The mind-body problem today

The mind-body problem today

1. Descartes

   • The mind and the body are made up of separate things, also known as substance dualism - the brain and the mind interact via the pineal gland
     • Leibniz proposed a different form of dualism, in which the mind and the body live separately in parallel

2. Dualisms

   • Property dualisms
     • Epi-phenomenalism (Huxley)
       • Argues the physical brain causes mental states, known as M1 and M2, however, these mental states have no causal role in changing our physical states, known as P1 and P2
         • We respond to stimuli in a reflex like way as behaviours are caused by muscles contracting upon receiving neural impulses
         • Neuropsychology supports this view, arguing that reactions and functions don't require a conscious awareness. Behaviourism also supports this view as they made observations of behaviour without referring to the mind
         • From an evolutionary standpoint they reject this view, proposing that if the mind has no causal role, how has it evolved?
     • Pan-psychism (Nagel)
       • He argues that there are mental properties in everything (everything has a mind), and the mind is a non-physical property of all matter. Mentality is fundamental in the natural world. The mind can't be reduced to physical states and the mind doesn't emerge from physical states
         • Empirically, this can't yet be tested scientifically.
     • Emergent/ non-reductive materialism (Chalmers)
       • Argues there are causal relationships between the body and mind, and all mental states are caused by a physical state. The mind depends on the body
         • Everything is considered to be made of physical substances
           • Physical properties can be described at multiple levels, and higher level properties emerge from lower level ones.

3. Monisms

   • Identity theory (Place)
   • Functionalism (Putnam)
   • Eliminative materialism (Churchland)