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Chapter 7 – The Mind-Brain Problem
Table of Contents
Dualism………………………………………………………………………………………………………2
Materialism………………………………………………………………………………………………...4
Functionalism…………………………………………………………………………………………...10
Other Stuff………………………………………………………………………………………………..14
Embodied Cognition…………………………………………………………………………………………..14
Access Consciousness…………………………………………………………………………………………14
Global Workspace Model……………………………………………………………………………………...16
Phenomenological Consciousness…………………………………………………………………………….16
Unconscious Processing and Decision Making………………………………………………………………..18
Thought Experiments…….………………………………………………………………………….20
From Lecture…….………………………………………………………………………………………23
1
,The mind-body problem is a very difficult and unsolved problem. It asks, ‘how can a
nonmaterial entity cause physical events?’. To answer this, three main views have been put
forward: dualism, materialism, and functionalism.
Any answer you can give to this question is problematic. The cognitive closure hypothesis
argues that human beings are just too stupid to solve this problem.
Dualism
Descartes considers the body as a machine, but not the mind. Thus, mind and body must
be different entities. In the end we are machines that think. His reasoning produces the
mind-body problem. He offers his solution by saying that the mind communicates to the
body through the pineal gland (explanation largely refused today and questioned at the
time).
His view was in line with the Church’s (soul is a divine entity that temporarily inhabits the body and gives life purpose
and value). This also gives rise to the demonologist view of psychopathology (possession by bad spirits).
The philosophical version of dualism (Descartes) doesn’t make any references to the faith of the mind after the body dies,
unlike the religious version (Church), where this issue is central.
Also, dualism is in line with Plato’s philosophy (human soul as leftover of cosmos-soul; temporarily inhabits the body and
has knowledge of the perfect realm, whose ideas we can access by deducing them through our innate knowledge).
Early psychologists question dualism while being reluctant to reduce the mind to brain
tissue. This leads them to defend an implicit dualistic view. In fact, nowadays few people
equate the mind to a biological process, despite their acceptance that such processes form
the basis of mental operations. They say things like “the mind arises from the brain”
despite implicitly experiencing the two as different (i.e., implicit dualism).
2
, Cartesian/substance dualism is an intuitively attractive view of the mind-brain relationship
because it implies free will (i.e., control over own actions and decisions) and it accounts for
the existence of consciousness (i.e., rich subjective experience of self and the world).
Consciousness
Dualism puts consciousness (conscious information processing) as the core of human
existence.
Dualism gives a priority to the mind, which is the center of our existence and controls our actions, giving us a feeling of
coherence and continuity in our experiences.
Consciousness consists of our “I”: contains all the mental states a person is aware of. It can be examined with
introspection.
Free Will
In dualism, nothing happens unless it is licensed by the mind.
Free will allows us to choose a certain course of action from a number of alternatives. This
allows us to achieve goals, which are guided by reason. Therefore, individuals are
responsible for their actions (they could have chosen to behave otherwise). There is free
will if:
- Able to behave otherwise
- Act originates from the agent
- Act is the outcome of rational deliberation
Problems with Dualism
- INTERACTION
how do they interact?
- EXISTENCE OF UNCONSCIOUS PROCESSES
Locke raises this issue: how does dualism account for mental functions outside of consciousness? If
consciousness is the defining feature of human existence (“cogito, ergo sum”), then is human
experience interrupted during sleep?
Leibniz argues that the mind can be compared to a living organism, build of monads (energy-laden,
soul-invested units). There are four types of monads:
o Simple
make up the bodies of all matter (living and non-living); tend to maintain harmony
o Sentient
make up the bodies of all living organisms; can feel pleasure and pain, but can’t reason
3
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