issues facing dualism Flashcards
the problem of other minds
if dualism is true then the mind is nonphysical and cannot be reduced to physical properties. however this means that we cannot use empirical science, which can only investigate into empirical objects, to gain epistemic access into the mind.
the only available way to gain epistemic access to the mind is through introspection. however introspection is only available to perceive your own mind. this means we still cannot learn anything about other peoples mind or even know that they have one
Response to other minds: analogy
we can postulate that since we know that we have a mind and recognise that its mental states often effect our behaviour (when I’m sad I cry), we can infer that similar behaviours exhibited by others also mean that they gave a mind.
the existence of other minds is the best hypothesis
this is an argument from the third person and poses the question of ‘why do people behave the way that they do’. the claim is that its because most people have minds.
this is a better explanation than simply believing that people do not have minds as philosophers have come to believe that our mental states react to the environment and product our behaviours.
dualists make a category mistake - Gilbert Ryle
Ryle thinks that dualist have made a category mistake bye assuming that the mind is a thing or an object. a category mistake is when you confuse a property of being part of a different category then it should be. consider cricket where a player asks ‘who is responsible for the team spirit’.
Ryle thinks that the mind being a noun has led philosophers to treat it as an object and once they have trouble locating this object, they deem it to be non-physical.
Ryle believes that mind does not refer to an object or thing, but rather the sets of behaviours which we have
interactionist dualism: the conceptual interaction problem
princess Elizebeth of Bohemia suggests that only physical things can interact with other physical things. she says that interactions are when one thing pushes on another. non-physical things cannot do this therefore the mind being nonphysical cannot interact with the physical
yet we see that it does (my desire to have water makes my arm move to get my water bottle). therefore the mind must be physical
interactionist dualism: the empirical interaction problem
according to the laws of conservation, our physical universe cannot create or destroy any energy - the energy levels remain the same. However, substance dualism supposes that the mind is non physical and not in the physical realm of the universe. When the mind interacts with the body, it would be transferring energy into the physical universe. this violates the laws of conservation. therefore the mind cannot be non-physical
Epiphenomenalist dualism: the challenge posed by introspective self knowledge
Epiphenomenalist dualism: the challenge posed by the phenomenology of out mental life
It appears to us that when I have a desire to touch my water bottle, my arm then goes out and touches it. Phenomenologically it feels like my mental state causes my physical body to move. It also feels like my mental state of, for example, repeating motivating mantras causes increased mental energy, focus and determination which would be a case of mental states causing other mental states. It is counter-intuitive to suggest that is not what is really happening.
Epiphenomenalist dualism: the challenge posed by natural selection
in natural selection, it seems like we are chosen to be superior not only due to physical traits but also mental. this is because as a species have different traits, some more desirable than others.
the development of consciousness must be cause through natural selection. but a property can only be selected if it has impact on our behaviour. therefore, our minds must have effect on our behaviour.
