 causes did Aristotle state that a Form was defined by?

Answer 15

1. Material - What something is made from
2. Essential - What it actually is
3. Efficient - How it came to be
4. Final - The purpose for which it exists

Question 16

What idea did Aristotle reject?

Answer 16

The separatability of the soul and the body.

Question 17

What are the 3 types of soul that Aristotle propose and what do these belong to?

Answer 17

1. Nutritive (plants)
2. Sensitive (animals)
3. Rational (humans)

Question 18

Saint Augustine held the belief that we are all born with ________.

Answer 18

‘The original sin.’ (eg. Adam and Eve)

Question 19

What did Saint Augustine argue against?

Answer 19

Solipsism.

Question 20

Who did Saint Augustine have similar views to?

Answer 20

Plato.

Question 21

What were 3 typical views of Saint Augustine?

Answer 21

1. Perception is not the source of truth
2. The eternal world is superior to the sensory world
3. Truth can be discovered through reason alone

Question 22

Whose theory did Avicenna build on? What branch of psychology is this?

Answer 22

Aristotle’s. Empiricism.

Question 23

What was Avicenna’s idea?

Answer 23

We take in information from the senses.
We then develop abstract concepts.
We then use logic/reason to build on these.

Question 24

Who did Thomas Aquinas have similar views to?

Answer 24

Aristotle.

Question 25

What was the name of the argument Thomas Aquinas formed to explain the existence of God?

Answer 25

The Five Ways.

Question 26

What did Thomas Aquinas believe humans had a natural desire for?

Answer 26

Knowledge.

Question 27

What was Thomas Aquinas’ view on the mind and body?

Answer 27

They are linked.

Question 28

What were Thomas Aquinas’ ‘Five Ways’?

Answer 28

1. Sensitive - perception/internal senses
2. Appetitive - responding to stimuli
3. Locomotor - movement
4. Intellectual - reasoning
5. Vegetative - basic functions

Question 29

What is the mind-body problem?

Answer 29

The argument over whether the mind and body are linked or whether they are two distinct substances.

Question 30

What are the 2 branches of the mind body problem?

Answer 30

Dualism and Monism.

Question 31

What is Dualism?

Answer 31

The idea that the mind and body are 2 different, distinct substances.

Question 32

What is Monism?

Answer 32

The idea that there is only one substance.

Question 33

What side of the mind-body debate did Descartes support?

Answer 33

Dualism.

Question 34

What was Descartes theory?

Answer 34

Doubt everything.

Question 35

What is Cartesian Dualism?

Answer 35

The principle of identity of discenibles.
The mind is uniquely human.

Question 36

What is Substance Dualism?

Answer 36

How do the mind and body interact?
Descartes said this was through the pineal gland.

Question 37

What is Epiphenominalism?

Answer 37

The idea that brain states cause mind states but don’t cause anything themselves.

Question 38

What is Occasionalism?

Answer 38

The idea that the mind and body don’t affect each other, God intervenes.

Question 39

What is Parallelism?

Answer 39

The idea that God doesn’t interact at each step, but there are 2 established tracks like 2 clocks.

Question 40

Who was monism most commonly proposed by?

Answer 40

Bishop George Berkeley.

Question 41

What did Bishop George Berkeley propose? What is this known as?

Answer 41

There is only mental stuff, no material. All ideas are built from perceptions. When someone isn’t looking at something, it stops existing.
This is known as Idealism.

Question 42

What is Materialism? Who proposed this?

Answer 42

The idea that only physical stuff exists. This was proposed by Hobbes.

Question 43

What is Neutral Monism?

Answer 43

The idea that only stuff exists.

Question 44

What is Double Aspectism?

Answer 44

The idea that substance has a mental and physical aspect.