Dualism

In the debate between idealism and materialism, the ultimate question is, mind over matter or matter over mind? Materialism and Idealism are the two contrary doctrines in philosophy. According to the materialistic view, the world is entirely mind-independent, composed only of physical objects and physical interactions. On the contrary, Idealism is the view that mind-independent physical objects exist and can be experienced through the senses other than those which detect based upon physical…

Solids, Liquids, and Gases Solid, Liquids, and Gases are very interesting types of states of matter; however, they are distinct from one another. As already mentioned in class before, matter is everything that takes up space and its right to say that the space that is taken by matter is or a solid or a liquid or a gas. That can prove to us that this three states of matter are essential in this world we know. A solid is a sample of matter that retains its shape and density when…

In Meditation 6, we learn that Descartes comes to the conclusion that the mind and body are two separate entities. His belief is that through the idea that mind and body are separate entities, without the other, one can still exist. He comes to this conclusion by arguing that the mind, a non-extended thinking thing, is an entirely different being than the body, an extended thinking thing, is. He believes that the mind and soul are united to the body but still can be separated from each other…

Introduction Are we able to learn about experience solely through physical information? Can this information be suffice to understand the feeling someone gets when they are experiencing something like looking at a red apple or eating said apple? Physicalist believe that all we need to know about experience can be learned through physical information. Frank Jackson, argues against that physicalist claim about physical information being sufficient. Jackson presents the Knowledge argument to…

In Physics II. 1, Aristotle includes the four well-known simple bodies or elements of earth, fire, air, and water among the natural existing things that have an internal principle of motion and rest. Animals, their parts and plants are also placed by him within the same category in respect of having an intrinsic capability to move themselves. In Physics VIII. 4, however, it seems that Aristotle is suggesting something different than the view that he has posited in Physics II.1. There he argues…

Knowledge Argument Against Physicalism The knowledge argument suggests that physicalism - the claim that the world is entirely physical – is a falsified theory that should not be accepted on the basis that it disregards the metaphysical. “The knowledge argument aims to establish that conscious experience involves non-physical properties. It rests on the idea that someone who has complete physical knowledge about another conscious being might yet lack knowledge about how it feels to have the…

The type of explanation that the conductor is giving for Jordan's artistic skills is the descriptive explanation. What is wrong with his statement is that unless Jordan received a split brain surgery, he's brain is not divided meaning that both of his brain hemispheres are working and there's not a dominant side. A split brain procedure is "a condition resulting from surgery that isolates the brain’s two hemispheres by cutting the fibers (mainly those of the corpus callosum) connecting them"…

In the reading, “Learning to be me” the narrator lives in a world where a small, dark jewel is implanted in each person’s head when they are born. The purpose of the jewel was to “eavesdrop” on the original brain and learn how to take it’s place eventually, when the patient undergoes “the switch”. In the beginning of the story, the narrator expresses his concerns about “the switch”, fearing that when his brain is taken, he will disappear. But as the story continues, the narrator finds himself…

1.) In “Behaviorism, Materialism and Functionalism” Paul M. Churchland writes that reductive materialism is a theory of mind which states that “mental states are physical states of the brain” (311) in other words a mental states will reflect a particular physical state of the brain, additionally it also relies heavily on “folk psychology”. Folk psychology is a “commonsense psychological framework” that seeks to explain the parallel between mind and behavior. On the other hand Eliminative…

The idea of the physicalism is that mind must account the subjective character of experience. Describal term of the physicalism is also know as "materialism". According from the author of the " What is it like to be bat?", Thomas Nagel, states that "if mental processes are indeed physical processes, then there is something like intrinsically" . As stated in Nagel's article, if there is something that is like to instantiate convinced physical properties then there is no answer to the question…