IT

Question 1

Summarise ‘Mind-brain type identity theory’.

Answer 1

Direct Realism is a Physicalist theory in Metaphysics of the mind that proposes that mental properties are just physical properties of the brain.

Question 2

State the claims in ‘Mind-brain type identity theory’.

Answer 2

(MAIN) All types of mental state are identical to types of brain states (‘ontological’ reduction), although ‘mental state’ and ‘brain state’ are not synonymous (not an ‘analytic’ reduction).
1) Ontological Reduction - Mental properties are identical/reducible to physical properties of the brain.
2) Physicalist - Only physical properties exist and these include mental properties.
3) NOT an Analytic Reduction - Mental concepts/words do not have the same meaning as any concepts/words that we use about the brain.
4) Type Identity - This view claims that we can make a “type-identity” since all people with the same type of mental state will have the same type of brain state.