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The Mind Body Problem

Our minds seem to be non-physical and different from our bodies. Our bodies seem to be something different from our minds. Are they actually different? What is a mind? What is a body? How do they relate?. The Mind Body Problem. Substance Dualism. Our bodies and minds are separate things

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The Mind Body Problem

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  1. Our minds seem to be non-physical and different from our bodies. Our bodies seem to be something different from our minds. Are they actually different? What is a mind? What is a body? How do they relate? The Mind Body Problem

  2. Substance Dualism • Our bodies and minds are separate things • Substance – a “thing” which exists independently from other things (e.g. a horse, a cat, a human). It has properties, but is not a property of another thing • Property – a quality that a substance has (e.g. red, round, cold) Substance: Socrates Balding head Grey Hair

  3. Descartes Meditations • Meditation 1 – I can’t be sure that I have a body, that other people, or my past or the world outside my head really exists. I could be tricked • Meditation 2 – But, I cannot doubt that I exist because I am thinking about myself. I am a permanent self-contained, self-conscious ego B 1596 D 1650 Meditations 1641

  4. Argument for Substance Dualism • The Conceivability argument (Descartes): P1: I can doubt that my body exists (from Meditation 1) P2: I cannot doubt that my mind exists (from Meditation 2) P3: If A differs in any way from B, then A is not B --------------------------------------------------------- C: So, my mind is not my body

  5. Analogy to the Conceivability Argument • P1: I can doubt that I’m drinking H20 • P2: I cannot doubt that I’m drinking water • P3: If A differs in any way from B, then A is not B • -------------------------------------------------------- • C: So, Water is not H20

  6. Descartes’ Divisibility Argument • P1: My body is divisible • P2: My mind is not divisible • P3: If A differs in any way from b, A is not B • ----------------------------------------------------- • C: So, my mind is not my body

  7. Princess Elizabeth’s Objection to Descartes How can a totally non-physical mind cause things to happen to a totally physical body? How can a totally physical body cause things to happen to a totally non-physical mind?

  8. The “Life after Death” argument • P1: If substance dualism is false, then my mind cannot exist independently from my body • P2: My mind can exist independently from my body (NDEs, ghosts, reincarnation, etc) • ---------------------------------------------------------------- • C: So, Substance dualism is true

  9. Physicalism The mind is the brain itself and nothing more. In other words, mind = brain

  10. Argument for Physicalism Neuroscience has shown a strong link between what happens to and in our brains and what happens to and in our minds

  11. The Case of Phineas Gage

  12. Against Physicalism A complete physical description of our brains and bodies, even in every detail, still seems to leave out something. What is left out is our personal/subjective experience, the “what it's like for us.”

  13. The Case of Mary

  14. Inverted Spectrum Case

  15. Property Dualism vs. Substance Dualism • Substance Dualism: • Mind is not Body • Mind can exist apart from body; in other words, mind & body are independent substances • Property Dualism: • Not all mental states are physical states • Mind cannot exist apart from body; in other words mind & body are two aspects of ONE AND SAME substance

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