Shawna Potratz
08/04/2013
PHI-103
Richard Mohline
What is Mind?
To believe that seeing and touching is the only real truth is to believe that there is no such thing as an idea. For some people this is possible, but in order to make something real it must exist as an idea or a thought first. There are many arguments to picking a side of either Physicalism or Dualism and many people only have one opinion and then close their mind to other options. Only by understanding both sides can someone make a decision as to whether they are a physicalist or dualist. However, Dualism is the only real truth, for without an idea or thought; there can be no physical object to obtain.
Some would say that everything started with a thought. It is clear that truth in reality is often something you can see or touch or taste, but what about feelings? How can someone feel love or have admiration for one’s beauty if none of those emotions can be touched or tasted. As humans we are built to feel and think. Some might say that religion plays a big role in one’s decision, if so then what of Atheism. They are human to; they feel pain and emotion all the same. They also think and idealize the same as someone of religious belief; therefore, religion cannot apply in such arguments because some great philosophers’ had none. As a child we are taught what things are and what to call them. The name of an object started as an idea. If your mother was to teach you that a pen was the only writing utensil other than markers, then a pencil would not exist to you. You might be able to see it and touch it and maybe even taste it, but without the thought of a pencil being a pencil as opposed to a pen, then there would be no such object as a pencil. There is also the mind-body principal which plays into believing dualism. This basically states that the mind, meaning the thought or emotion part, is idealistic being as you can’t touch or see thoughts or emotions; and the body is the physicality being as it is made of matter that can be experienced with any of the five senses. Plato believed that both a body and a mind were needed to exist. This creates a problem because materialists tend to rely on purely anything they can encounter with their five senses. They don’t take into consideration the mental part of their being, that if they could not feel or think they could not suffice. As with dualists, they tend to forget that a material possession is needed as well as mental to get by and maintain in a half physical world. It was said, by Plato, that one’s soul already existed and would pick a physical body as a vessel to live in. This theory does not necessarily support religion as a leading cause of being a dualist, it just simply states that our being lives on and the only thing that changes about us is our physical form.
As for Physicalism, it is said that everything that can be thought can be challenged. If something wasn’t to be thought about then does that mean that it does not exist? If I were to stop thinking about Joan would that mean that she would not exist because she was not thought of or about? This is not necessarily the case. If one was to have no knowledge of Joan and could not think of her then yes, Joan would cease to exist to the person that did not have knowledge of her. Also Joan’s parents would have to have thought about her whether it be her name or her actual physical being in order for her to exist.
To conclude, there is no materialistic existence without their first being an idea or thought. If an object washed up on the beach that was heavy and metal on one end with a wooden handle on the other, what would that object be if there was no one to name it or give it an existence. When someone grabs that object and says “I’m going to call this a hammer”, then the hammer will have existence. Yes, an object made up of mater might be sitting in front of you or traveling by you, but what is that object without a name? Who is to say that that object exists if it is not known to the world or even to one person? Whether it be, if you’re religious, when god had a thought and decided to make the earth and animals and a human being; or if you believe in the scientific approach that we evolved from apes, it all started with a thought.

References http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/588/1/ Papineau, David. (N.D.). The Rise of Physicalism. Retrieved July 29, 2013 from http://www.kcl.ac.uk/ip/davidpapineau/Staff/Papineau/OnlinePapers/Risephys.html