Problem 2 2.3 – the mind body problem
Dualist theories of Mind and Body
Interactionism and Substance Dualism
Dualism- the mind and the body are two separate and different things. There are
two sorts:
- Nonphysical- the mind or soul that is not part of nature
- Physical- the body
Substance dualism- One form of dualism that says the mind and body are distinct
things that exist independently of one another or are substances
Interactionist substance dualism- the view that these two substances/ things exist
and can interact causally
- E.g. when drunk the physical substance (body) is interacting with the nonphysical
substance (mind).
If there is no contradiction in the description of an event, then the event is possible
- A story of waking up without a body does not seem to be a contradictory story
- Free from contradiction, rather than imaginability, is the proper test of possibility
- From this we can conclude that the mind and body could exist without one
another
- If they can exist independently, it does not mean that both do, or that they will
not exist at the same time
- We can then imagine that at death both the mind and body get destroyed at
once, but by two different sets of forces, one physical and one nonphysical
Property Dualism
Property dualist- dualism is not to do with substances or things but of their
properties
- There is only one substance, but it has two properties, physical and nonphysical
Physicalist version of property dualism- the mind is physical. It is the part of the brain
for causal interactions with 2 sorts of properties
- Mental properties (e.g. having a thought) are grounded in the physical
brain/mind, but they are not themselves reducible to physical properties
- if the brain is damaged, the capacity for thought can be impaired but it does not
follow that mental properties, such as having a thought, are physical
deny that the mind and body are distinct, since the mind is a physical thing and thus
it can interact with the physical body
- the nonphysical properties of the mind do not have effects on the body however
◊ although it may be true that abstract triangles and aesthetic properties do not
have actual effects in the case of the mind, mental properties e.g. thoughts and
feelings, do initiate effects
- evil intentions in the mind (intent, premeditation and the guilty mind ‘mens rea’)
are taken to be properties of the guilty mind that result in the unlawful crime –
this cannot be explained by physicalist property dualists
Parallelism (substance dualism)
parallelism- the mind and body are distinct, but they do not interact
physical and nonphysical things cannot interact thus mind and body cannot interact
, There clearly is an effect of the mind on the body as well as the body on the mind
- E.g. the effect of alcohol on mental state//the mental state of rage leading to
physical consequences
Though there is no interaction, there is a correlation between what happens in the
body and what happens in the mind wherever we thought there was an interaction
- The drinking of beer is followed by the fogginess of the mind, or correlated with
it
Imagine 2 clocks, 1 a fraction of a second slower than the other, it will seem like the
first strike causes the second to strike but this would be a false inference
- Post hoc propter hoc- after this therefore because of this
Occasionalism
Occasionalism – the synchronisation of mind and body is due to god
- Unrealistic view
-
The role of conservation laws
The conservation of mass and energy tells us that in a ‘closed; system changing over
time, the net total of mass or energy in the system stays the same
- The system as a whole neither gains nor losses mass or energy
Causal closure of the physical- the human body is a closed physical system that acts
as it does because of the physical energy and mass it contains, and is insulated from
the effects of outside energy
- If we want to change anything in the system we use either the energy already in
the system or energy from the outside
- If we use the energy inside the system, then the mind, since it’s not within the
body, can have no effect on the body.
- If we don’t use the energy in the system, then mass and energy are not
conserved, or the system is not closed
If the mind is to cause a change in the body, then it must presumably introduce
physical energy into the body
- But as the mind is apparently nonphysical, it cannot use physical energy
Epiphenomenalism (substance dualism) (emergentism, and supervenience)
Epiphenomenalism- the claim that mental events and the mind are epiphenomena.
The view that physical events cause mental events, but mental events do not cause
physical events
- Epiphenomena- things that appear in addition to basic phenomena
- E.g. a shadow is dependent on your hands but the shadows don’t influence what
your hands do
- Form of dualism
There are mental events, but they have no causal power, unlike physical events
Emergentism- the relation between the mind and body in a similar way as
epiphenomenalism
- Epiphenomenalism- a kind of dualism in which two separate kinds of events exist
and are causally related
- Emergentism- the relation between the mental and physical is much closer
- The mind is physical because it is driven by the structures from which it emerges
