PHIL 100: Introduction to Philosophy
Week 6: The Mind-Body Problem
I. Introduction: Mind and Body
A. What is the philosophy of mind?
B. Problems in the philosophy of mind
II. The mind-body problem: preliminary issues
A. What is the mind, or what is it to have a mental life?
B. Mental phenomena
1. sensations and perceptions
2. emotions
3. thoughts
4. Imagination
C. Properties of mental phenomena
1. Qualia
2. Intentional content
3. Privileged access
(4. Causation between mind and body)
III. Why is there a mind-body problem?
A. Mental or physical phenomena?
B. Overview of some attempts to solve the mind-body problem
1. How the problem arises: difficulties in simultaneously holding that these three claims are all true:
The body is a material thing.
The mind is an immaterial thing.
Mind and body interact.
2. Three solutions to the mind-body problem and an introduction to the theories that underlie each one
Dualism
Cartesian dualism
Behaviourism
Materialism (also called Physicalism)
Eliminative materialism
Functionalism
At this very preliminary stage, which theory is most appealing to you? Why?
IV. Some problematic assumptions when approaching the mind-body problem
A. Human and other species
B. First-person and third-person ascriptions
PTO
Notes
What is the mind?
A very difficult question!
One answer: Consciousness...but what is that?
It is the part of us that involves thought.
Also: It concerns the mental...but what is that?
Sensations and perceptions; emotions; thoughts, memories, beliefs, imaginings, desires, etc.
The theory of materialism answers this question by saying that the mind is the brain.
What is the body?
An easier question. It concerns the physical and material. It is observable/public.
Two more important questions, which we try to answer in the next few weeks:
Are the mind and body distinct?
How are the mind and body related?
Glossary:
intentional content: this means that mental phenomena such as beliefs, thoughts, hopes, etc. are about something. It is the ‘aboutness’ of beliefs and other mental states.
qualia: the qualitative ‘feel’ of mental phenomena, e.g., what the taste of chocolate is like.
privileged access: only the individual experiencing their own mental states can be directly aware of them. Others can only know my mental states from a third-person standpoint, through observing my behaviour, listening to what I say, etc.
Some useful websites for the next four weeks:
David Chalmers has a rich guide at: www.u.arizona.edu/~chalmers/biblio.html
and www.u.arizona.edu/~chalmers/resources.html
For a helpful on-line dictionary: www.artsci.wustl.edu/~philos/MindDict/dictindex.html
For good philosophy links: www.epistemelinks.com and then click on Philosophy of Mind.
Seminars: Which of the following are mental and which physical? If any seem doubtful, think why: being six feet tall; being deep in thought; moving to the right; feeling happy; listening to music; stepping on a tack (and the feeling of pain that goes with it); being red; laughing at a joke; signing a cheque.