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Descartes Mind Body Problem Analysis

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In the field of Philosophy, there seems to be few concepts that are more compelling to philosophers than that of the mind-body theory. Often referred to as the mind-body “problem,” this theory concerns the relationship between the physical body and the inner workings of the mind (generally, in regards to humans, although the mind-body problem has been applied to animals). The mind-body problem is credited to the seventeenth century French philosopher René Descartes. According to philosopher Neil Campbell in his book A Brief Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind, prior to Descartes’ mind-body problem proposition, most of the world’s scientific theories were based off of the ancient Greek teachings of the philosopher, Aristotle (13). Aristotle …show more content…

Descartes’ explores this concept in his work, Mediations on First Philosophy, in which he develops the famous theory that started the conversation of the mind and body; Cartesian Dualism (also known as mind-body dualism). In summary, Cartesian Dualism argues that the physical body and immaterial soul are two distinct things that happen to interact with one another. The reason that Cartesian Dualism is important is that it has set a foundation for which philosophers can work from in regards to expanding on the mind-body problem. Thus, there are numerous approaches that have branched off of Descartes’ theory. Two such approaches are Behaviorism and Functionalism. Although similar in some aspects, the two approaches also differ in regards aspects dealing with how the mind and body process and react to stimuli, respectively. Ultimately, it will be explored what both of these theories offer, as well as why functionalism is a significant improvement over behaviorism when dealing with the mind-body …show more content…

Jaegwon Kim indicates that famous philosopher Hilary Putnam introduced the now dominant functionalist theory in his 1967 paper Psychological Predicates (129). Functionalism is the belief that phenomena are defined by the role that they play; in other words, what they do rather than what they are (Campbell 82). Functionalism is also characterized by its ability to unify and understand how mental processes, sensory stimuli, and physical behavior work together in describing the mind-body problem (Kim 169). Functionalism’s foundation relies on an input-output basis in that different mental states can affect this flow of information, so to speak (Kim 169). A popular functionalist concept is Turing Test which was created by mathematician Alan Turing. Turing, having been extremely interested in artificial intelligence, devised the test in which claims that if a computer mimics human intelligence, than it is actually intelligent (Campbell 87). Turing argued that if A and B are equivalent in regard to function, then A and B must also be equivalent in terms of their mental state. This popular functionalist claim is not exempt from criticism though, which will be discussed shortly. Jaegwon Kim summarizes functionalism as “a casual intermediary between sensory inputs and mental states as causes, on the one hand, and behaviors and other mental states as effects on the other”

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CHIDIEBUBE OPARA PHIL 1301 PROF BROWN July 10, 2017 PRINCESS ELISABETH First, in my essay about what Princess Elisabeth was asking Descartes to clarify was about the meditation. This meditation was to give an expression of how the mind and the body interact to one another. Next, In Descartes response to Princess Elisabeth, he claims that the mind and the body are the two different important substances in our human beings.

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He reasons that the idea of the body is the ideas of something extended like shape and size. This predicts the mind and body dualism, and the regulation of essential and supplementary qualities. Descartes found the essence of the mind which is to think; and the embodiment of matter, which is to be expanded. He also infers that despite his underlying beliefs, the psyche is a far superior knower than the body and that it is more realistic than the material world. Descartes infers that he must know his mind more than anything.

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Functionalism is a theory about the nature of mental states. A mental status is not what something it is made of but what it does. Functionalism was a major influence on the education system. It is believed that the functionalist perspective functions just like an organism. This meaning that each

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Similarly, Thomas Nagel also criticizes functionalism for its lack of accounting for qualia. Nagel argues that functionalism is invalid in asserting that the mind is a computer program and that the body is what runs the program. As mentioned earlier, functionalism reduces mental states to computational states, composed of inputs, outputs and other computational states. Nagel argues that it is incorrect to make this assumption because in order for an organism to be reduced to another thing, there can’t be the case that the reduction totally disregards what it is like to be that organism. Nagel makes his argument by considering the definitions of subjective and objective facts.

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BACKGROUND: The following notes describe the background of the time period and the culture. This is for better understanding of the text, relevancy, and application of Socrates’ views in regards to the ancient time period and our life. -Pythagoreans view on death consisted of a belief in immortality of the soul, reincarnation in human or animal form, and the concern to keep the soul pure by avoiding contamination of the body. Socrates uses these themes to discuss his own perception about immortality.

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There are three different forms of functionalism such as the analytic functionalism, physchofuctionalism and machine-state functionalism. Analytic functionalism is the most common of them all, it describes the function of a job description of mental states. The second from is physchofunctionalism in which opposes to the idea of behaviorism and saying no to the physical aspect of the mind. The last form of functionalism is the machine-state functionalism in which was founded by Hillary Putnam. Putnam was an American philosopher whose ideas were based on the apologies of mind.

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Most famously advocated by René Descartes, substance dualism is the view that minds, which are essentially thinking and consist of mental substance, and bodies, which are necessarily extended and made of material substance, are ontologically separate entities. The material and mental have entirely different natures, so a mind cannot be equivalent to a body. Human beings, therefore, must be mixtures of the two substances. Substance dualists assert that, despite lacking properties in common, mind and body connect through the capacity of each to causally affect the other (Kim 34). While this position may initially appear intuitive and commonsensical, Descartes and subsequent dualists have faced a multitude of challenges concerning mental causation.

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In the sixth meditation, Descartes postulates that there exists a fundamental difference in the natures of both mind and body which necessitates that they be considered as separate and distinct entities, rather than one stemming from the other or vice versa. This essay will endeavour to provide a critical objection to Descartes’ conception of the nature of mind and body and will then further commit to elucidating a suitably Cartesian-esque response to the same objection. (Descartes,1641) In the sixth meditation Descartes approaches this point of dualism between mind and matter, which would become a famous axiom in his body of philosophical work, in numerous ways. To wit Descartes postulates that he has clear and distinct perceptions of both

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One way that Descartes might explain the mind-body interaction is by appealing to God. Since God created the union of mind and body, God gave both the mind and the body the ability to interact with each other. In his Fourth Meditation, Descartes argued that there are some things that we cannot understand because our understanding is limited compared to God’s. Thus, Descartes can conclude that we cannot understand specifically how the mind and body interact with each other, since the specific details of mind-body interaction are beyond our understanding. However, this explanation fails to resolve the contradiction between (1) and (2).

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There are two major ideas in the mind, body debate: physicalism, and dualism. Physicalism states that the human being is a composition of different neurological and biological functions, that there is no mind, only the brain. This belief is due to the idea that there is no comprehensive evidence of a mind. However, if a mind does exists, it would fill in components of the person that the brain alone cannot. If a person is viewed solely as their physical reactions, then aspects of the person, like where their thought and ideas steam from, are lost.

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In his philosophical thesis, of the ‘Mind-Body dualism’ Rene Descartes argues that the mind and the body are really distinct, one of the most deepest and long lasting legacies. Perhaps the strongest argument that Descartes gives for his claim is that the non extended thinking thing like the Mind cannot exist without the extended non thinking thing like the Body. Since they both are substances, and are completely different from each other. This paper will present his thesis in detail and also how his claim is critiqued by two of his successors concluding with a personal stand.

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Various philosophers and scientists have inquired about the mind and body issue for a long time. The mind-body philosophies try to explain the way a person’s mental state and processes are linked to the physical state. The core of the mind and body is that individuals have a biased experience of an inner life that appears detached from the physical world. Although they are separated, they need to work together in some way. Individuals may appear to have physical properties and mental properties.

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Materialism or Reductive Physicalism (developed from Materialism) states that there is no differentiation between mind and matter because only what is material exists and as a result the mind is the formation of consciousness. Mental faculties occur because of the physical, for Materialists the brains purpose is to create consciousness. Phenomenalism states that physical objects are perceivable because of our mental faculties. The mind creates what we perceive as physical and what is physical is merely a mental construct therefore deducing that it is the mind that truly exists (McLeod, 2007). A study on hemiplegic victims demonstrated that when stimulated the mind can trick the body into believing a missing limb is still there contrary to the physical evidence, demonstrating that the “reorganized cortex is capable of processing sensory inputs so that they result in tactile perception” (Pons,

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Functionalism can be defined as a psychological philosophy, which considers mental life and behavior with regards to active adaptation to the person’s environment. Therefore, it provides people with the general basis on which they can develop psychological theories that are not readable and testable through controlled experiments and applied psychology. The whole idea of functionalism first arose in the United States back in the 19th century. During that time, it was used as an alternative to structuralism (Zhong, 2008).

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