Why philosophy of the mind?

- We intuitively assume that some entities have minds and

others have not.
- We know what it means for something to be living and have a
mind or what doesn’t have a mind.
- We know a brick doesn’t have a mind but a dog does.
- A cat has a mind and a pebble does not
- Affects our attitude towards those entities
- We can as humans can make distinctions between things with
minds and things that doesn’t have a mind but we can also
make a distinction between other things that have minds and
that we have special highly developed minds (better capacity
for consciousness than dogs)
- Therefore also assume that humans have particularly highly-
developed minds.
- Types of capacities: Abstract thoughts ,self
consciousness ,artistic ,sensibilities , rational deliberation.
- We assume more complex animals are capable of complex
social emotions such as shame or embarrassment but are they
capable of forming intentions, logical reasoning, decision
making?
- We are aware that there is a hierarchy and that a earth worms
life isn’t the same as our domestic dogs or cats.These creatures
do have sensation and they can adjust and modify their
behaviour accordingly to the environment or circumstance.
- Oyster ,crabs have the same sensations as dog and cats but do
they have minds in the same way we have minds or in the same
way that we think our dogs and cats have minds?
- WHAT IS TO HAVE A MIND (PROPERTIES AND
CHARACTERISTICS)
- Lets say oyster and crabs experience those sensation that we
associate with consciousness … but do they have a mind ?
- What does it mean to have a mind?
- AI? Do they have minds? Moral to switch off a robot ?
 - Starting point : How the question differs from neuroscience or
general psychology or science…

- What is it to be a creature with a mind?

The mind-body problem: Introduction

1. WHAT IS THE PROBLEM.

 An old problem and is still unsolved
 We don’t have a conclusive answer of how the mind-body
relationship works
 It looks as if the mental and the bodily always occur together
but their characteristics seem entirely different.
 The mental seems obviously different from the physical but
they seem related.
 Ex a conscious experience for example having an injury its
hard to imagine that particles like sells and tissues don’t
come out of thin air .. how can we can get fear or allow
complex mental experiences.
 Phenomena of the 2 kinds are connected in some way
  Ex: stepping on a thumb tack that causes a pain in your
foot.There is evidence that mental event occur because of
physical neurological processes.A basis of pain is from a
mental process.
 How could a series of physical events (molecules, atoms)
lead up to a consciousness experience?
 Mental events have physical effects
 How beliefs and desires manage to cause those neurones to
fire in the fist place.How does the whole process gets started
, what sets it off.
 It seems impossible to answer the question unless we say
that these beliefs and desires are themselves just physical
happenings in the brain.
 Are mental processes merely just physical states in the
brain?
 If yes … how ? if no … what are they and what is their
relationship to the brain.

2. Mind-body problem
 How we can accommodate mind and mentality in such a completely
material world. How is it possible to have a place in this world for a
mind or mentality in a world that is so physical.

3. Metaphysical background

 For Descartes , the mental was equal to the soul … An immaterial

substance existing outside of time and space
 Has essential properties such as thinking and being consciousness
 He believes that a person has a literal mind but it is separate from the
physical body.
 This assumption that having a mind is something you can possess is
not wildly accepted anymore… but the assumption still exists that we
have mental PROPERTIES, features , and capacities that are unique.
Ex. Sensation , perception, memory ,learning.
 Having a mind is simply having a group of properties , features etc.
 4. Ontology and terminology
 Substances : object or things (Aristotle)
 Have “properties”- characteristics that substance have in common
 Stand in relation to one another ( properties + relations = attributes)
 “physical” = objects and phenomena studied in physics but also the
chemical , biological etc.
 Materialism : all things that exist in the world are bits of matter or
aggressiveness of bits of matter.There is no thing that isn’t a material
thing.( older version of this assumption) We can explain the working
of the physical world by means of what matters does and the laws of
nature.
 Physicalism: all things that exist are entities recognised by the science
of physics , or systems aggregated out of such entities (e.g
energy ,particles, forces.) Atoms consists by little bits of matters.
Matter or physical things can interact with each other in complex
physical ways.

Varieties of mental phenomena

- “mental” phenomena (4 kinds)

 Sensations (pain ,itch, see, smell)= phenomenal/qualitative (there is
something it is like to experience such states which is distinctive
….this is also known as qualia = the make up phenomenal
consciousness (we have direct access to them)
 Intentionality : directed at something or has content…. “Content
bearing”: has meaning that can be communicated.we don’t normally
associated a quantitative aspect to a belief or intention. Propositional
attitudes do not necessarily have a felt aspect … feeling the pain in
your foot … seeing a beautiful sunset.
 Feelings and emotion : (anger, happiness, embarrassment ). We often
attribute emotions to persons.some state of emotions involve
propositional attitudes.ex you can be embarrassed because you
forgot to call your mother on her birthday..as she can be
disappointed that you forgot.So some emotions don involve
belief.Because if you believe that you are embarrassed that you
forgot , you must believe that you did.Not all instances are
accompanied by qualitative thins.
 Volitions ( intending, deciding, willing)….. all intensional actions must
be preceded by an act of volition.When you decide to do something
 and when you actually do something that process is preceded by
what you call. When you attend to raise you arm , you must know
decide to raise your arm.You must initiate the steps at the
appropriate time….My lifting my arm as opposed to someone else
doing it (result or desire). Only creatures with beliefs and desire and
an understanding of social conventions can engage in all activities
such as buying and selling.

NOW THE QUESTION IS , HOW DOES THE PROPERTY OF THE MENTAL FIT IN
HERE?

Skip pg 8-14 in Kim … not because now

- Is there a mark of the mental ?( what makes these characteristics

mental, what makes us a part of being a creature with mentality, is there
a criteria that would separate mental phenomena or properties from
those that are not mental?
 Different possible answers- 1. Epistemology, 2. Non-spatiality , 3.
Intentionality

CLASS NOTES ( 4 October , week 2 )

CARTESIAN DUALISM
Sub-disciplines

- Dualism : In philosophy of mind dualism is the theory that the meantal

and the physical (the kind and brain) are in some sense to radical
different kinds of things.
- Cartesian dualism :
 Also known as substance dualism for the fact that this argumant
shows the difference between the mind and the body because they
consist of different substance (made up of different things)

- Origin of the mind-body problem

 Mediations ll, IV
 Background: wants to put knowledge on firm foundation
 “method of doubt” / “methodological skepticism” … questions
everything that he thought he knew. He’s states doubting everything
 that he knows and comes to the conclusion that the only certainty is
his thoughts (his mind) exist.We cannot rely on senses , we can be
certain that we are thinking and doubting… I think therefore I am.
 Innate ideas .. mind.Senses are not a mark of truth.The mind is the
mark of truth.He wants to know what the mind is and what it entails.
 Meditation 2
 He also wants to prove that the mind/soul is independent of the
body- makes room for free will and immortal soul.
 In order to prove that the mind and body are 2 distinct substances he
claims to
1) identify one property that the mind has that the body/physical
does not. The mind is better knowable/existence not subject to
doubt.The body is something one can doubt and call into
question.There is a possibility that the body can simply be an
illusion but the mind is something that can not be doubted.The
fact that one is doubting the body means that there is something
doing the doubting..and that something is the mind.
2) Uses “Leibniz’s Law or “indiscernibility of identicals”
If A=B and B need to have all of their properties in common.Thus if
the mind and the body are they same , they need go share all the
common properties.And Descartes arguments says that they do
not, therefore they are not the same.The mind does not equal the
body.
 But , the mind is better knowable and not subject to doubt which is a
property that the body does not have.Therefore the body ≠ mind.
 Strengthens his argument with the help of “ piece of wax”
 Wax that melts= only “mind”sees that it is still the same wax,
therefore the mind has a better understanding of things than the
body (senses) including itself.
 Hence he believes his mind’s insight that it exists and that it is better
knowable than the physical
 He only recognises the existence of his body through his senses.

- The argument is structured as follows ( in philosophical and logical form)

 P(1) My body has the property of being
Week 3 : Logical behaviourism

- Different “isms”
 Must be careful because they can both have strict and loose
meanings.even multiple meanings
 Behaviourism:
1. Can refer to the doctrine in psychology
2. Can refer to the doctrine that behaviour can be explained in terms
of external (environment) and not the internal (mind)
 Logical behaviourism : Mental terms or concepts should be translated
into behavioural terms and concepts.The idea of mental (internal) is
actually the idea that someone has given behavioural disposition or
tendency.We infer these dispositions from people’s actions.Often
also our own.Rooted in logical positivism= Statements/concepts are
only meaningful in as far as they can be (empirically) verified, in
principle.Meaning that they can be proved and observed.
 Logical behaviourism attempts to avoid Cartesian Dualism, but also
epiphenomemalism.
 Ryle : critesices Cartesian dualism on epistemological grounds
 A form of internalism- mental states are internal states (privileged
access to them)
 Implicit = we cannot know others minds like we know our own