PoM2 Flashcards
(a) Explain the problem of mental causation. [3 points]
(b) Explain what the principle of the causal closure of the physical says. [3 points]
(ci) Reconstruct Kim’s explanatory exclusion argument in your own words. [2 points]
(cii) Present Kim’s explanatory exclusion argument, as you reconstructed it, in standard form. [2 points]
(a) State the three propositions Davidson’s anomalous monism seeks to combine. [3
points]
(b) Explain what each one of the three propositions, which Davidson’s anomalous monism seeks to combine, says. [4 points]
(c) Explain how Davidson’s anomalous monism would resolve the apparent conflict between the three propositions it seeks to combine. [3 points]
(a) Describe Dennett’s example of the experienced beer drinker, stating the conclusion this example is meant to support. [2 points]
(bi) Define what an intrinsic property is. [2 points]
(bii) Give one example of an intrinsic property you plausibly have, explaining in what sense it is an intrinsic property [3 points]
(c) Present the general form of Dennett’s argument, which underlies the experienced beer drinker case, in standard form. [3 points]
(a) Explain what propositional attitudes are, providing one example of a propositional attitude. [2 points]
(b) Explain how eliminativism differs from reductionism. [4 points]
(c) In Eliminative Materialism and the Propositional Attitudes, Churchland makes this argument: “Anti-vitalists say the vital spirit does not exist. But this assertion is self-refuting. If anti-vitalists do not have vital spirit, they must be dead. But if they are dead, then their assertion that the vital spirit does not exist is a meaningless string of noises.” Explain why Churchland makes this argument, and evaluate whether and why Churchland’s analogy between the vital spirit and the propositional attitudes is a good one. [4 points]
ai) State the extended mind thesis. [1 point]
(aii) Describe the three kinds of examples that motivate the extended mind thesis. [3 points]
(b) Describe the case of Otto and Inga, explaining what this case aims to show. [2
points]
(c) Consider the following objection: “Otto and his notebook do not really function in the same kind of way that Inga does when she has immediate recall from biological memory. In Inga’s case, she desires to see the exhibition at the museum and she retrieves the information that the museum is located at 53rd Street from her biological memory. In Otto’s case, he also desires to see the exhibition at the museum, he believes that he can find the information about the location of the museum within his notebook, and he forms a second belief that the museum is located at 53rd Street upon retrieving that information from the notebook. So, unlike Inga, Otto undergoes a two-step process: first, he believes that the information about the location of the museum can be found in the notebook, and second he acquires the belief that the museum is located at 53rd Street.” Evaluate whether or not this is a good objection, providing one reason in support of your view. [4 points]
(a) State what the coupling-constitution fallacy says. [2 points]
(b) Explain how the extended mind thesis would be understood as committing the coupling-constitution fallacy. [4 points]
(c) Explain how proponents of the extended mind thesis could reply to the charge the extended mind thesis commits the coupling-constitution fallacy. [4 points]
(ai) Explain the Twin Earth thought experiment. [3 points]
(aii) State what externalism about mental content says. [2 points]
(b) Reconstruct the Twin Earth thought experiment as an argument in standard form. [2 points]
(c) Evaluate whether or not the argument is convincing, providing one reason in support of your view. [3 points]
(a) Define what mental representations are. [2 point]
(b) Explain what the teleological theory of content says. [4 points]
(c) Explain how the teleological theory of content would solve the problem of non-existence. [4 points]
(ai) State what determinism says. [1 point]
(aii) Explain how determinism differs from fatalism and predictability. [3 points]
(b) Explain the difference between will as “willings” and will as “willpower” [3 points]
(c) Explain the idea of weakness of will in light of an example. [3 points]
(a) Explain what incompatibilist accounts of free will say. [2 points]
(b) Explain the hierarchy of desires model of freedom of will, stating whether or not it is an incompatibilist account. [4 points]
(c) Explain the origination model of will, stating whether or not it is an incompatibilist account. [4 points]
