Dualism + materialism evaluation of mind + body + soul

Flashcard 1: Dualism - Explains Subjective Experience (Qualia)

Front: Dualism's strength regarding subjective experience (Qualia)?
Back: Accounts for first-person, qualitative experiences (e.g., the feeling of 'redness') by positing a non-physical mind/soul.

Flashcard 2: Objection to Dualism's Subjective Experience

Front: Objection to Dualism's explanation of Qualia?
Back: Argument from ignorance (assuming non-physical due to lack of current physical explanation). Physicalists argue qualia are emergent properties or that science is incomplete.

Flashcard 3: Dualism - Supports Free Will and Moral Responsibility

Front: Dualism's strength regarding Free Will?
Back: A non-physical mind/soul can be truly free from deterministic physical laws, allowing for genuine moral responsibility.

Flashcard 4: Objection to Dualism's Free Will

Front: Objection to Dualism's Free Will?
Back: The problem of causal interaction: How can a non-physical mind influence a physical body without violating physics? Neuroscience suggests neural correlates precede conscious decisions.

Flashcard 5: Dualism - Aligns with Religious Beliefs/Afterlife

Front: Dualism's strength regarding Afterlife/Immortality?
Back: A distinct, non-physical mind/soul can survive the death of the physical body, supporting religious doctrines and intuitions about an afterlife.

Flashcard 6: Objection to Dualism's Afterlife

Front: Objection to Dualism's Afterlife?
Back: Lacks empirical scientific evidence; relies on faith. Also, if the soul is dependent on the body for memory/experience, its disembodied existence might be meaningless.

Flashcard 7: Dualism - Explains Personal Identity Over Time

Front: Dualism's strength regarding Personal Identity?
Back: The enduring, non-physical soul/mind provides a consistent core for personal identity despite constant physical changes to the body.

Flashcard 8: Objection to Dualism's Personal Identity

Front: Objection to Dualism's Personal Identity?
Back: If identity is solely non-physical, why do physical brain damage or chemical imbalances alter personality, memory, and the 'self'? Suggests deep physical dependency.

Flashcard 9: Materialism - Scientific Consistency

Front: Materialism's strength regarding Scientific Consistency?
Back: Aligns with modern neuroscience showing direct correlations between brain activity and mental states (e.g., fMRI), avoiding non-physical entities.

Flashcard 10: Objection to Materialism's Scientific Consistency

Front: Objection to Materialism's Scientific Consistency?
Back: Correlation doesn't equal identity. It struggles with the "hard problem of consciousness" – explaining why physical processes produce subjective experience.

Flashcard 11: Materialism - Solves Interaction Problem

Front: Materialism's strength regarding Interaction?
Back: Eliminates the problem of how non-physical interacts with physical by asserting only physical reality exists; mental events are physical events.

Flashcard 12: Objection to Materialism's Interaction Solution

Front: Objection to Materialism's Interaction Solution?
Back: While solving interaction, it still faces the "hard problem" of consciousness. Simply declaring mental events as physical doesn't explain their qualitative feeling.

Flashcard 13: Materialism - Parsimony (Ockham's Razor)

Front: Materialism's strength regarding Parsimony?
Back: Proposes fewer entities (only physical) to explain reality, adhering to Ockham's Razor by offering a simpler, unified framework.

Flashcard 14: Objection to Materialism's Parsimony

Front: Objection to Materialism's Parsimony?
Back: Simplicity may come at the cost of explanatory power for subjective experience, free will, and full personal identity – dualists argue a more complex theory is necessary.

Flashcard 15: Materialism - Explains Mental Impairment/Development

Front: Materialism's strength regarding Mental Impairment?
Back: Provides clear biological explanations for mental conditions (e.g., Alzheimer's) and cognitive development due to brain changes or dysfunction, allowing for physical interventions.

Flashcard 16: Objection to Materialism's Mental Impairment Explanation

Front: Objection to Materialism's Mental Impairment Explanation?
Back: Brain damage affecting the mind doesn't prove the mind is purely physical; it could just impair the soul's expression or interaction with the physical world, like a broken radio affecting music reception.