physicalism Flashcards

1
Q

what is physicalism?

A
  • the view that everything is physical or supervenes upon the physical
  • so mental states supervene upon the physical (they are dependent upon physical properties)
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2
Q

what is philosophical behavioursim?

A
  • the view that mental state concepts, such as beliefs, desires and sensations are identical in meaning to behavioural concepts
  • the mind can be analytically reduced to behaviour e.g. happiness is actually just “smiling” and “laughing”
    a mental state is all about the external and observable behaviour
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3
Q

explain ‘hard’ behaviourism

A
  • “all propositions about mental states can be reduced without loss of meaning to propositions that exclusively use the language of physics to talk about bodily states/movements
  • Hemple said that the mind should be based on empirically observable data rather than introspection (based on behavioural evidence alone)
  • we can translate all talk about mental states into observation statements about peoples physical states and behaviour
  • e.g. ‘Paul is in pain’ is equivalent to the statements ‘Paul is crying’ and when asked what’s wrong Paul saying that ‘I have a toothache’
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4
Q

explain soft behaviourism

A
  • “propositions about mental states are propositions about behavioural dispositions
  • Ryle says that mental states don’t need to be reduced to actual behaviour but just to one’s behavioural dispositions
  • a mental state does not always have to be manifested into a behaviour e.g. if you have a toothache you might not complain, if you believe it is raining you might not display any associated behaviour, such as putting an umbrella up
  • if someone has a toothache, it doesnt mean they would actually be crying, but they would only be doing this if the circumstance was right
  • if someone is thirsty, it doesnt mean they are going to get a drink, it just means that they are disposed to get a drink and would do if the opportunity arose
  • dispositions can be expressed in hypothetical propositions “if….then….so” “if you were in the right circumstances then you would have a drink”
  • mental states can be reduced in terms of potential behaviour
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5
Q

explain the issue for physicalism: dualist arguments applied to philosophical behaviourism

A

(any dualism arguments can be applied)
- mary’s room
- philosophical zombie argument

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6
Q

explain the issue for behaviourism: the distinctness of mental states from behaviour (super-spartans and perfect actors)

A
  • ‘super-spartans’ are a community of people who suppress any outward demonstration of pain
  • they don’t cry, say “ouch!” or wince
  • they feel pain internally, and have the subjective experience of pain, but have been trained to show no outward manifestations of pain behaviour
  • behaviourism says pain is reducible to it’s behaviours
  • but the idea of super-spartans is not contradictory, so it seems that our concept of pain cannot be reduced to behavioural concepts
  • pain and the behaviour are two separate things - it’s possible to have the mental state without the behavioural disposition
  • pain behaviour is just a symptom of being in pain
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7
Q

explain the issue for physicalism: issues defining mental states satisfactorily due to a) circularity and b) the multiple realisability of mental states in behaviour

A

a) a complete analysis of mental states would reduce all talk of mental states to talk of behaviour
- but wether a mental state manifests itself in behaviours depends on the other mental states a person has
e.g. if I am thirsty, wether I drink the water or not depends on if I believe the water is poisoned. the belief that the drink is poisoned will also make reference to mental states
- we cannot make a complete analysis without reintroducing mental state terms at each turn
- the analysis is circular because it reintroduces mental state concepts instead of reducing them to behavioural concepts

b) mental states can be realised by different behaviours
- e.g. if I believe it will rain I could take an umbrella or wear a hood
- mental states are multiply realisable in behaviour
- there seems to be no limit in how many ways a mental state could manifest itself in behaviour
- a complete analysis would have to include all the possible ways a mental state could be manifested in behaviour, this list would be indefinitely long and impossible to complete
- e.g. if I believe a drink is poisoned I won’t drink it, but another person who also believes the drink is poisoned might drink it because they are suicidal
- their mental state relies on another mental state, the mental state of believing the drink is poisoned can be multiply realised in different behaviours

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8
Q

what is the issue for physicalism: the asymmetry between self-knowledge and knowledge of other peoples mental states

A
  • there is a big difference in the way that I know my own mental states and the way I know the mental states of others
  • I know the mental states of others because I observe their physical behaviour, e.g. I know Paul has a toothache because he is clutching his jaw and yelling that he has a toothache
  • but I don’t need behavioural evidence to know what mental state I am in e.g. if I have a toothache, I can tell I have a toothache because I am directly acquainted with the pain
  • behaviourism does not explain this asymmetry
  • it suggests knowledge of my own mental states is obtained in the same way that I gain knowledge of others’ mental states
  • the fact that I don’t need to observe my behaviour in order to know what mental state I am in shows that it is false
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