A Level Philosophy Metaphysics of the Mind AQA Exam And Correct Answers.
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Module
A Level Philosophy
Institution
A Level Philosophy
Dualist Theories - Answer There are 2 kinds of things
Physicalism - Answer There is only one kind of thing: physical
Substance Dualism - Answer The theory that there is two kinds of substances: Mental substances and Physical substances and that the mind is distinct from the body.
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A Level Philosophy Metaphysics of the
Mind AQA Exam And Correct Answers.
Dualist Theories - Answer There are 2 kinds of things
Physicalism - Answer There is only one kind of thing: physical
Substance Dualism - Answer The theory that there is two kinds of substances: Mental substances and
Physical substances and that the mind is distinct from the body.
The Mind and the Brain - Answer Dualists deny that the mind is the same thing as the brain. Instead,
dualists argue that the mind is something completely different to the brain - something non - physical.
Descartes Doubting Argument - Answer Introspection: Looking into our mental states.
1) Descartes cannot doubt that he has a mind (the cogito)
2) He can however doubt that he has a body.
3) Therefore, the mind and body cannot be identical.
Masked Man Fallacy Response - Answer Just because two things appear to be different, doesn't mean
they are different. For example, we may know water, but not know its chemical composition is H20. This
doesn't mean that water and H20 are different things. All it means is that we have two different
descriptions and that we are simply unaware that the two descriptions are describing the same thing.
Descartes' Indivisibility Argument - Answer 1) A body is divisible
2) A mind is indivisible
C) The mind and the body must be separate substances
Principle of the Indiscernibility of Identicals - Answer Proposed by Leibniz, things are only identical if
they share exactly the same properties. If they have different properties, they are different things.
, Issues with the Indivisibility Argument - Answer 1) Is it possible to think of everything physical as being
divisible?
2) Is the mental divisible? Instances of multiple - personality disorder show that it is.
The mental in divisible in some sense - Answer The conscious and unconscious mind - you may desire
one thing and do another. The example of blind sight shows individuals being able to guess the location
of an object even when their conscious mind declares that they have no knowledge of the location.
(divided mind)
Descartes response - Answer Bodies are spatially divisible but minds are functionally divisible. The
mind may have parts that do different things but that the Mind still has unity.
Physicalists reply - Answer Challenge the idea that the mind is a substance; non-physical stuff does not
exist. Instead the brain has properties. We would not expect the properties of a brain to be divisible; e.g
the property of being bored doesn't make sense. Only spatial properties would be divisible.
Not everything physical is divisible - Answer Not all physical objects are divisible. The smallest physical
particles are best understood as packets of energy that cannot be divided. If this is true then we can
easily see how the mind could be divisible without being divisible.
Descartes' Conceivability Argument - Answer 1)If I can clearly think of one substance apart from
anoher I know they are really different substances.
2) My mind is a thinking thing but not an extended thing.
3) My body is an extended thing but not a thinking thing.
4) I can think of a mind without a body.
5) I can think of a body without a mind.
6) The mind and body are distinct things.
Issues for the Conceivability Argument: - Answer 1) A mind without a body is not conceivable -
Materialist Philosophers argue that the mind and body are one thing.
2) What is conceivable may not be metaphysically possible - Masked Man Fallacy - Chauffer says Batman
can be anyone, Batman is Bruce Wayne, it is impossible for someone to be one thing and another thing
at the same time. Bruce Wayne is Batman, it is impossible for him not to be Batman.
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