...and using the categories he uses, what view of the mind/body problem do you think is exhibited by Picard? By Maddox? Support your answer. Upon completion of the readings, and having watched the episode “The Measure of a Man” from Star Trek: New Generations I have come to the conclusion that Picard has a very materialistic view of the mind/body problem stating that “Man is a wholly material being” (Hasker, 69). Meanwhile Maddox holds a very dualistic view of the problem, in which he believes “physical properties…are properties of the body, while mental properties are properties of the mind” (Hasker, 65). Picard sees Data, his android officer, as being able to make the same kinds of decision and having the same kinds of feelings any other human being is able to have. This leads me to believe that Picard’s view is that the mind is not separate from the body, thus he has a very materialistic view of the mind/body problem. While Maddox on the other hand believes a very different way. This of course causes much tension between the two. Maddox apparently believes that there is a mind and a body completely separate, and for a Being to be human and sentient it must be able to be intelligent, self-aware, and conscious. He believes that Data does indeed have a brain, but cannot possibly have a mind, since the mind is separate from the brain. Maddox’s main claim is that Data, like a computer, has no feelings, basically has no soul or mind with which he could have feelings. Therefore Data...
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...The mind/body problem in Descartes Descartes had a major role in shaping and influencing modern philosophy during the rationalism movement. This idea of rationalism was a method of understanding the world through the application of reason as the means to obtaining knowledge. It was during this age of enlightenment that Rationalism and empiricism which can be defined as the acquirement of knowledge through practical experience rather than pure reason, had made its impact as one of the main intellectual and cultural factors that had revolutionized the western world. Thus, the study of science, mathematics and philosophy were all put into question and radically transformed during this period. In 1636, Descartes released his first work ‘Discourse on the Method’ where he discussed techniques on problem solving and introduces one of the most famous philosophical quotes of all time, Cogito ergo sum, or “I think, therefore I exist.” His second work, ‘Meditations on First philosophy’ that addressed the disputes concerning his first published work, ‘Discourse on the Method’, had theories that would change the way people thought about their minds and bodies and the relationship between the two. In reference to this statement, Descartes proposes rational explanations that the human mind is distinct and separated from the body due to his assertion that the mind is the soul that outlives the body and this ultimately results to him attributing the splendors and working of the mind to the...
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...Androids and the Mind/Body Problem In a Star Trek, episode of The Next Generation, Captain Picard of the enterprise is left with the job of defending an android by the name of Data, whom believes he has the right to say no to a direct order for him to be disassembly by the Commander Bruce Maddox. Although Data is an Androids which basically is a machine, Picard defends him using the dualism theory. Picard shows that Data has two aspects, he is a machine but like humans Data processes a body and mind, which are not identical even though his mind is program he is able to make decisions on his own. I think Data is a perfect example of the dualism theory; he has the elements which are mention above, so many philosophers have debated whether there is such a thing as a soul with Data Picard did not need to establish that. Data is the perfect display of the Mind/Body problem, the issue between mind and matter, whether he is a person or property. Picard saw an entity that had a body and mind, an entity with the dualism theory; having both a body and mind wouldn’t that make you a person? I would think a body and a mind that can function on its own would be considered a person. Commander Bruce Maddox saw Data as machine, he saw him for what he was built to be, and to do serve mankind. To the Commander Data was an object. I see the Mind /Body problem Commander Bruce Maddox was having; in fact some of those problems would have worked in his...
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...There is a wide variety of categories into which all things in the world can be divided. There are natural and unnatural phenomena; things created by mankind and those we consider to be product of the Supreme Mind; there is flora and there is fauna; there are things that we can modify and things that humans have no control over. One of the many ways to differentiate and classify everything and anything in the surrounding environment and, probably, one of the most universal ways, is to classify things as being either material or immaterial. It seems fairly easy to distinguish between the two. If we cannot touch, feel or see something, then it becomes the notion of the immaterial world. The rest belongs to the material things, which we can own, trade, purchase, possess, lose or give away. When Rene Descartes, one of the founders of the modern-day western philosophical science, laid the groundwork for his epistemological perspective called Cartesian Dualism, he was coming exactly from the same universal idea. The thoughts and hypotheses that Descartes tried so hard, throughout his lifetime’s work, to develop into axioms and prove to be fundamentally true, surprisingly remain highly debatable and are still largely in question. Philosophy is very much about the question of certainty. To a great extent, from the epistemological perspective, knowledge is certainty (Harris, 2009). Just as the case is with Plato, whose quest for certainty has driven his metaphysics to take it, as a...
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...Abstract This essay discusses the mind-body question and the difficulty to explain how these two entities relate to philosophical and scientific inquiry. This discussion includes the difficulty scientists find with dealing with the mind-body question when discussing the conception of reality. The discussion will include Searle’s perception of the mind-body question and conclude with a personal perspective of the mind-body question and what it means to her. The conclusion of the essay after research is that this question is difficult to answer because of different views and perspectives. Mind-Body Questions Paper The mind-body question has been a source of examination for many years. This examination began in the seventeenth-century with the French philosopher Descartes. Many credit Descartes with beginning the mind-body problem. The mind-body question in essence deals with how the physical world interacts and relates to the mental aspects of the mind. Descartes considered that the mind existed only in the mental state with the body existing only in the physical state. He felt that the mind could not exist with the body (Schimmel, 2001). Many others have formed various opinions, including John Searle, which emphasizes consciousness when discussing the mind. This essay is a discussion of the difficulty poised by the mind-body question on philosophical and scientific inquiry. The essay will also include the perspective of Searle concerning the mind-body question and reality. It will...
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...why the mind-body problem (i.e., the problem of the interaction between the mind and the body) is a challenge (or an objection) to Descartes’ philosophy of mind. In other words, explain how we can make an argument from the mind-body problem against Descartes’ theory of the mind. Descartes’ philosophy of mind has several aspects, but not all of them are related to the mind-body problem. Please first explain the relevant parts of his philosophy of mind, and then explain the challenge from the mind-body problem. Ziyao Wang Phil105 Prof. Chong Yuan Feb.1st Descartes was the first to formulate the mind–body problem in the form in which it exists today. He identified the mind with consciousness and thoughts are distinguished from the brain as the position of hardware. There are several parts of Descartes’ philosophy of mind. To begin with, your brain is totally independent of your body, you can exist without a body. Secondly, you know your mind and thoughts most much more than anything else. Furthermore, body must have space and mind must has thoughts and no space. Take animal for example, animals do not have thoughts because they cannot think. Last but not least, the certain things cannot be doubted. The most important, Descartes is a dualist, in his view, the mind and the body are not the same thing. Minds, thoughts and consciousness are not in the space, however, body must in space. Moreover, the brain just serves as a connection between the mind and the body. Human’s...
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...Aristotle‘s concept of mind with that of Descartes. Introduction In this essay I attempt to show Aristotle’s concept of soul/mind*[1]. Then I compare and contrast it with Descartes’ concept of mind. In order to understand Aristotle’s concepts of mind, I shall consider Aristotle’s De Anima, in which Aristotle mostly concentrates on soul/mind discussion. I will examine the work of Kahn and Sorabji, who both considered Aristotle’s and Descartes’ philosophy in relation to soul and body problem. In order to compare Aristotle’s concept of mind with Descartes’, I am going to introduce Descartes’ most famous philosophical work which involves the question of mind directly, namely hisMeditations. …………………………. …………………………… ………………………………. If we look at Aristotle’s De Anima we can understand that pre-Aristotle thinkers were already concerned with corporeal and incorporeal problems. For example, for Plato soul was an ‘incorporeal’ and immortal thing, but body corporeal and mortal. The first impression we get from reading De Anima is that the mind and body problem was unsolved. Perhaps the resolved problem didn’t satisfy Aristotle. Aristotle claims that an incorporeal thing cannot exist without a corporeal thing. Aristotle’s new theory for solving soul and body problems makes controversial debate among most post-Aristotelian philosophers. Rene Descartes was one of them who rejected the Aristotelian concept of mind in which corporeal and incorporeal...
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...that mind and body are really distinct–a thesis now called “mind-body dualism.” He reaches this conclusion by arguing that the nature of the mind (that is, a thinking, non-extended thing) is completely different from that of the body (that is, an extended, non-thinking thing), and therefore it is possible for one to exist without the other. This argument gives rise to the famous problem of mind-body causal interaction still debated today: how can the mind cause some of our bodily limbs to move (for example, raising one’s hand to ask a question), and how can the body’s sense organs cause sensations in the mind when their natures are completely different? This article examines these issues as well as Descartes’ own response to this problem through his brief remarks on how the mind is united with the body to form a human being. This will show how these issues arise because of a misconception about Descartes’ theory of mind-body union, and how the correct conception of their union avoids this version of the problem. The article begins with an examination of the term “real distinction” and of Descartes’ probable motivations for maintaining his dualist thesis. Table of Contents 1. What is a Real Distinction? 2. Why a Real Distinction? 1. The Religious Motivation 2. The Scientific Motivation 3. The Real Distinction Argument 3. The First Version 4. The Second Version 4. The Mind-Body Problem 5. Descartes’ Response to the Mind-Body...
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...PHI130 10-17-2011 Abstract In the present paper, the issue of mind is discussed in the framework of mind/body problem. While in the times of Aristotle and Plato it was named differently and explained through objects materiality and soul divinity, the modern perception of the same correlation was emphasized by Descartes as body/mind problem. In the present paper, the essence of the problem is outlined in the context of one of the modern philosophies of mind, meaning physicalism. The main aims of this essay is to identify the corner stone of physicalist concept, its main supporting and opposing arguments, and distinguish which position is the strongest one and understand the reason why. Key words: physicalism, body/mind problem, knowledge, exclusion, consciousness. What is mind? In the history of human thought, there were various dilemmas which the brightest minds of their times were trying to solve and which remained enigmas until our times. The mind/body problem is one of those issues. While, in times of Aristotle and Plato, it was named differently and explained through the objects materiality and soul divinity, the modern perception of the same correlation was shaped by Descartes as body/mind problem. In the present paper, the essence of the problem is explained in the context of one of the modern philosophies of mind, meaning physicalism. The main aims of this essay is to identify the corner stone of physicalist concept, its main supporting and opposing arguments...
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...relationship between the body and the mind, creating a major conflict amongst theorists. Dualism is a theory that claims that the mind, a non-physical substance, is completely separate and distinct from the body, a physical substance. Originally coined by the famous philosopher René Descartes, dualism has since been argued against and overshadowed by numerous opposing theories. This was primarily due to the many weaknesses that dualism faced and the problems that could not be explained under this view. One of the opposing theories, functionalism, did not face the weaknesses that dualism did, and the problems they came across were not an issue for functionalists. This view, most strongly...
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...Mind-Body Connection and how it Affects Learning James Webb Coll100 American Military University Corey Tutor Mind-Body Connection and how it Affects Learning The mind–body connection examines the relationship between mind and matter, and in particular the relationship between consciousness and the brain. Many throughout history have often wondered what causes the connection between the mental portion of the mind and the physical state of the body. A variety of different topics have been proposed. Most fall under either the dualist or monist theories. Many philosophers have debated their theories on the mind-body connection to include such philosophers as Descartes and Plato. More recent researchers have moved beyond the dualist conceptions of body and mind towards a unified and interrelated concept of a bodymind together. Today scientists believe our minds and bodies work together. The body-mind connection helps us to pay attention and solve problems as well as affecting memory. Basically, the physical state of your body directly affects how well our minds will work. Some scientists are also researching how emotions affect the body-mind connection. Numerous studies have been done to show the proof that these theories are factual. The philosophy behind the mind body connection began with Plato and Aristotle. Basically both philosophers believed that the physical body contained multiple souls. Their theories differed a bit in that Plato believed that if the body died...
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...Explain concisely the philosophical problems of the relation between the mind and body. The mind and our understanding of what it is has been the centre of philosophical debate since the 6th Century BC where the ancient Greeks sort for ways of explaining human action. No longer did the Homeric understanding that human action was simply the result of his environment sufficient, an inward search to explain actions took place and as such, the concept of psyche was developed. The concept of psyche evolved through terms such as soul and then mind through philosophical debate and mistranslation since this period, and it is the aim of this paper to show how the mind has been conceptualised and the irrationality of associating in like form to that of the body. In order to understand the problems with relating the mind and body – the concept of Cartesian dualism, as theorised by Descartes needs to be examined. Descartes believed in an independent nonmaterial soul inhabiting and finding expression in a mechanically operated body. Descartes used his own words cogito ergo sum, “I am thinking therefore I exist” as somewhat of an unanswerable means of proof. In an attempt to understand everything and break it down to its most simplest form, Descartes the skeptic attempted to doubt everything in order to understand himself. He argues that he can doubt everything around himself, he can even doubt that his own body exists, however he can no doubt that he is doubting, - he could not doubt...
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...There is a major debate in philosophy called the mind and body debate. This is the debate about what gives us our personal identity as to whether it is our minds, our bodies or whether it is both. A number of philosophers have commented on the mind and body debate. These are dualists, monists and materialists all of which have theories explaining what gives us our personal identity. Dualists believe that the mind and body are separate, monists believe that the mind and body are one but can be separated and materialism is the view that there is no such thing as a mind or a soul and that when we die we die. Philosophers such as Plato and Descartes are dualists. In this dualist argument, Plato presents four arguments for the immortality of the soul which are cyclical – everything comes into existence from its opposite which sets up the cycle of birth and death, recollection- Plato believed that the knowledge we acquire is not learnt but remembered or recollected. Plato believed that the soul existed in a realm of forms before coming into the body, where it acquires this knowledge. As evidence of this he cites the slave boy who has no education but can grasp complex mathematical concepts just like the film ‘Good will hunting’, Affinity – Plato believed that the body has an affinity with the earth and that the soul has the affinity with the eternal real of forms. Because the soul is composite, at death it is dispersed at death and so it returns to the real of form to which it has...
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...theories (dualism, materialism, idealism and transcendental idealism) will be explored. Each theories provide adequate explanation of reality but there are limitations and shortcomings when one contemplate carefully. The theories will be explored and critique by using the mind body problem, The Chinese room, the radical emergence theory. Moreover, one should consider which theory describes the nature of reality with least logical incoherencies. Substance Dualism is a theory that describes “mind and matter” as “two distinct things” (Nagel Thomas 206). Furthermore, substance dualism categorize matter as “physical or material substance” and mind or soul as “non-physical or immaterial substance” (Lacewing Michael) “Substance Dualism”). So, dualism is the proposal that human being as a living, thinking entity not only includes brain and physical matter but also a non-physical substance to account for the mind. The famous seventeenth century French philosopher René Descartes claimed that as “a subject of conscious thought and experience, he cannot consist of spatially extended matter”. He therefore states that “his essential nature must be non-material, even if in fact his soul is intimately connected with his body” (qtd in.Nagel Thomas 206). Here, we will explore the arguments that tries to support the claim. The Conceivability Argument shows that one can “imagine a robot that resembles a human with no consciousness or inner life”. Furthermore, one can also “imagine spirits or creatures...
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...The mind-body problem has been always been a controversial subject which can simply be defined as the uniqueness of the mind’s relation to bodies. To ignite this argument, one could ask the question “how can anything that acts only by thinking have effects on something that can be acted upon only by being moved?” With that, an in depth look into dualism (any philosophical position that divides existence into two completely distinct, independent, unique substances) is presented. For some, a car-driver analogy can be used. The mind is the driver and the body is the car. However, Descartes rejects this idea and unites the mind and body into a whole. This leads us to Cartesian dualism. Cartesian dualism can be defined as sensations that go with the body, not with the mind, but they only exist from the perspective of the mind. Descartes was the first to clearly identify the mind with consciousness and self-awareness and to distinguish this from the brain, which was the seat of intelligence. Descartes held that the immaterial mind and the material body are two completely different types of substances and that they interact with each other. He reasoned that the body could be divided up by removing a leg or arm, but the mind or soul were indivisible. As proof, Descartes used cogito ergo sum, "I reflect, therefore I am." We cannot doubt the existence of our own self because we cannot doubt it unless there was a self to do the doubting. Though the mind and body are of a different nature...
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