Reading Material - Minds and Bodies (Flanagan) 

 
o Rene Descartes – Father of modern philosophy  
o Extended Galileo's mechanical conception of physical universe to
human behavior 
o Concept of reflex developed 
o Reflex hypothesis example – Disneyland robots – Royal Garden –
material analogy between physical structure and internal body 
o Totally mechanical and predictable information transfer from a
stimulus that activates sensory receptors, to conduct nerves to the
brain to effector nerves and culminate in a completely determined
response.  
o Reflex arc – 3 term casual sequence beginning with application of
an external stimulus giving rise to nervous system and terminates
in a response.  
o Human actions initiated at center of arcs – by mind – by res
cogitans 
o Although all human behavior requires a body for its execution, not
all behavior is initiated by other physical bodies 
o Gedanken experiment – philosophical force of certain everyday
intuitions 
o Scientific explanation – covering law model [Law; Initial condition;
explanandum] 
o Passive physical outcomes of the way – induced by external events 
o Two distinct - 
a. Rejection of reflex mechanism because of its
incompatibility with actions – motor response is caused
by an internal volition and not by application of external
stimulus to some sensory receptor as required by reflex
arc analysis   
b. Essential element in action is an incorporeal and free
mind 
 
Video – Mind and Machines 
Idea that bodies as machines – Workings of body ultimately be reduced to
fundamental different components – laws of physics – do not need special
life force  
Assumption that human body is incredibly complicated and clever
machine.  
Implies: 
1. Bodies can be understood, explained in scientific terms 
2. Behaviors are caused by state, environment and principles –
factors which are explainable  
3. Behaviors are predictable – if you know things  
"The Ultimate Machine" - Leonardo da Vinci – flying machine aspect +
human bodies dissected – detailed structures =beginning of human body
and machine – human body is a complicated machine created by nature 
Rene Descartes – 1596 – 1950 
o His robots – problematize the relationship between the two  
 o Possible to use purely mechanical principles
o Animal and human bodies – complicated versions of the same
robots but just differ in material, construction, complexity, etc. –
BUT work on same principles
Human mind special – could not be explicated in same terms
1. Living things are able to take actions – organisms to humans
a. React to environment
b. Anticipate upcoming events and prepare for them 
2. BUT this is based on 2 kinds of actions –
a. Reflex actions
b. Choices taken
3. Reflexes are predictable based on circumstances, and can be
explained scientifically – causal forces
4. Choices are not predictable, product of free, uncaused soul and do not
admit of deeper scientific explanation

Mechanical theories cannot apply to mind because

1. Free will – material world governed by causal forces; free choices are
uncaused; so, choices cannot be generated by material objects
2. Indiscernibility of identical – Leibniz law – if A=B, same properties for
both; // example: I doubt my body existence, or other objects; but
‘Cogito’ not possible to doubt that I have a mind [I think therefore I am
quote] – therefore mind not equal to material object

Descartes alternative proposal is – Dualism

1. Physical body – complex material object
2. Non-material mind – locus of free will and consciousness
Issue (Criticism) – how does the mind cause events in the body?
Psychokinesis

2 Materialist theories of mind – Body does not require us to possess any

special substance like soul – alternatives to the above theory
- Mind’s place in nature and science
- Modern science – metaphysical materialism – nothing other than
matter and energy in the universe = question: how and where can
mind exist in a material world?
- 2 answers: mind brain identity and functionalism
Mind brain identity theory – mind is just the brain
- Scientific good
- But – issue: many properties of mind are abstractions of physical
properties of brains // 2 people in pain; does it have same brain state;
brain configuration to share same belief? – not really required;
encoded in different ways – functional properties
- Problem 2 – multiple realizability – meat in our skulls special? Having
a mind requires you to have a specific kind of meat in brain. Different
neural systems for intelligent organisms like animals, dolphins, etc.
different substances, but yet be intelligent organisms; if possible –
these mental states can be realised in different ways and physical
substrates
 - Example - Computations can be realised in different ways – finger,
paper, calculator, computer, etc.
Functionalism – mind is a functional kind; not like an item but functional
kind irrespective of physical material it is made of.
- XYZ person or a computer – have mental states?
- Includes anything with right functional Organisation
- Mind is a kind of abstract pattern in matter – like software
Consequence – mental states, like with various computations, are multiply
realizable
- Reference 1st made in “Putnam’s mind and machines”
- Andy Clark: neural tissues, cells etc. – all just god’s computing
machinery
- Like software in computing system// mindware found in brain
Arguments for functionalism:
1. Immune to cartesian objection that mind not = to brain
2. Compatible with materialism – which can be realised by physical
stuff // abstract computations which can be realised by physical
computers
“computation” – depends on circumstances
Consequences of this theory – Human like objects with radically different
subjects than us – Ex: if we know some people made from different organic
material – but these are not relevant according to this theory.

Reading Material – They are made out of Meat! DOUBT

Meat made machines – carbon-based intelligence that goes through a meat
stage
Born meat and die meat – Meat head with an electron plasma brain inside
Brain is made out of meat