PHL 101 - Exam 1
Behaviorism
mental properties are often DISPOSITIONS to behve in certain ways given certain stimuli Theory of the mind that mental states are really just behaviors, or that sentences referring to mental states can be translated without loss into sentences that only refer to behavior
Knowledge De Re
Knowledge of something under whatever concept
Give an example of metacognition:
Maybe a dog can think something like: "there's some food." We can think: "Hey, I'm thinking the thought "there's some food."" This is an example of metacognition. Dogs, as far as we know, are not capable of this.
How did Rene Descartes define the mental and physical entities?
Mental has thoughts Physical takes up space These are never the same thing
What are the advantages to functionalism?
Mental states are multiply realizable, they can be sufficiently explained with out taking into account brains, neurons
Interactionism
Minds and bodies interact in both directions, the focus of dualism that involves the brain and the mind being two separate entities that interact M1 -> P1 -> P2 -> M2 -> M3
What is the psychological view of behaviorism?
(1) Should be an objective science and that (2) studies behavior without reference to mental processes, most research psychologists today agree with (1) but not with (2)
Who theorized pre-established harmony?
Leibniz
What is pre-established harmony?
M1 -> M2-> M3-> M4 P1 -> P2-> P3-> P4
What is the most common form of monism? Name another form of monism as well.
Materialism (most common) and Idealism
What are two examples of dispositions? Use the appropriate stimulus/manifestation structure.
Fragility: the disposition to BREAK when STRUCK. Elasticity: the disposition to STRETCH when PULLED.
Postulation
Something that you do when you formulate a theory. It is essentially mental processing.
Ockham's Razor
Statement made by Ockham, a medieval philosopher: "Don't postulate stuff that doesn't serve a purpose"
Under what conditions can we be said to know something?
To know something seems to require: 1) That you believe it 2) That it is true 3) That you have a good reason to believe it, and... 4) ...you believe it for that reason
What is the difference between type identity theory and token identity theory?
Token identity theorists look at tangible objects that exist somewhere in space and time. Type identity theorists focus on concepts, NOT tangible objects.
Epiphenomenalism
the focus that the body causes mental events but the mental has no effect on the body
Knowledge De Dicto
Knowledge of something under a particular
Multiple Realizability (argument)
The argument that the same mental states can be implemented in different neurological ways.
Epistemology
The study of knowledge and justified belief
Action (as opposed to reflex)
roughly, intentional bodily movement
Perception (as opposed to hallucination)
very roughly, sensation caused by and representative of things outside the body
What are the main objections/problems with materialism?
Does not account for a spirit or consciousness
Which famous mathematician was an interactionist dualist?
Rene Descartes
What are the two forms of monism that reject assumptions that mental and physical natures are opposed?
Dual aspect theory and neutral monism
What are the advantages of dualism?
Dualism helps to explain the difficulties posed by the physicalist view.
Dualism
Dualists view the mind and body as separate entities
What was the quote given in class (not a definition) of "Thoughts"? Which important comparison in philosophy is this statement relevant to? Examples?
"Contentful mental states that meditate between perception and action." This is very important in the thought vs. conceptual thought comparison. Examples: desires, beliefs, sensations (pain, seeing red, tasting chocolate)
What are the main objections/problems with dualism?
1) Does not provide evidence for the existence of a soul (if any) 2) Fails to account for mental causation, how the mind causally interacts with matter. If the mind is nonphysical, it has no physical space. How then can mental cause give rise to behavioral effect or to the physical? 3) Dualism is incompatible with the practices of psychology.
Jackson on "Epiphenomenal Qualia"
1) Mary knows all the physical facts about color perception 2) Mary doesn't know what it's like to see red 3) What it's like to see red isn't a physical fact 4) If physicalism is true, all facts are physical facts 5) Physicalism is false (1) may be true if 'knows' means knows de re. But then (2) is false. (1) is false if 'knows' means knows de dicto.
Logically explain type identity theory:
1) Mental state M 2) Physical state P 3) m = p
Give three examples of qualia:
1) The hurting from pain 2) The itchiness from itching 3) The redness from viewing the color red
What two things must we distinguish between for the statement: "Justification for a belief is roughly evidence for it or good reason to believe it"
1) The mere existence of a good reason to believe something 2) Believing it on the basis of that reason
Give 3 examples of successful reductions:
1) Water = H2O 2) Temperature = mean molecular kinetic energy 3) Lighting = electrical discharge
What are the main objections/problems with behaviorism?
1) behavior (action) isn't the same thing as bodily movement. The same bodily movement (e.g. swaying to the right) could be avoidance or not, depending on why it's done. But the reason for doing it is mental, which threatens behaviorism's ability to analyze mental properties in non mental terms. 2) The disposition associated with a mental property depends on what other mental properties are in the background ex. pain doesnt always dispose us to avoid its cause (some of us don't avoid weightlifting even though it causes pain from soreness)
Absent Qualia
A system that could represent the functional state of an experience without having qualia associated with it
Give an example of an argument:
All dogs are mammals (premise) All mammals are animals (premise) ________________________________________________ Therefore, all dogs are animals (conclusion)
What is an argument?
An argument is a series of statements in which a certain statements (premises) are intended to support a further statement (the conclusion)
Give an example of absent qualia:
Assume a robot and a human are functionally identical, and both the human and the robot stub their toe in the same exact way. The human will have qualia, meaning they will have a qualitative experience and will 'know' the pain of stubbing their toe. It seems implausible to suppose that the robot could have any phenomenal experience (qualia) whatsoever. If absent qualia objection is right, we can have functional equivalence without qualitative equivalence.
Explain the materialism theory:
Basic reality is atomic in nature as atoms were always in existence Atoms have existed from eternity Atoms have no quality in themselves but they make up the material world All things are composed of material, and all phenomena are a result of material interactions
Dispositions are a part of what theory? Under this theory: All ______ are dispositions.
Behaviorism. Mental properties are DISPOSITIONS to behave in certain ways given certain stimuli. Mental states
Dual Aspect Theory
Branch of monism that rejects the assumption that the mental and physical natures are opposed. The theory supports the notion that many or all things have a partially mental and partially physical nature.
Neutral Monism
Branch of monism that rejects the assumption that the mental and physical natures are opposed. The theory supports the notion that the ultimate constituents of reality are neither mental nor physical, and mentality and physicality are somehow derived from that neutral basis.
What are the advantages of physicalism?
Dominant argument in mind-body problem, accounts for more than just matter so its better than materialism.
Cognition
Conceptual thought
What are the main objections/problems with physicalism?
Condtradicts existence of qualia!
Inverted Qualia
Considers a possibility where people may be qualitatively inverted with respect to one another. Both people in the situation have qualia, but they are vastly different despite the fact that the functional states of their situation are identical.
What are the main objections/problems with type identity theory?
Does not coincide with multiple realizability: 1) mental kinds are multiply realized by distinct physical kinds 2) a given mental kind can be multiply realized by distinct physical kinds 3) no mental kind is identical to a specific physical kind
Type Identity Theory (reductionism)
Every mental property is identical with some physical property, mental states/events are identical to types of physical states
What are the advantages of interactionism?
Falls under dualism, mental causation to make sense of it you need cause and effect representations
What theory fails to account for qualia? What two arguments did philosophers theorize to refute this?
Functionalism Opponents of functionalism have mounted two different kinds of arguments: 1) those aiming to show that two systems might be functionally identical even though only one of them has any qualia at all (absent qualia) 2) those aiming to show that two systems might be functionally identical even though they have vastly different qualia from one another (inverted qualia)
What is (are) the primary differences between behaviorism and functionalism?
Functionalism focuses on mental processes as the causal role rather than the external behavior. Behaviorism focuses on the specific behaviors associated with mental states/properties
Cognitive
Having to do with concepts, or concept-laden thought
What are the main objections/problems with monism?
If the universe was made up of only one type of stuff, whether it be mental or physical, it poses some theoretical challenges as to how they could interact with one another.
What are the advantages of monism?
In contrast with dualism in the mind body debate, denies the distinction between mind and body and merges them together
Why is Ockham's razor a bit counterintuitive?
In metaphysics, philosophy of mind, we need to have an open mind. Ockham's razor is a bit backwards in that it would have you disregard something that was contradictory, or not within what you define as having a purpose.
Describe the objects used in substance dualism. Examples?
In substance dualism, these mental objects are supposed to be different from any material objects, whether brains or whole human bodies Ex. Mental objects include things like minds or selves
Is property dualism a more radical or a more modest form of dualism? What concept does property dualism exclude?
It is a more modest form. Property dualism excludes reductionism, which is the view that we can fully account for mental phenomena by means of nonmental properties (definition of reductionism--which is excluded)
What theory(s) does multiple realizability pose a problem for? Why?
It is a problem for the mind-brain identity theory.
Privacy (with regard to qualia)
Only the person having some experience can know directly what experience it is
Empiricists:
Philosophers who believe that all we know comes from direct experiences
Mental causation
Refers to any causal interaction between mind and body The ability of minds to take part in causal relations with physical things: Mental -> physical Physical -> mental
Criterion of Identity
Rule for getting an account of when things are the same, what changes can survive
What are the two possible subject matters that correspond to the two necessary categories of dualism?
Subject matter could be mental objects - usually persons (or conscious animals. (substance dualism) Subject matter could also be mental properties (instead of mental objects), such as being happy or tasting chocolate (property dualism)
What are the two categories of dualism that fully account for some subject matter?
Substance dualism and property Dualism
Metaphysics
The branch of philosophy that studies what kinds of things exist and how those things are related to one another.
Give an example of type identity theory:
The cause of pain of pain such as stubbing your toe
Monism
The focus of the universe being all in one and that there are no separate mind or brain, the universe is composed of one fundamental kind of stuff
Materialism
The mental is NOT distinct from the physical, only thing that can be proven to exist is matter, the view that all objects are composed of atoms
Philosophy (overall definition)
The study of the ultimate nature of knowledge, reality, and existence, especially when considered as an academic discipline. A lifelong pilgrimage.
Property Dualism
The view that it takes two different different kinds of properties to account fully for mental mental phenomena.
Reductionism
The view that it takes two different kinds of properties to account fully for mental phenomena by means of nonmental properties (property dualism excludes this)
Substance Dualism
The view that there are two different kinds of objects - mental and material
What are metaphysicians interested in?
They are interested in what ultimate or fundamental categories of things there are
Metacognition
Thoughts about thought, also called higher-order thought Metacognition looks conceptual
Give an example of inverted qualia:
Two people, mike and bill, both recognize broccoli to be green and stop signs to be red. But mike's phenomenal experience when he sees broccoli is the same as bill's when he sees a stop sign. As such, when mike sees a piece of broccoli he has a reddish experience whereas bill has a greenish experience. When mike sees a stop sign he has a greenish experience whereas bill has a reddish experience.
Qualia
What it's like to have a certain experience. Qualitative character of an experience, the subjective.
Physicalism
everything which exists is no more extensive than its physical properties, All mental particulars that exist are neurophysiological, everything in the universe is ultimately reducible to the physical form, branch of monism)
What are the main objections/problems with interactionism?
if minds are non physical its mysterious how they interact with physical things
Functionalism
mental states (beliefs, desires, being in pain) are constituted solely by their functional role (causal relations of mental states to other mental states, sensory inputs, and behavioral outputs) and can be characterized in terms of non-mental functional properties focuses on what the mind does rather than what it's made of, the mind processes functions to cause physical states
Dispositions
properties definable in terms of a STIMULUS and a MANIFESTATION The disposition to ___ when ___.
Token Identity theory
the relation between mental and physical (or mental state and brain state, or mental event and physical event) is one of identity