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40 Cards in this Set

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What is one of the main philosophical issues regarding philosophy of the mind?
The relationship between our conscious minds and our physical bodies.
What was the philosophical example used when discussing issues of the philosophy of the mind?
The 3 teleportation examples.
What is a mental state?
A state your mind can be in, simply.
What are some examples of a mental state?
Hunger, Pain, Pleasure, Belief that Stevens Point is in Wisconsin, Desire to go to New York and a Hope to win $500
What two ways can your thoughts represent your feelings about the world?
How the world is and what the world should be. (The case of belief versus the case of desire.)
Regarding mental states, they are ___________, and access to them is ______________.
Subjective; priveleged
What are things we can observe and not observe about others?
We cannot directly observe the thoughts of others, we can (however) directly observe the behavior of others.
Knowing when others are in pain is what kind of problem?
An epistemological problem, because we can feel pain and have a certain response. You can observe similar responses in others, but you cannot feel their actual pain, regardless of sympathy or empathy.
Define dualism.
There is a fundamental irreducible distinction between mental states and physical brain states.
Define Physicalism.
Mental states are perhaps either indentical to physical brain states, or mental states supervene or physical brain states.
Define Supervinience.
Mental states supervene on brain states just in case no person can differ with respect to his or her mental states without also differing with respect to his or her brain states.
Define Functionalism.
Mental states arise out of the functions of the physical brain; they are not, strictly speaking, identical to it.
Describe the physical brain state.
The location, position, arrangment and connections of all of the physical stuff that makes up the brain.
Early on in Meditations, Descartes is interested in what we can be absolutely certain of. Just thinking about it, we can't be absolutely certain of what?
The external world, because (after all) we could be dreaming or, under the control of an 'evil demon.' I can't be sure that my memories are real. I can't be sure that I will continue to exist. I can't be sure that you exist. I can't be sure that my body really exists. But I can be certain that my conscious mind exists right now.
According to Descartes, we can be certain WHAT exists?
I can be certain that my mind exists, but I cannot be certain that my body exists.
Descartes went on to further argue that there is what kind of distinction between the mind and the body?
An ontological distinction, meaning they really are different things, in Descartes opinion.
The considerations that lead Descartes to his first dualist conclusion were as follows:
What is I/the self? We can replace parts of us. I am a thing that thinks. What I am is my conscious mind. What does it take then, to be conscious.
What are 2 of Descartes reasons?
The mind and body are conceptually distinct and are therefore, fundamentally different things. The mind and the body just have different properties, and are therefore fundamentally different things.
If physicalism is right, then it would be impossible for what?
It would be impossible for there to be something to be in precisely the same physical state as you, ,but lack consciousness.
If physicalism is false, then what?
The conscious mind and the brain are not equivalent.
IF the mind and body are identical, then they will have what?
Precisely the same properties. But, the mind and body have very different properties. For example, the PHYSICAL body is divisible, while the mind is not. So, the mind and body are distinct things.
Who published a book, called The Concept of Mind in 1949?
Gilbert Ryle.
What were Ryle's thoughts on dualism?
Minds are private, after the death of the body his mind may continue to exist and function, or what exists or happens may have the status of physical or mental existence.
What kind of mistake does Ryle think Descartes and other dualists make?
A category mistake.
What is the skeptical argument in association with the conscious mind state?
P1- All of our evidence that others have minds like ours comes from their observable behavior.
P2- But observable behavior alone is not sufficient to establish that others have minds like our own.
(weaker)C. So there is no justification for believing that others have minds like our own.
(stronger)C. We cannot know that others have minds.
Can we really get an explanation of mental phenomena purely in terms of physical phenomena?
Physicalism, Yes. We can in some sense reduce mental phenomena to physical phenomena.
What does Nagel have to say about consciousness?
That an organism has conscious mental states if and only if there is something that is to be that organism, Nagel also calls it 'the subjective character of experience.'
What is phenomenology?
The study of structures of consciousness as experienced from the first-person point of view.
What is Nagel's basic argument?
P1- That is physicalism were to be properly understood, the phenomenological features of consciousness must themselves be given a descriptive physical account.
P2- It is not the case that the phenomenological features of consciousness can be given a descriptive physical account.
C- It is not the case that physicalism can be properly understood.
What does Nagel think about consciousness in regard to being a bat?
He thinks that there is something that it is like to be a bat. He thinks that he can only consider what it would be like based on his own subjective experiences as a human. But this is not what it would be to be a bat. We cannot conceive of the subjective character of what it is like to be a bat.
What is Nagel's strategy?
His strategy is not to reject physicalism in favor of dualism, but to question whether or not we can even understand what it would take to get a reduction from the mental to the physical off the ground.
Where does Nagel's argument leave us in regard to consciousness?
1- Well, it is not necessarily the case that physicalism is false.
2- It's just that we can't really sufficiently understand a descriptive reduction between mental phenomena and physical phenomena.
3- Nagel ends by saying we should aim at a more objectively descriptive phenomenology, but what should we make of this?
What are the thought experiments explained in class in regard to personal identity?
Brain division and transplants- is it still you? Who's who? Did you survive?
What is Parfit's answer to the question of personal identity and survival; the question is "Will I survive seems to be equivalent to 'Will there be some person who is alive who is the same person as me?'" WHO SURVIVES IN THE BRAIN-HALVING THOUGHT EXPERIMENT?
Parfit's answer is, the concept of personal identity is just not sufficient to deal with this question. Personal identity is not what matters, you still survive as two people. First distinction? Personal identity vs. survival...
Does Parfit think that personal identity matters for survival?
No.
What does Parfit think that the relations that matter for survival are?
He thinks they are matters of degree, rather than all-or-nothing as our common-sense notion of personal identity presumes.
T/F:
The concept of personal identity implies pyschological continuity, but psychological continuity does no imply personal identity.
Does Parfit think that there is a sense in which you survive if two minds fuse?
Parfit believes that that there is a sense in which you do.
Psychological connectedness is what matters for ___________ ______________, and it is a matter of __________.
personal survival; degree
Parfit holds that we might think of our own lives as what?
Graded relations- between our past and future selves.