Week 1 - Introduction to Consciousness

Question 1

Reductionism:

Answer 1

the mind exists and is reducible to physical activity (ie. it is
nothing more than that activity)

Question 2

Emergentism:

Answer 2

the mind exists and is the product of physical activity, but

behaves as if it were independent and follows its own general laws

Question 3

Eliminative materialism:

Answer 3

the mind does not exist, consciousness does not

exist, only physical activity exists

Question 4

EMERGENT MATERIALISM

Answer 4

• Mind emerges from neural activity only when that

activity becomes complex enough

Question 5

Emergensism if for

Reductionism is for

Answer 5

Emergensism if for psychology

Reductionism is for neurology

Question 6

ELIMINATIVE MATERIALISM

Answer 6

• Patricia Churchland : conscious and mind represent a folk psychology that sciennce if trying ti fit its questions into.
• Neuroscience doesnt map these concepts our tho, we just looked for them.

Question 7

Idealsim

Answer 7

1. Subjective idealism

2. Transcendental idealism

Question 8

1. Subjective idealism

Answer 8

Phsyical world only exists to the extent of our perception

• goerge berkely (tree falls)
• the particaptory universe (john wheeler): form the univers of possibilities, we create a single reality though observations.

Question 9

2. Transcendental idealism

Answer 9

(Immanuel Kant): the physical world exists, but how it appears to us is not how things really are

Question 10

Realism

Answer 10

1. Niave realism : implicit belif by everyone that the worlds real
2. Direct realism: we can accuratly percieve the world for what it is (jj. Gibson)
3. Indirect realism: we CANT accuratly perceive the world, but good enough

Question 11

Prumary consciousness

Answer 11

Percpetial exprriecnes (seeing, hearing, feeling, emtoions)

Question 12

Secondary conscioussnes

Answer 12

Additional mental abilties whihc are constructed on the absis of those perceptions (reaosning, attention, volition)

Question 13

he thought that only mammals and birds have some

degree of secondary consciousness

Answer 13

Gerald Edelman’s division;

Question 14

Wheres the mind?

Answer 14

1. Internalism.

2. Externalism

Question 15

1. Internalism.

Answer 15

The mind is the porduct of just thought or neural activity

Question 16

2. Externalism

Answer 16

The mind extends beyond the brain into rest of the body and the world

• extended mind (andy clarck): minds composed of tools
• embodied cognition: limitied version whihc only includes the body (no tools)

Question 17

SU BSTANCE DUALISM

Answer 17

• Rene Descartes : the world is physical, extended and changing while the mind is non-physical, unextended and unchanging
- mind and brain interact at pineal gland

Question 18

Problems with substance dualism

Answer 18

1. Nothing special about pineal gland

2. How would ohsyical and non ohsyicla interact

Question 19

EPIPHENOMENALISM

Answer 19

Mind is porduced by phsyical workings of the body, its a by product of phsyical mechanisms, (huxley)

• Mind = steam
• Body = train
• One way relationship

Question 20

PANPSYCHISM

Answer 20

Mild” version: Any object can be conscious if it behaves in the right sort of way; any particle of matter or quanta of energy can contribute to consciousness if integrated into a conscious system

• “Extreme” version: there is a mental substance or field which fills the universe and interacts with matter universally

Question 21

Integrated Information Theory

Answer 21

(Giulio Tononi): consciousness is the process of integrating information in a complex way which allows us to model the
world and our own internal states

Question 22

Free will Three broad positions:

Answer 22

• Libertarianism: Yes, we can choose
• Determinism: No, we cannot choose
• Compatibilism: Determinism is true, but we can still choose

Question 23

LIBERTARIAN FREE WILL

• Dualist versions:

Answer 23

We have free will because even if physics is deterministic, the
mind is not physical, and therefore isn’t bound by the same laws

Question 24

LIBERTARIAN FREE WILL

Materialist versions:

Answer 24

We have free will because physics is indeterminate

Question 25

DETERMINISM

Answer 25

• Nothing in universe is uncaused, everything has a cuase.

- nothing is truly spontaneous

Question 26

COMPATIBILISM

Answer 26

Artuhur Schopenhauer: ppl can will what they do but not will what they will

• control actions but nit desires and feelings.
• danial dennet : It doesn’t matter if determinism is true or false, because either way we have the kind of free will that matters