Ontology, Mind-Body Problem, and Dualism

Flashcards covering key philosophical concepts related to ontology, materialism, idealism, dualism, and the mind-body problem.

Ontology

The study of what kinds of things exist in the world.

Materialism

The view that everything is physical and that spiritual or mental entities do not exist or are not fundamentally real.

Idealism

The view that everything is mental or spiritual and that material things do not exist or are not fundamentally real.

Dualism

The view that there are both physical and mental things, often distinguished as substance dualism and weak dualism.

Substance Dualism

The belief that mental things can have independent existence.

Weak Dualism

The belief that mental things do not have independent existence.

Mind-Body Problem

The philosophical challenge of how the mind and body relate to each other and whether they are distinct or the same.

Cartesian Interactionism

The belief that the mind and body causally affect one another.

Epiphenomenalism

The view that physical events causally affect mental events, but not the reverse.

Parallelism

The idea that mental and physical processes are separate, running side by side without interaction.

Mind-Brain Identity Theory

The theory that the mind is identical to the brain.

Eliminative Materialism

The view that everyday mentalistic language is imprecise and should be replaced with scientific descriptions of brain activity.

Logical Behaviorism

The theory that mental states can be understood as descriptions of behavior rather than as internal states.

Occam's Razor

The principle that suggests one should not multiply entities beyond necessity when explaining a phenomenon.

Category Mistake

A misunderstanding that arises when one confuses the concept of one type of entity with another.

Qualia

The subjective first-person experiences of sensations and ideas.

Functionalism

The view that mental states are defined by their function or role rather than by their internal constitution.

Turing Test

A test proposed by Alan Turing to determine whether a machine can exhibit intelligent behavior indistinguishable from a human.