Philosophy Metaphysics Final (Semester Part 2)

Front 1

What is the "Big Question"?

Back 1

How did our universe come to exist such that it permits the development of life?

Front 2

What are the (7) possible answers to the "Big Question"?

Back 2

Theism, Anthropic Principle, Many-World Hypothesis, Nothing-Special-About-Life Position, Sheer-Luck Hypothesis, Logical Neccessity Hypothesis, Axiarchic Hypothesis

Front 3

What is Theism?

Back 3

The belief that the laws of nature were designed by an intelligent being to permit the development of life.

Front 4

What is the Anthopic Principle?

Back 4

The fact that the laws of nature permit the development of life needs no explanation, since we wouldn't be here to ask for an explanation if they did not permit the development of life.

Front 5

What is the Many-Worlds Hypothesis?

Back 5

There are many worlds or universes, it is not surprising that at least one of these worlds or universes permits the development of life.

Front 6

What is the Sheer-Luck Hypothesis?

Back 6

It is a brute fact that the laws of nature are as they are. Life is special, but it is only a lucky coincidence that the laws that happen to hold, permit the development of intelligent life.

Front 7

What is the Logical Necessity Hypothesis?

Back 7

The laws of nature could not have been different than they are. They are logically necessary. Happily (not luckily), they permit the development of intelligent life.

Front 8

What is the Axiarchic Hypothesis?

Back 8

Axiarchy means "rule by value" the laws of nature are such as they are because it is good that it is desirable _per se_ (without the agency of a desirer), that they are such .. desirability per se has causal efficacy.

Front 9

What is Reductive Physicalism?

Back 9

The idea that human persons are wholly physical. The mind is simply the brain. There are mental events, such as thoughts, pains, and feelings, but mental events are simply brain events. They are purely material.

Front 10

What is Eliminative Physicalism?

Back 10

The belief that human persons are wholly physical. There is no such thing as the mind, and there are no such things as thoughts, pains, feelings, or other mental events. Mental events may be compared to phlogiston or the luminiferous ether: they are elements of a discredited theory. Folk psychology is unscientific and should be replaced by neuropsychology.

Front 11

What is Cartesian Dualism?

Back 11

The belief that the mind of a human person is an immaterial object that is intimately connected to a material object, a human body. The person _has_ a body, but _is_ a mind. The mind and the body interact: changes in either can cause changes in the other.

Front 12

What is Property Dualism?

Back 12

The idea that human persons have no nonphysical components. Their minds are simply their brains. But persons (and perhaps their brains) have nonphysical as well as physical _properties_. Mental properties (such as the property of having a certain concious experience at a certain time) are nonphysical properties; they are _emergent_ properties.

Front 13

What are Emergent Properties?

Back 13

Emergent Properties are properties of a composite object that differ in kind from, and cannot be explained in term of, the properties of the _components_ of that object.

Front 14

What is Type-Type (Reductive) Physicalism?

Back 14

For every _type_ of mental event, there is a _type_ of physical event with which it is numerically identical.

Front 15

What is Token-Token (Reductive) Physicalism?

Back 15

For every _individual_ mental event, there is an _individual_ physical event with which it is numerically identical. Different tokens of the same type of mental event, can be identical with tokens of different types of physical events.

Front 16

What are the (5) arguments for dualism?

Back 16

Decartes Argument, The Privacy Argument, The Location Argument, The Martians Argument, The Argument from the Objectivity of Personal Identity?

Front 17

What is Descartes Argument for Dualism?

Back 17

Since I am know by me to exist, and my body is not, I am not my body.

Front 18

What is The Privacy Argument for Dualism?

Back 18

Since thoughts, sensations and other mental events can be directly observed only by the person who has them, whereas brain events can, in principle, be observed by others, mental events are not brain events.

Front 19

What is The Location Argument for Dualism?

Back 19

Since some mental events, such as phantom pain, are located outside the body, the cannot be bodily events (even if they are the _effects_ of bodily events)

Front 20

What is The Martians Argument for Dualism?

Back 20

Since martians might experience pain despite lacking c-fibers, we cannot be correct to say that pain "is" the "firing of c-fibers".

Front 21

What is the Argument from the Objectivity of Personal Identity, for Dualism?

Back 21

If persons were purely physical, the relation of identity across time would sometimes be as indeterminate for persons as it sometimes seem to be for other purely physical objects. In order for there to be an objectively correct (even if unknown) answer in information exchange cases (which there seemingly ought to be), the identity of a person would have to be borne by an immaterial simple, such as a mind or a soul.

Front 22

What are the (4) Arguments for Physicalism?

Back 22

The Interaction Argument, The Argument from Common Speech, The Remote-Control Argument, The Duplication Argument.

Front 23

What is the Interaction Argument for Physicalism?

Back 23

The Interaction Argument for Physicalism is that the mind and body interact, which would be incomprehensible if the mind were nonphysical.

Front 24

What is the Argument from Common Speech, for Physicalism?

Back 24

The Argument from Common Speech, for Physicalism, is that we attribute to persons such physical properties as height and weight. Evidently we consider person to be bodies, not minds.

Front 25

What is the Remote-Control Argument for Physicalism?

Back 25

The Remote-Control Argument for Physicalism is that if I am a mind, and if my body is merely a possession or an instrument, then damage to my body ought not to result in damage to my mind. But it does.

Front 26

What is the Duplication Argument for Physicalism?

Back 26

The Duplication Argument for Physicalism is that when we are not on our philosophical guard, most of us would assume that the physical duplicate of a person (produced by a three-dimensional duplicator) would be a living, concious person. That assumption seems to reflect a tacit acceptance of Physicalism.