L1 - In Class (Philosophy of Mind Intro)

Question 1

What are the 5 different kinds of mental states?

Answer 1

1. Bodily sensations (pain, itch, etc)
2. Sensory experiences (smell, sound, feel, etc)
3. Emotions and feelings (delight, remorse, etc)
4. Volitional states (willing, deciding, etc)
5. Cognitive states (believing, hoping, etc)

Question 2

What are the 4 different physical states?

Answer 2

1. Physical objects (trees, chairs, etc)
2. Parts of physical objects (arms, legs, etc)
3. Physical features (color, texture, etc)
4. Configurations of material (particles, atoms, etc)

Question 3

What are the 4 potential ways of highlighting the peculiarity of the mental realm?

Answer 3

1. Subjective
2. Asymmetric Access to the Mental
3. Qualia
4. No Appearance/Reality distinction for the Mental

Question 4

What is the subjective peculiarity?

Answer 4

Experiences/feelings are always subjective

Question 5

What is the asymmetric access to the mental peculiarity?

Answer 5

I know my feelings, but recognize others’ feelings through outer behavior

Question 6

What is the qualia peculiarity?

Answer 6

Internal feel to mental state, knowing the difference between pain and itch

Question 7

What is the no appearance/reality distinction for the mental peculiarity?

Answer 7

Can hallucinate desk in front of you, but not pain or nausea

Question 8

What are the 2 rival positions for mental states?

Answer 8

1. Materialism/Physicalism
2. Dualism

Question 9

What are the 2 types of materialism/physicalism?

Answer 9

1. Behaviorism
2. Brain-State Physicalism

Question 10

What is behaviorism?

Answer 10

Mental states are behavioral states (e.g. pain is the disposition to wince and groan when faced with tissue damage)

Question 11

What is brain-state physicalism?

Answer 11

Mental states are brain states (e.g. pain is just a neural state, such as firing C-fibers)

Question 12

What are the 2 types of dualism?

Answer 12

1. Substance Dualism
2. Property Dualism

Question 13

What is substance dualism?

Answer 13

The mind is a non-physical substance

Question 14

What is property dualism?

Answer 14

Mental states have non-physical properties

Question 15

Under property dualism, what are the 2 ways the mental could interact with the physical?

Answer 15

1. Interactionism
2. Epiphenomenalism

Question 16

What is interactionism?

Answer 16

The mental and physical realms causally interact

Question 17

What is epiphenomenalism?

Answer 17

The mental cannot cause anything to happen in the physical realm