Mental states such as beliefs are about something, and the quality that makes a mental state about something is intentionality. For example, ‘I fear spiders’
What is qualia?
Qualia (phenomenal properties) is when certain metal states have a particular quality or feel. For example, for the person experiencing it, there is a certain way it feels to taste an apple, to see a red flower, or hear a trumpet playing.
Qualia key features:
the way qualia feel is directly accessible, and you can be aware of them through introspection.
You cannot be mistaken about your qualia e.g. if you‘re in pain you re directly aware of the pain.
Qualia is private, so if you are experiencing a pain, this is your pain and no one else can experience it
Qualia is ineffable, so its nature cannot be described with words, for example if you are colour blind and have never seen red, you cannot ever use descriptions to know what it is like.
What is substance dualism?
Substance dualism explains that the mind exists separately from the body, and you are composed of two different substances: one physical (body) and one mental (mind)
Key features of substance dualism:
humans are made of 2 distinct substances; a body and a mind
neither substance relies on each other to exist, but both casually interact with eachother
focused in the pineal gland in the centre of the brain
both have an ‘intimate union’ although they are separate
What is the indivisibility argument?
Descartes created this argument to state that bodies are spatially extended (can be divided over and over again)
it isn’t possible to divide a mind as it is a non-physical thing
divisible and indivisible creates incompatibility
Indivisibility Argument:
P1- the body can always be divided
P2- a mind can never be divided
C- the mind and body are two different substances
What is Leibniz Law?
supports indivisibility argument by stating that if the mind and the body are the same, they would have the exact same properties:
if two objects are distinct, then they must be different
if two objects have similar properties, then they must be the same.
Response to indivisibility argument:
The mental is divisible:
People are capable of self-deception
freud states tat the mind is internally conflicted and part of the mind is suppressed by another so it desires influence, conscious experiences.
Neuroscience states that if so hemispheres of the brain are cut, you are left with two distinct centres of consciousness without knowing, and this proves the mind is divisible.
Response to indivisibility:
‘Not everything physical is divisible)
some physical states such as feeling hot or feeling cold cannot be divided, so this disproves Descartes as he states that every physical thing can be divided.
What are possible worlds? (CA)
it is used when thinking about what is and what is not possible.
a possible world is a way the universe might have been (it could happen)
What is logical possibility? (CA)
something is logically possible if it doesn’t involve any contradiction
e.g. it is logically possible for there to be life on mars, but it is not logically possible to have round squares
What is a physical possibility? (CA)
something is physically possible if its occurrence is consistent with the laws of nature that happen to exist in the actual world.
e.g. it is physically possible to stick your tongue out at your teacher, but its not physically possible for you to fly by waving your arms up and down
What is a metaphysical possibility? (CA)
something is metaphysically possible when all the ways of the universe might have been.
Something is possible in all worlds as long as you can conceive of it.
What is the Conceivability argument?
Descartes argues that if he has a ‘clear and distinct’ idea of two things, it must be possible to separate them.
so if the mind was a part of the body, it is impossible to imagine them existing separately (like imagining 2 + 2 = not 4)
the mind and the body are separate because the main property of the mind is to think, and the main property of the body is extension (existing)
the mind is to extended and the body does not think, so therefore both are separate
The conceivability argument:
P1-if i can clearly and distinctly recognise the natures of two things to be different, they must be different things
P2- i can clearly and distinctly recognise the nature of the mind to be a thinking and conscious thing, nothing more.
P3- i can clearly recognise that the nature of the body is to be extension and existing, nothing more
C- therefore, the mind is a distinct substance from the body
Response to Conceivability argument:
Arnaulds masked man fallacy:
P1- I recognise that batman is the masked crusader
P2- I recognise Bruce Wayne to be a playboy millionaire
C- batman is not Bruce Wayne
this argument says that you may believe to have two different things when they are actually the same
What is Humes idea?
P1- i have lots of experiences
P2- the mind is a collection of these experiences
P3- the word ‘mind’ is a way to describe a bundle of these experiences
P4- so the mind is not a thing at all
C- the mind is not a thing at all so therefore there is nothing to divide
What is Descartes main response throughout substance dualism?
his arguments include the claim that he clearly and distinctly recognises that nothing more is involved in his ideas of the mind and the body.
What is metaphysically possible tells us nothing about the world response:
it is conceivable to believe that the mind nod the body are separate, and this is a metaphysical possibility.
However
physicalism os metaphysically impossible, so it is equally conceivable that minds are not distinct from bodies.
if both dualism and physicalism are metaphysically possible, we are no closer to knowing which situation is true
what is needed is an empirical investigation to determine if physicalism or dualism is the correct situation to go by.
Argument against substance dualism:
Evolution
modern biology suggests that the mind depends on the brain.
The process of evolution is a physical process
we can observe how our mental capacities of different creatures are related to the evolution of their brains from ancestral roots.
We can observe the mental life of other animals is linked to the structure of their brains in ways that make no reference to non-physical substances.