Descartes’s Legacy (Philosophy of Mind)

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and concepts from the notes on Descartes’s Legacy, including dualism, parallelism, occasionalism, idealism, epiphenomenalism, Lowe’s non-Cartesian dualism, and related metaphysical ideas.

Cartesian dualism

The idea that reality is made of two very different things: a mind (which has no body or physical form) and a body (which is physical and takes up space). It's hard to explain how these two different things can affect each other.

Mind–body interaction problem

The puzzle of how a non-physical mind can cause a physical body to do things, and vice versa, in dualist theories.

Psycho-physical parallelism

The belief that mental and physical events don't cause each other; instead, they happen at the same time, perfectly aligned, but without any direct connection.

Occasionalism

A type of dualism where God is the one who makes sure mental and physical events happen together, rather than minds directly causing bodies to move.

Clockmaker analogy

A comparison used for parallelism, like two clocks doing the exact same thing without affecting each other, because they were both made with the same design.

Deus ex machina

An easy, and often unbelievable, solution to a problem, usually by some outside force (like a god). Here, it criticizes using God to explain how mind and body seem to act together.

Causation and the causal nexus

The question of what truly makes one event cause another – is it an energy transfer, just a regular pattern, or a necessary connection?

Humean regularities

The idea that when we say something 'causes' something else, we only mean that those two things usually happen one after another. There's no hidden 'necessary' link.

Brute fact

A basic fact that can't be explained by anything deeper or simpler; it just is. Used to describe unexplained things that happen together.

Idealism

The belief that only minds and their thoughts exist. There are no physical objects that exist independently of being thought about or perceived.

Berkeley’s immaterialism

George Berkeley's version of idealism: for something to exist means for it to be perceived. Physical objects don't exist unless someone is thinking about them or seeing them.

Solipsism

The belief that only your own mind exists, and everything else (the external world) might just be your own thoughts and experiences.

Epiphenomenalism

The view that mental states (like thoughts or feelings) are just side effects of physical brain processes and don't actually cause any physical actions. They are causally inactive.

Dangling causal relations

The idea that mental events don't have any real effect on physical events; it's like their causes are 'dangling' without a true physical impact.

Non-Cartesian Dualism

E. J. Lowe's idea that the 'self' (you) is a simple, distinct thing from your body, not just a part of it, and can have both mental and some physical qualities.

Self as simple substance

The idea that the self is a basic, unchanging thing, separate from the body, and not made of anything else. It has mental qualities.

Kant’s pattern of causal sequences

The idea that the self doesn't start new chains of events but instead makes sure that existing events follow a specific pattern, which shapes how we act.

Universe in stages

The occasionalist belief that the universe is made up of a series of separate, momentary 'pictures' or 'universes,' with God creating each new one and linking them all together.

Ockham’s Razor

A principle that says we should always pick the simplest explanation that works, and not add more complex ideas or things unless absolutely necessary.

Colorless green ideas

A phrase illustrating content that lacks meaning; used to show that words can be organized without content, underscoring that meaning arises from conscious experience.