PHIL 100 Exam 3

Descartes Argument From Doubt

1. I can doubt my body exists 2. I cannot doubt my mind exists 3. if two things do not have exactly identical properties, then they cannot be identical 4. therefore the mind and body are not identical

Descartes Argument From Consciousness

1. material objects in themselves, such as the body, are nonthinking and cannot have the property of consciousness 2. the mind is a thinking thing and does have the property of consciousness as its essence 3. if two things do not have exactly identical properties, then they cannot be identical 4. therefore the mind and body are not identical

Descartes Basic Premise

1. the body has property A 2. the mind has property non-A 3. if two things do not have exactly identical properties, then they cannot be identical 4. therefore, the mind and body are not identical - they are two completely different entities.

The Mind-Body problem

1. the body is a physical thing 2. the mind is a nonphysical thing 3. the mind and body interact and causally affect one another 4. nonphysical things cannot causally interact with physical things

Consistency

a claim, theory, argument cannot contain any contradictions

Metaphysical monism

a metaphysical position that claims that there is only one kind of reality ->physicalism ->reductionism, eliminitavism

Metaphysical dualism

a metaphysical position that claims there are two kinds of realities -> substance dualism, naturalistic dualism

Functionalism

a philosophy that claims that the mind is characterized by particular patterns of input-processing-output

Compelling

a theory or argument provides reasons that are cogent and sound. convincing, strong, powerful, impactful, effective

Interactionism

a type of dualism that claims that the mind and body, although different, causally interact with one another

Metaphysical materialism

a type of monism that claims that reality is totally physical in nature

Eliminativism

a type of physicalism that denies the existence of a separate, nonphysical mind and discards all language that refers to mental events

Cartesian Compromise

although the mind and body are separate, Descartes was convinced that they interact. -> interactionism

The functionalist claims...

behavior cannot be explained without understanding the internal processes that produce it.

6 C's

clarity, consistency, coherence, comprehensiveness, compatibility, compelling arguments

David Chalmers...

conscious experience is a fundamental feature irreducible to anything more basic. experience depends on the underlying physical processes. physical and psychophysical laws

Contemporary Version of Dualism: naturalistic

david chalmers: 1. consciousness and subjective experiences clearly exist. 2. it is impossible to identify consciousness with or to reduce it to physical processes in the brain 3. so it is likely that consciousness is a fundamental feature of reality, which is irreducible to any other physical processes 4. but physicalism claims that scientists can (or will be able to in the future) reduce consciousness to physical processes 5. therefore physicalism is false

Clarity

first test a philosophy must pass. Concepts must be clear, conclusions cannot be verified as true.

Coherence

how parts of the argument hang together. Incoherence leaves out an important premise.

Hard Problem of Consciousness

how physical processes in the brain give rise to subjective experience. inner aspect of thought and perception: the way things feel.

Identity Theory

identifies mental states with brain states. a type of physicalism that denies the existence of a separate, nonphysical mind but retains language that refers to the mind; also called reductionism

Self-referential inconsistency

internal/conceptual contradiction. an assertion that implies that it itself cannot be true.

Strong AI thesis

it is possible for computers to literally have the same sorts of mental states and powers that humans have

David Chalmers

naturalistic dualism: I am not denying that consciousness arises from the brain. I am denying that consciousness can be reduced to or explained in terms of physical processes. consciousness is a part of nature

Most functionalists are...

physicalists - our functional mental states are identified with brain states

Metaphysics

the area of philosophy concerned with fundamental questions about the nature of reality "that which comes after physics"

Functionalists claim:

the brain is like a physical hardware of the computer and the mind is like a computer program that is run on the hardware but is logically distinct from it.

Mind-body dualism

the claim that the mind and the body (which includes the brain) are separate entities (descartes)

Comprehensiveness

the explanatory power of a theory or argument, how thorough/encompassing a theory or argument is.

Two major metaphysical questions about human nature

the mind-body problem freedom and determinism

Easy Problems of Consciousness

the objective mechanisms of the cognitive system

Multiple Realizability

the property by which something can be realized in multiple ways and in different media (funct.)

Physicalism

the theory that human beings can be explained completely and adequately in terms of their physical or material components. there is no nonphysical aspect of a person.

Logical inconsistency

two assertions that could not both be true under any possible circumstances.

Eliminitavists claim:

we literally do not have beliefs or desires, nor are there really such states or activities as believing or desiring going on within us. instead we

Ontology

what 6 fundamentally real?

Compatibility

whether or not a theory or argument is harmonious with other well-established theories/arguments