philo exam 3

descartes dualism

there are two fundamental substances: mind and body, and they have essential properties and modal properties

mind

has the essential property of thought, are thinking things, thought takes on different modes

body

has the essential property of extension or volume, extended things that occupy space

understand, doubt, affirm, deny, will, refuse, imagine, sense

modal properties of mind

size, shape, duration, location

modal properties of body

role of the senses

can deceive us, not completely reliable, provide us with info about the world but do not give us certain knowledge

property dualism

there is only substance with two fundamental properties, physical and mental (consciousness is a fundamental property of the universe)

zombie argument

a physical duplicate of something can have all the same physical properties, but none of the same mental properties - only necessary truths would exist in a duplicate

easy problem (consciousness)

explaining how the brain processes information, generates behavior, and supports functions like memory and decision-making

hard problem (consciousness)

asks why human behaviors are accompanied by subjective experience, consciousness can’t be explained in only physical terms or broken down through reductionism

qualia (phenomenal properties of consciousness)

the subjective aspects of conscious experience, what it feels like to have an experience versus just knowing the physical aspects of it (do not have physical explanations)

panpsychism

consciousness is universal and exists in all things to some degree

stoic pantheism

the universe is made up of a single physical reality that is ordered by the principle of logos

double-aspect theory (spinoza)

reality is made of a single substance that has two attributes, thought and extension

mechanistic view of the universe (and human being)

• la mettrie: everything, including humans, is composed of matter and operates according to physical laws (humans are like a machine)

• d’holbach: all events, including human actions, are determined by the laws of nature

hedonism (la mettrie, d’holbach)

the idea that pleasure is the ultimate goal of human life

psychological egoism

• la mettrie: human behavior is driven by the pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of pain

• d’holbach: humans are motivated by self-interest, a fundamental aspect of humans governed by laws of nature

free will (d’holbach’s determinism)

free will is an illusion, human behavior is governed by physical laws and causal relationships

immortality (d’holbach)

life is primarily defined by a sensation, a dead body isn’t affected by sensation or interaction anymore, there is no self that continues in any form

evolutionary theory (darwin)

the idea that species evolve over time through natural selection

geometrical increase

populations increase exponentially over time

variation

individuals within a population have different characteristics

adaptation

individuals with certain characteristics are more likely to survive and reproduce

inheritance

characteristics are passed down through generations

malthusian principle (malthus)

human populations grow exponentially, resources (food) grows arithmetically - pop grows faster than resources, will die out from lack of it

categorical error (substance dualism - ryle)

mistake of treating the mind as separate from the body, like a “ghost in the machine)

dispositions

tendencies to behave in a certain way in specific circumstances

causal role of mental states (functionalism - lewis)

mental states can be identified by their typical causes

the role of behavior (functionalism - lewis)

behavior is an indicator of the presence of certain mental states

mad pain/martian pain

minds are not reduced to physical states nor are they just behaviors, they are functional properties

mind-brain type identity theory

mental states can be reduced to brain states, mental states are identical to brain processes

• sensation statements: communicating with mental states (“i feel pain”)

• brain process statement: physical processes occurring in the brain (“the brain’s pain processing centers are activated”)

reductionism

minds are just brains, mental processes are just physical processes

the location problems

not all mental states are located somewhere, can correlate to some activity in the brain and are somewhere in the brain but their location is unknown (location belongs to bodies - physical)

eliminative materialism

common-sense psychological concepts (beliefs, desires, emotions) don’t correspond to actual brain processes, do not give any ontological value to minds

folk psychology

the informal beliefs or common-senses understanding of mental states and processes that people use to make sense of behaviors (outdated way of thinking, want a scientific explanation for everything)

churchland on life after death

our mental states depend on our brain’s physical processes, an immaterial soul after death doesn’t exist (everything we experience comes from chemical activity in our brains, neuropharmacology can explain mental processes - substances can replicate mental states)