Materialism and Mind-Body Theories

• Experiences like tasting coffee, thoughts, and emotions are mental states that form the conscious mind
• The existence of experiences, thoughts, and emotions is an accepted fact
• Doubting their existence proves the existence of the conscious mind as an experience itself

Preliminary Characterization of the Conscious Mind

• Experiences such as tasting coffee or seeing something beautiful have qualitative aspects
• These qualitative aspects are called qualia, or what-it-is-likeness, a term coined by Thomas Nagel
• Nagel argues that sense stimulation leads to diverse experiences
• Mental states include:

Phenomenal Experiences

• Described by what-it-is-likeness and are characterized by their qualitative feel
• Phenomenal refers to how something feels, appears, or is experienced
• Qualia are the qualitative aspects of these experiences

Cognitive States

• Characterized by intentionality, or aboutness, which is the property of being about something
• Intentionality can also refer to wanting to do something on purpose
• Propositional attitude is the archetype of a mental state with intentionality
• Attitudes towards a proposition include knowing, believing, hoping, or wanting

Emotion

• Emotions possess both what-it-is-likeness and aboutness
• An emotion like being in love has a phenomenal feel and is directed towards someone

Examples

• Pushing eyelids results in seeing stars, which has what-it-is-likeness but not aboutness
• Robots may have cognitive states without experience, showing mental states differ with qualia and those with intentionality

Summary

• Three mental states are distinguished involving two different properties

Conscious and Unconscious Mind

• Unconscious states can become conscious under the right circumstances
• An unconscious mental state implies accessibility to consciousness, exemplified by personal memory e.g. remembering a first crush
• Many internal states remain unconscious and some states are unconscious because they lack the ability to become conscious

Mind-Body Problems

• The main problem is how the conscious mind fits into the physical world, resulting in three problems
• How phenomenal experiences fit into the physical world
• How cognitive states fit into the physical world
• How emotions fit into the physical world
• These boil down to two due to qualia and intentionality:
  • How do qualia fit into the physical world?
  • How does intentionality fit into the physical world?
• Addressing these two elements could explain the place of phenomenal, cognitive states and their combination

Consciousness and Cognition

• Cognition refers to the part of mental states that have aboutness
• Consciousness often refers to the phenomenal states of the mind i.e cognitive and phenomenal
• Phenomenal states are conscious by definition so consciousness defaults to phenomenal states

Taking Science Seriously

• The debate about the conscious mind is both philosophical and metaphysical
• Metaphysics deals with what goes beyond physics i.e. nature
• If the conscious mind debate is metaphysical, field science has no say
• Some philosophers detach philosophy from the real world, disregarding science's discoveries
• Science is essential for answering questions about the conscious mind
• Philosophy is vital for questioning and integrating data, and philosophers are trained to identify false reasoning

Chapter 2

Montaigne

• Many believe the soul survives bodily death, equating the conscious mind with the soul
• This implies the mind can exist separately from the physical world
• René Descartes championed the separability thesis against skeptics like Montaigne

Skeptics

• Skeptics question the certainty of knowledge, always postponing judgements
• Montaigne doubted all claims, leading him to question "What do I know."

Key Terms

• Separability thesis: the mind can function apart from the physical body
• Inseparability thesis: the mind cannot function apart from the physical body

Descartes

• One should not trust anything that has been deceptive in the past
• Distrusted humans and senses
• Even the simplest maths could be wrong
• A malicious demon could deceive the existence of a body or world

Descartes Foundation

• The evil demon cannot make one doubt their own existence
• Doubting is a way of thinking- to doubt is to think, and to think is to exist
• Cogito ergo sum- I think therefore I am
• Claims perceived clearly and distinctly are true
• Possessing the idea of God implies His existence, proved by the impossibility of one inventing such a perfect concept
• God's goodness prevents deception
• The ideas of body and corporeal things originate to the corporeal and they must therefore exist

Substance Dualism

• He is a thinking and physical thing, or two substances i.e. exists on its own
• Thinking substance (res cogitans): thinks
• Physical substance (res extensa): 3D

Properties

• Thinking substance: non-extended
• Physical substance: extended
• Thinking and physical things are independent
• Mind can exist sans rock, and a ghost can exist sans a body

Humanity

• Humans consist of these two substances
• Animals are mere machines
• Mental relation is closer than sailor and ship, mind and body are a unity in daily life

Princess Elizabeth

• Interaction problem- can the material body and the immaterial mind interact
• How can the soul of a man determine the spirits to produce voluntary actions
• Animal spirits- bodily/animal spirits are material, traceable to Greek physician Galen
• Bodies contain nerves and blood vessels housing small material particles
• It is in the pineal gland that the soul and the body influence each other
• This identification does not explain how Interaction occurs i.e bodies bump into each other

How Things can Move

• Heaviness moves a body without bumping
• The suggestion is that a soul can move a body in similar way- but it's flawed, as heaviness is not a substance, and neither is a soul!
• Contradictory beliefs is a soul and body- distinct yet united so they must be conceived as one and two"
• Descartes agrees interacting with each other is incomprehensible

Occasionalism and Parallelism

• Descartes follows invoke God to solve in one way or another , strongly suggest responsible for the interaction

Occasionalist Views

• According to occasionalists, God is the only cause, natural and occasional causes not true causes
• The mental event of someone who wants to lie his arm, and then causes the changes in the body, Descartes' Flemish follower Geulincx formulates pre-established and Later Leibniz develop and terms harmonina prestabilita.

Thoughts on Pre-Established Harmony

• This happens without the clocks having a relationship, parallel to each other.

Problems

• Problem both solutions is insightful i.e. how God is the cause/ the physical/mental in sync is unknown

Chapter 3

Monism

• Inability explains interaction, solution- deny intuitive idea and defend a substance monism

Modern Philosophy

• Usually accepted materialism posits what is physical, also applicable to the conscious mind

Second Type Relativity

• What is everywhere is mental i.e. idealism

Locke

Berkley

• Followed from John Locke i.e. sensory experience gains knowledge
• Sunflowers aren't yellow, perceived as such, properties tastes, smells, and the feeling of warmth do not exist without perceivers

Properties of Water

• One hand touching warm, another carrying cold = water feels both
• Warm and cold ascribe to water, water has temperature that does not depend on our perception

Lockes Properties

Primary

• Things have

Secondary

• Ascribed when we perceive them

The Primary Examples

• Temperate, this temperature might experienced warm or cold
• Perceiving dependent
• Wwater will 18, not longer cold, only related to the observer

Simularities

• Similar arguments for taste and colour, how you can generate different experience with sam colour/ tastes

Substance

• Empiricist, get knowledge if we can only get our experience, leads respect qualities
• Quality, is property of something
• Examples glass whisky ,
• Glass whisky the color, the smell, the taste what would be the the volume and the shape of the glass they are primary qualities

Discussion and Philosophical Ideas

• How we perceive things suggest everything can be from our of of , how imagine removing, results a problem howsure
• Colors warmth etc is secondary, Locke classified what he said Are The primary properties viewcalled

Berkeley

The Empiricists

• Hume Locke
• Is evident knowledge ideasenses mentallives. Arguning the exisiting outside Unthinking
• Properties exist the must substance Berekly, has
• No matter to read would idea in
• Arguments looks slowly inderested
• Berkeley locks the warmth certain for huge dimensiondepende

Berkeley continued - Key Points

A Thing

• is dependant on its perception
• Argues is perciered is dependent , percieved b yobject
• Thus phiosophy. Called the existence italso called existance is material substance confussed with material idea is because we perceive them
• See experiemce, and existence Is berkeleey a
• Fridge shut to exist This God persistence

Chapter 4

Behavioriouism

• Arguments its that properscientific subjective
• The long in the
• To what speak mind sense
• What predicting
• Of and forneeded
• Beh. reflexlike
• There inputblack have
• Thes

Pychological Behaviourism

• Accept methodoly
• Psycologist

Topic - Issues with Connectionism

• Acknowledged by connectionist researchers
• Biological Neural Networks
• Inspired artificial networks, connection units, output consideration, network player, hidden player connects
• Units connections output lauyers
• Actuvation based on previous connection

Explore key concepts in materialism and mind-body relationships, including supervenience and identity theory. Test your understanding of philosophical viewpoints on the connection between mental and physical properties. Understand the different meanings of identity and critiques of introspectionism.