substance dualism Flashcards
what is substance dualism?
says that there are two completely different kinds of substance in our universe:
mental substances and physical substances
what are physical substances?
physical substances are things like the trees, cars, houses and your body and brain.
what is the conceivability argument?
p1) i have a clear and distinct idea of my mind as a thinking thing that is not extended in space
p2) i have clear and distinct idea of my body as a non-thinking thing that is extended in space
p3) anything i can conceive of clearly and distinctly is something that god could create
p4) so god could create my mind as a thinking thing that is not extended in space and my body as a non-thinking thing that is extended in space
p5) so it is possible for mind and body to exist independently of each other
c) mind and body are separate substances
what are mental substances?
the mind is a non-physical and can exist completely independently of the physical substances.
what are the responses to the conceivability argument?
- mind without body is inconceivable
- what is conceivable may not be physically possible
- masked man fallacy
what is the response that mind without body is inconceivable?
p1) behaviourism says that to have mental states is to have behavioural dispositions
p2) to have behavioural dispositions is to be disposed to move your body in certain ways
p3) it is inconceivable to be disposed to move your body in certain ways if you don’t have a body
p4) so it is inconceivable to have mental states if you don’t have a body
c) so mind without body is inconceivable
what is the response that what is conceivable may not be physically possible?
just because we can imagine the mind floating around independently of a body does not mean that it is PHYSICALLY POSSIBLE.
LOGICALLY POSSIBLE ≠ PHYSICALLY POSSIBLE.
what is the masked man fallacy?
p1) i conceive of batman as a caped crusader
p2) i conceive of bruce wayne as a billionaire who is not a caped crusader
c) bruce wayne is not batman
conceivability ≠ reality
the argument switches from talking about ideas to talking about things themselves
what is the divisibility argument?
p1) my body is divisible
p2) my mind is not divisible
c) therefore, my mind and body are separate things
this argument uses leibniz’s law of identicals, which say that A and B to be the same thing they must have the same properties.
responses to the divisibility argument
- the mind is divisible
- not everything that is physical is divisible
what is the response that the mind is divisible?
there are cases of mental illness in which the mind does seem literally divided.
- e.g. multiple personality disorder.
brain can be cut in half and people can go to live normal lives.
what is the response that not everything that is physical is divisible?
it is possible that the mind is just an indivisible type of physical substance
- you cannot keep dividing the physical body as eventually you will only have atoms
you can reach a point where physical matter becomes indivisible.
what are problems for substance dualism?
- the problem of other minds
- causal interaction
- the conceptual interaction problem
- the empirical interaction problem
what are the responses to the problem of other minds?
MILL - ANALOGY
p1) i have a mind
p2) my mind causes my behaviour
p3) other people have bodies and behave similarly to me in similar situations
p4) by analogy their behaviour has the same type of causes as my behaviour
c) therefore, other people have minds
BEST EXPLANATION
ockhams razor
what is the problem of other minds?
if we can only experience our own thoughts and feelings, we cannot assume that others have minds like us.
- how do we know there is a mind attached to a body
in a dualist view, it is completely possible to have physical behaviour without a physical mind.
what is causal interaction criticism?
how mental things can causally interact with physical things when they are supposed to be two separate substances
- our mental states affect how we behave - but if mental state is non-physical then how does it cause things to happen
what is the conceptual interaction problem?
p1) physical things only move if they are pushed
p2) only something that is physical and can touch the thing that is moved can exert such a force
p3) the mind is not physical so it cannot touch the body
c) therefore, the mind cannot move the body
what is the empirical interaction problem?
in a closed system energy cannot be added or removed - only transferred.
our universe is a closed system
- if substance dualism were true it would mean energy is constantly being added into the closed system of our universe every time the mental and physical interact
then the law of the conservation of energy is false
- but there is alot of evidence that it is true
