David Armstrong

Background:

Physicalism is the view by “We can give a complete account of man in purely physico-chemical terms”
The mind is not something behind the behaviour of the body, merely a part of that behaviour
The mind is not an inner arena, it is outward act
Mental states are nothing but physical states of the central nervous system
The world is nothing but perception or awareness of the state of our own mind
The Brain is the mediator between the body and the mind

Key Ideas:

The Nature of Mind Summary

Begins by evaluating why science is a special authority in deciding questions about the nature of man
This is because science doesn’t necessarily prove claims, rather it reaches an intellectual consensus, which is the best authority available
Science is ‘the best clue we have to the nature of man’

Behaviourism

Behaviourism suggests that there is no ‘mind’ that is separate from the body (like Descartes proposes); the mind is simply part of the physical behaviour of a body.
Behaviourism conveys that all knowledge pertaining to an individual can be obtained through observing said individual’s behaviour.
‘The mind is not an inner area, it is outward act.’
An opposing argument to Behaviourism is that a person’s actions may not parallel their inner thoughts

Disposition

Brittle materials are those that break easily when subjected to small forces
Breaking and shattering easily is NOT brittleness; it’s the ‘manifestation of brittleness’
Even though someone’s thoughts many not correlate to their actions, they can be disposed to behave in a particular fashion**
‘The man does not behave, but he does have a disposition to behave.’

Key Quotes:

“All mental phenomena has neural dependence”
“We are creatures of matter and must learn to accept that fact”
“There is no need to draw a distinction between mental processes and their expression in physical behaviour”
“Something is currently going on, in the strongest and most literal sense of going on, and this something is my thought”
“Perhaps mind can be defined not as behaviour but rather as the inner cause of certain behaviour”
“Men have Minds, that is to say, they have sensations, emotions, beliefs, thoughts, purposes and desires”
“We can give a complete account of man in purely physico-chemical terms”
“Should we concede science a special authority to decide questions about the nature of man”
“Science has provided us with a method of deciding disputed questions”
“It is the scientific vision of man, and not the philosophical or religious or artistic or moral vision of man, that is the best clue we have to the nature of man”
“The mind was not something behind the behaviour of the body, it was simply part of that physical behaviour”
“The mind is not an inner arena, it is outward act”
“If there is no need to draw a distinction between mental processes and their expression in physical behaviour, but if instead the mental processes are identified with their so called expressions, then the existence of mind stands in no conflict with the view that man is nothing but a physico-chemical mechanism”
However “There can be mental processes going on although there is no behaviour occurring that could possibly be treated as expressions of those processes”
“When I think my thoughts do not issue any action, it seems as obvious as anything is obvious that there is something actually going on in me that constitutes my thought”
“Something is currently going on, in the strongest and most literal sense of going on, and this something is my thought”
“Our notion of a mind and of individual mental states is logically tied to behaviour”
“Perhaps mind can be defined not as behaviour but rather as the inner cause of certain behaviour”
“The verdict of modern science seems to be that the sole cause of mind betokening behaviour in man and higher animals is the physico-chemical workings of the central nervous system”
“Behaviourists were wrong to identify man with behaviour”
“In talking about the mind we do not have to go behind outward behaviour to inner states”
“The Mind is rather that which stands behind and brings about our complex behaviour”
“My proposed synthesis is that the mind is properly conceived as an inner principle”
“We are conscious, We have experiences”
“My proposal is that consciousness in this sense of the word is nothing but perception or awareness of the state of our own mind”
“And so consciousness of our own mental state becomes simply the scanning of one part of our central nervous system by another”
“It is fair to say that those scientists who still reject the physico-chemical account of man do so primarily for philosophical, or moral or religious reasons, and only secondarily, and half-heartedly, for reasons of scientific detail”
“Compatible with the view that man is nothing but a physio-chemical mechanism”
“Only in science that men versed in their subject can, after investigation that is more or less prolonged, and which may in some cases extend beyond a single human lifetime, reach substantial agreement about what is the case”
“What better authority do we have than such a consensus?”
“The mind is not an inner arena, it is an outward act”
“There is no need to draw a distinction between mental processes and their expression in physical behaviour”-behaviourism, not A
“It is our common experience that there can be mental processes going on although there is no behaviour occurring that could possibly be treated as expressions of those processes”
“A disposition to behave”
“He is angry although he does not behave angrily, because he is disposed so to behave”
“Behaviourism denies this, and so it is unsatisfactory as a theory of mind”
“Mind can be defined not as behaviour, but rather as the inner cause of certain behaviour”
“It does not make such a Physicalist view inevitable, it does make it possible”
“Physico-chemical workings of the central nervous system”-cause of thought
“Dispositions are actual causes”
“Dispositions as states, which is the view that is natural to science, is the correct one”
“The Behaviourists were wrong to identify the mind with behaviour”
“A mental state as a state of the person apt for producing certain ranges of behaviour”
“My proposed Synthesis is that the mind is properly conceived as an inner principle, but a principle that is identified in terms of the outward behaviour it is apt for bringing about”
“Mental states are in fact nothing but physical states of the central nervous system”
“Although Behaviourism may be a satisfactory account of the mind from an other-person point of view, it will not do as a first person account”
“Aware of much more than mere behaviour”
“Consciousness, in this sense of the word, is nothing but perception or awareness of the state of our own mind”
“Consciousness is a self-scanning mechanism in the central nervous system”

	Created by Winbaj08 over 10 years ago

VCE Philosophy (The nature of mind and body: Descartes, Armstrong) Note on Armstrong, created by Winbaj08 on 22/09/2013.

Armstrong