Philosophy of Mind, Brain and Behaviour (SOWPSB2AS20E)
Institution
Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen (RU)
2020! Extensive notes of all lectures from the course Philosophy of Mind, Brain and Behaviour (Psychology, Radboud University). I wrote down all the important information dr. Slors gave while discussing the slides. Sometimes I added some additional information to make it more clear.
Philosophy of Mind, Brain and Behaviour (SOWPSB2AS20E)
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Philosophy of Mind, Brain and Behaviour - SOW-PSB2AS20E-2019-PER4-V
Substance dualism
Old theory
The mind is an immaterial substance that is distinct from the body, but causally connected to
the body then it’s difficult to embed it in science
Not endorsed by many people in science nowadays, it’s outdated
All the theories that will be discussed after, are responses to substance dualism
Preliminaries
Mind: an umbrella-term for all mental states. Can refer to e.g. the soul, the brain.
Mental: intentional and/or phenomenal
o (1) Intentionally does not specifically refer to intentions. It refers to aboutness
(thoughts are about thinks, desires/fears are about thinks). The aboutness relation is
kind of strange. E.g. the thought of a coronavirus in the head, but what the thought is
about is in the world. It’s a relation of reference: it refers to what’s about.
o (2) Phenomenality refers to the subjective experiential character that is associated
with most mental states. Sensory perceptions are phenomenality. To look at a
colour, to taste a taste, to feel a feeling. These states have a subjective character to
it. This subjective character (what’s it like) is referred to the phenomenal stage
o Most mental stages include both. Some stages are merely intentional, like
unconscious thoughts (about something, but you can’t experience them because it’s
unconscious). Some stages are merely phenomenon, like anxiousness (hard to
express what they feel anxious about, no definite intentionally).
Two kinds of dualism
Substance dualism: mind is a non-physical substance (a soul) that is causally connected to the
body most people associate dualism with this type
Property dualism: the mind is produced by the physical brain, but some of its properties
(phenomenal properties) are non-physical the mind can’t exist without the brain.
Substance dualism
The mind and the body are distinct substances that are causally connected.
Associated with Rene Descartes (1596-1650)
o His argument for substance dualism is cogito ergo sum
Two kinds of substance: extended and thinking
o Extended: substances that occupy space
o Thinking: always conscious thoughts, it’s not something that can occupy space
Quest for the foundations of knowledge: what is it that we cannot doubt? He wanted to
built a worldview based on knowledge that can not be doubted. How can you find these bits
of knowledge? Is it logically possible to doubt this? The kind of things that Descartes
doubted, are normally left undoubted.
For example: will there be a world if you open the door? It makes no sense to doubt it, but
according to Descartes it is logically possible to do, because it can be that there is no world.
He also doubted the body. We can logically doubt it, because in science fiction sometimes
brains are connected to computers.
But you can’t doubt that you are doubting. I think, therefore I am. You as a thinking thing,
must exist to be able to think.
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