Johmas Smargel Flashcards
What makes the mind-body problem interesting?
Consciousness
What is Nagel’s view of reductionist analogies?
He doesn’t believe they will shed light on the mind-body problem, we cannot comprehend something so easily
Outline the importance of Nagel’s distinction between subjective and objective
Subjective is our personal, internal states that can only be observed from our POV while objective can be observed by anyone. This is to demonstrate that subjective experience cannot be so simply reduced
Outline bat analogy
Can I know what it is like to be a bat? Nagel believes if everything is reducible than we should be able to but we obviously cannot as this would require a change in essential structures and thus it wouldn’t be a person observing the bats phenomenological features
Explain facts and conceptual schemes
Conceptual schemes are the mechanisms by which we interpret raw sense data. However, conceptual schemes cannot process all facts and thus there are facts beyond our comprehension, such as seeing from a bat’s POV
Reduction to discover consciousness…
…is a move towards objectivity and thus a move away from subjectivity which is the quality trying to be explained
Why can physicalism not be defended with certainty?
It cannot account for subjective experience and have no conception how to explain it objectively
What is the problem with ‘is’ and ‘are’?
Physicalists claim that ‘mental processes are physical processes’ is completely empty as we have no foundation on which to explain this
What is Nagel’s final proposal?
We should put aside the question of the relationship between the mind and body and instead attempt to produce a more objective understanding of the brain
What are the four theories to explain after-images and why does he dismiss them?
- Perhaps we’re not reporting anything, Smart contends there is something going on
- Behaviourism, it is not important what is going on internally only what is displayed, Smart contends an after-image is a peculiar, outlying condition, there is no after-image behaviour
- Dualism. the after-image mental, not physical, Smart utilises Ockham’s Razor
- The after-image is a report of a brain process
Evaluate Ockham’s Razor
It is effective in a sense, it does seem unlikely that out of all the physical laws of the universe the mind is the only aberration. However, this is a probability after all and it could logically be otherwise
What is the distinction between ontological and semantic identity?
Smart is not claiming a semantic identity, the terms for sensations and brain processes are interchangeable, however, this does not mean they are not the same thing
