Week 1: Why have brains at all? Philosophy of mind, Brain and the Environment = CHECKED Flashcards
What did David Wolpert argue what the sole purpose of the brain was?
To plan, organise and execute movements
What did Daniel Wolpert base his argument on why have brains at all?
Plants do not have brains and they can not move
Example Daniel Wolpert gives with purpose of brain is to organise, plan and execute movement (3))
A sea squirt is an aquatic animal that moves in the ocean (has a brain) until they find a rock they can attach themselves onto.
Once that happens, the animal will digest its own brain.
Conclusion: a brain is not necessary if you don’t need to move
Daniel Wolpert’s argument of the purpose of the brain is similar to the argument made by
Carl Sagan
Daniel Wolpert’s argument predates (exists earlier) than ______ arguement
Carl Sagan’s
Carl Sagan argument for purpose of the brain
The brain stores information to generate adaptive and complex behaviour behavior beyond what can be encoded in genes
The overarching question in philosophy of mind
is what is the mind?
Two strands of answering the overarching question of philosophy of mind is
dualism and materialism
Diagram of philosophy of mind with dualism and materialism
What is dualism?
It is the idea that both the mind and body are separate, and that the mental is distinct from the physical
What is materialism?
The mind is a physical object and mental states are derived from physical states
In other words, dualism proposes that
The mind is not the brain
The view of dualism is mainly attributed to philosoper called
Descartes
In Descartes’s Meditations on First Philosophy, he proposes a version called ____ or ______
dualism called substance dualism also known as interactionism
According to Descartes, substance dualism takes on the view that:
Both the mind and body are essentially dissimilar from each other and are made up of two different substances
Substance Dualism that mind and body are made up of two different substances which are: (2)
the body is made up of res extensa (corporeal [i.e., physical ]substance)
The mind is made up of res cogitans (thinking [i.e., non-physical] substance)
In Descartes’s substance dualism the mind and body are both separate from each other and made up of two substances, but they
influence each other causally (interacting)
Example: Imagine that while scuba diving in New Zealand bay, Mary sees a shark in the water and quickly swims back to the boat and gets safe on it:
Explanation due to substance/interactionist dualism (6)
1.Light waves from the shark hit Mary’s retina.
2.Mary’s brain extracts sensory information from the activation pattern of her retina and
3.It passes the information on to her nonphysical mind.
4.Her mind interprets the sensory information it has received from the brain and recognizes that there is a shark.
5.It then decides that the best thing to do is to swim back to the boat and get on it. A message (SWIM TO THE BOAT) is sent from Mary’s mind back to her brain.
6.Her brain sends the signals to her muscles and she swims quickly back to the boat.
In substance dualism, the body is a physical substance that is located ___ and can be experienced through ___
in space
ordinary perception
In substance dualism, the mind is a non-physical substance (a mental thing) which is not located in ___ and cannot be experienced through ___
space
ordinary perception
What is the mind stuff in dualism?
There is no scientific explanation of what it could be
In this module, phenomenology is defined as:
The things about the conscious experience and mind that need to be explained
Dualism is giving up as there is no
good scientific explanation for the mind stuff, but we need strong arguements
What are the 3 objections to dualism?
Objection 1: Causality and Conservation of Energy
Objection 2: The argument from evolution and microphysics
Objection 3: Physical brain damage and psycho-active substances change mind states
Objection 1: Causality and Conversation of Energy:
Descarates considered that both mind and body are different subtances - one is a physical and one mental substance that
affect each other causally (interacting with each other)
Objection 1: Causality and Conversation of Energy:
Descarates mind and body interact with each other in a way that:
sense organs must inform the mind and the mind must inform the brain to perform an action
**Objection 1: Causality and Conversation of Energy:
**
Descarates said that mind and body interact via the _____ ( ____ )
pineal gland (PG)
Objection 1: Causality and Conversation of Energy:
How does the PG transmit information to the mind and back?
In roughly 400 years, no one was able to propose a theory for this
**Objection 1: Causality and Conversation of Energy:
**
“Informing the brain” involves
applying force onto ions (i.e., electronically charged particles) which makes neurons fire action potentials
**Objection 1: Causality and Conversation of Energy:
**
“Informing the brain” involves applying force onto ions which makes neurons fire however
where does the energy come from to make those charged particles move?
Objection 1: Causality and Conversation of Energy:
Generally, nature and the universe follow this law of conversation energy principle which states that (2)
In closed systems, Energy is neither produced or removed but can change its form from one energy to another (e.g., kinetic energy to heat)
Objection 1: Causality and Conversation of Energy:
Every modern technology relies on the
conversation of energy principle
Objection 1: Causality and Conversation of Energy:
If substance dualism is true… (3)
it would mean energy is constantly being added into the closed system of our universe every time the mental (Res cogitans) interacts with the physical (res extensa)
Then this means conversation of energy is false and contradicts fundamental laws of physics
But there is a lot of scientific evidence to suggest conversation of energy is true
Objection 1: Causality and Conversation of Energy:
Since substance dualism contradicts basic fundamentals of physics, according to Daniel Dennett this is the
this is a fatal flaw in dualism that is inescapable and unavoidable
Objection 2: The argument from biological continuity (evolution) and microphysics
Very few from the evolution of humans would accredit mind stuff to a single cell. where and when
does res-cogitans appear in the chain of evolution
Objection 3: Physical brain damage and psycho-active substances change the states of the mind
Mental states are affected by
physical substances
Objection 3: Physical brain damage and psycho-active substances change the states of the mind
Psycho-active substances changes a
person’s mental state
Objection 3: Physical brain damage and psycho-active substances change the states of the mind
A person’s mental state is affected by physical
damage to the brain
Objection 3: Physical brain damage and psycho-active substances change the states of the mind
A person’s mental state is affected by physical damage to brain
For example,
Amnesia caused by damage to the hippocampus
Objection 3: Physical brain damage and psycho-active substances change the states of the mind
- How does Psycho-active substances affect res cognitans, how does physical damage to the brain affects mental states and how does the damage to brain prevent realisation of mental state to res cogitans has not been
replied satisfactorily
Imagine that, while scuba diving in a New Zealand bay, Mary sees a shark in the water. She quickly swims back to the boat and gets safe on it (3) - MATERIALISM
1.Light waves from the shark hit Mary’s retina.
2.Mary’s brain extracts sensory information from the activation pattern of her retina and processes them
3.Her brain sends the signals to her muscles and she swims quickly back to the boat.
What is identity theory (proposed by materalists)?
The mind is the brain, and mental states such as beliefs, desires, emotions etc. really are physical states of the brain
According to the identity theory , for each mental state there is a unique physical configuration of the brain (i.e., distribution of activity in brain cells), such that a
life form can be in that mental state only if it is in that brain state
Why would we prefer materialism for this module? (4)
It goes not go against basic physics and human evolution
It is congruent with the effect of brain lesions and psycho-active substances on the mind as changed states of mind map onto altered brain states
Provides a base for the study of brain to explain behaviour
We can build models of casual mechanisms in brain as an explanatory tool for mind states
Is materialism the same as behaviourism? (2)
Behaviourists are materialists; they postulate that there is no mental substance, who interact with the physical world
Not all materialist (identity) theories are compatible with behaviourism
The brain acts as a mediator between the body’s actions and environment in a constant feedback look (brain-environment loop)
to produce adaptive behaviour
Brain-enviroment feedback look description (4)
Brain selects an action
Leads to change in state of environment/point of view has changed
Changed sensory inputs that go into the brain
Loops
Brain-environment feedback loop
The brain selects actions according to the criteria of
keeping the organism alive (along with homestasis) and thrive
The goal of adaptive behaviour is
maintain homeostasis (i.e., survive)
For an animal to be alive, it must maintain homeostasis (i.e.,
For an animal to be alive, it must maintain homeostasis (i.e.,…
That particular variables (i.e., body temperature) must be kept within certain ‘physiological’ limits/parameters
In homeostasis, what the variables are and their limits is what constitute
the make up of the species (i.e., not the same for every animal)
From history of the brian we encountered a common theme that (tech)
brain, poorly understood, is likened to the most innovative and strange technology available at the time.
phenomenology in simple terms is a pre-theoretical description that summarizes observations.
In other words, phenomenology is a general term for
inhabitants of our conscious experience (e.g., thoughts/pain)
Brain-enviroment loop definition
To produce adaptive behaviour the brain must take in sensory information, process it, and generate an appropriate action.
