The Self is the Mind PDF

THE SELF IS THE MIND Philosophy of Mind (a relatively modern branch) is mainly concerned with one question: What is the nature of mental states (love, hate, pain, fear, hope, understanding,…)? Two main approaches Dualism...

THE SELF IS THE MIND Philosophy of Mind (a relatively modern branch) is mainly concerned with one question: What is the nature of mental states (love, hate, pain, fear, hope, understanding,…)? Two main approaches Dualism Materialism - Cartesian Dualism - Behaviorism - Identity Theory - Functionalism - Eliminative Materialism  CARTESIAN DUALISM There exists two kinds of substances that differ fundamentally, the material & the mental, the quantitative & the qualitative, the spatial & the aspatial, the general & the personal: only you have privilege access to your mental states. Besides being intuitive, this gave room for both religion and science. Problem: The Mind Body Problem Clearly there is an interaction between the two worlds, for example: a pinprick causes pain , and pain causes grimace Descartes failed to provide an adequate explanation for such interaction.  BEHAVIORISM There are no mental states. The mind is but a “ghost in the machine”. - Gilbert Ryle Mental states are mere terms and are actually “categorical mistakes”. Just like the word “university” points to nothing specific in the empirical world, rather to a collection of buildings, the words “pain, happy,..” are mere categorical names that point to sets of other material objects. These material objects are behaviors or dispositions to behaviors. (Input -> Output)  BEHAVIORISM Pain, for example, refer to a set of behaviors: grimacing, saying “ouch”, taking analgesics..etc.. just like “solubility” refers to how a sugar cube behaves in proper context, and not to any internal states. Mental states can be studied scientifically by examining behaviors Problems: 1- Infinite regress of descriptions and behaviors, since you can further analyze a mental state into other mental states. 2- Some descriptions could be different from one human to another, 3- Intentionality and Qualia  IDENTITY THEORY Reduces mental states to brain states e.g: Serotonin release = Good mood, Dopamine = Happiness,…etc.. The simplest theory to understand the mind Problems: 1- Multiple realizability problem (MRP): organisms can have fundamentally different neural structures despite all having the mental state e.g.: Crustaceans lack C fibers that mediate pain in humans. Thus, the theory might not be that simple after all. 2- Intentionality and Qualia.  FUNCTIONALISM The dominant theory in modern times. Influenced by the invention of computers and emergence of AI. Mental states are internal functional states; they emerge from the causal relations between the different brain areas and activities. Simply put; the mind to the brain is like software to hardware (Input -> Function -> Output) Avoids MRP; different hardware(brain structure), but same software (function) Problems: Intentionality and Qualia  ELIMINATIVE MATERIALISM All humans, including laymen, can understand, explain and predict the mental states of other humans, and their behavior in response to such states. Eliminative materialists believe all people can theorize; that is build theories that try to explain others’ behavior  ELIMINATIVE MATERIALISM They also believe that being produced by common people, these are poor theories that contain non-scientific theoretical terms: mental states As with any poor theory, with the progression of Neuroscience, these theories, with the theoretical mental terms, will get eliminated, and be replaced by better scientific theories Possibly the most radical theory in explaining mental states with the problem of being counterintuitive. Also Qualia and Intentionality remain problematic for this school. Summary In this lecture you learned: Different definitions of the self What the mind-body problem is about Materialists approach to the problem