ipl-logo

Dualism In Mental States

939 Words4 Pages

Background
While visiting my friend in the hospital, I hear rumours of a patient who lacks a normal human brain, but otherwise seems to be completely normal. As I over pass two of the doctors, one of them says that “I think it’s pretty clear. Since the patient lacks a normal human brain, she does not have any mental states, since mental states are token-identical to states of the human brain," while the other one seems to argue that “You’re all focused on what’s in her skull. That simply does not matter. Having mental states is not having something that is “a mind. It’s just behaving or being disposed to behave in ways that constitute having mental states.”
Introduction
The following essay explores the three varying theories associated with mental states. The three varying theories that will be touched upon comprise of token-identity theory (identity theory), dualism and eliminative materialism. The objective of this paper is to come to a conclusion that if a patient lacking a normal human brain will have mental states, no mental states or only some kind of mental states and not others. The author of this prompt supports the concept of eliminative materialism and argues that the patient has no mental states. The reasoning behind this choice is demonstrated throughout the paper as it …show more content…

While the token-identity theory leads us to believe that the patient lacking a normal brain would have no mental states; dualism argues that since the mind and body are different, the patient is likely to have mental states. In contrast, eliminative materialism totally omits the idea of mental states no matter if a person has a normal brain or lacks a normal brain. This essay expresses eliminative materialism as the best choice to the case of the patient by eliminating the other two theories through reasoning of why the other theories don't fit. As a result, the aim of this essay was to prove that no mental states

Show More
Related
71 Words | 1 Pages

A Mental Status Examination (MSE) was completed on Jadine Sawyer to evaluate her level of thinking. This examination was conducted to document how she is feeling with the life changes that are taking place in her life. Jadine’s level of thinking was recorded to provide a diagnoisis to the symptoms she is experiencing. This Mental Status Examination (MSE) also was formulated to provide a treatment plan to better assist the client.

Read More
1234 Words | 5 Pages

Through analysis of a few of the proposed necessities of personhood–consciousness, intelligence, and self-awareness–the

Read More
1004 Words | 5 Pages

Lacan draw on Schreber’s Memoirs of my Nervous Illness and Freud’s in-depth exploration of the same book for formulating his theory about psychosis. Being distinct from neurosis and perversion, psychosis is brought about by the foreclosure of the master signifier, the Name-of-the-Father. Such a signifier is closely related to language. And it is the malfunction of language as such that leads to psychosis. Fink states “In psychosis, the paternal metaphor fails to function and the structure of language…is not assimilated.

Read More
1423 Words | 6 Pages

The argument of whether or not a human has a soul has been argued throughout centuries. Derek Parfit discusses two separate theories of personal identity, Ego Theory and Bundle Theory. The argument of which present a more accurate account of personhood is very hard to determine. The Ego Theory has some flaws such the soul is separate from the body and is a immaterialist object within us. Bundle Theory is reinforced and proven by the split-brain case, however it can lead to the argument that there is no self.

Read More
1571 Words | 7 Pages

The way individuals think about human rights is different than the way the government does. Samuel Moyn publishes Human Rights, Not So Pure Anymore, to influence the readers of the New York Times that their definition of human rights does not align with western governments. Attempting to persuade the liberal adults of New York City, among other readers of the New York Times, Moyn creates the argument that corruption has changed the definition of human rights from being about personal welfare to political gains. Although he introduces several observations regarding the unfair treatment of human rights by governments, his emotional bias and lack of solid evidence prevents him from thoroughly proving his argument.

Read More
1919 Words | 8 Pages

Conclusion: The mind is substantively different from the body and indeed matter in general. Because in this conception the mind is substantively distinct from the body it becomes plausible for us to doubt the intuitive connection between mind and body. Indeed there are many aspects of the external world that do not appear to have minds and yet appear none the less real in spite of this for example mountains, sticks or lamps, given this we can begin to rationalize that perhaps minds can exist without bodies, and we only lack the capacity to perceive them.

Read More
1085 Words | 5 Pages

Introduction It seems conceivable for an individual to go through “fission”. Maybe half of an individual’s brain can be kept alive and put in one body, and the other half of an individual’s brain kept alive and put in another body. Parfit envisions this happening to him, and wonders critically about what will happen to him. He proposes three possibilities: he does not survive; he survives as one of the two individuals; and he survives as both “in that he has two bodies and a mind that is divided” (Loux 375).

Read More
1498 Words | 6 Pages

In “An Essay Concerning Human Understanding,” John Locke defines a person’s identity by comparing the similarity between that person’s consciousness at two different times or stages. Specifically, Locke concludes for a person at a given time A to be considered the same person at a previous time B, it is both necessary and sufficient that the person at time A remembers his actions and thoughts at time B. Meanwhile, Thomas Reid criticizes Locke’s conclusion by emphasizing that if consciousness can be temporary, Locke’s identity definition is unstable. One example Reid uses to counter-argue Locke’s identity viewpoint is the brave officer. In this paper, I support Locke’s account of personal identity by explaining Locke’s viewpoint under my personal understanding, showing the weakness in his argument that is challenged by Reid’s brave officer example, and finally suggesting two ways in which Locke could respond to Reid’s counter-argument.

Read More
2081 Words | 9 Pages

It ignored a ‘mind-body connection’. Health however, is not simply limited to biology. “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not simply the absence of disease or infirmity” as defined by the World Health Organisation. The biopsychosocial model is an absolute necessity for clinical practice - it allows physicians to treat people who have diseases and not just the diseases people have. This will give us the ability to understand people beyond their biological functioning and to view human health in its fullest context.

Read More
1064 Words | 5 Pages

Assessment of mental status will help to establish whether a mental disorder or other condition requiring the attention of a psychiatric is present. It also helps to collaborate with the patient to develop an initial treatment plan that will foster treatment adherence, with particular consideration of any immediate interventions that maybe needed to address the safety of the patient and others, or if the evaluation is a reassessment of a patient in long-term treatment, to revise the plan of treatment in accordance with the new perspectives gained from the evaluation. 9.5 Current Research. Mental status examination is a term which refers to determining whether a patient is experiencing abnormalities in thinking and reasoning ability, feelings

Read More
1104 Words | 5 Pages

In this essay I will be comparing the identity theory to the behaviorist’s theory. Both theories are similar in the sense that they are of the monists (physicalism) view but they do vary in many other ways that I will point out in the duration of my essay. I do believe that the behaviorist theory is the better argument for reasons I will outline in this essay. The identity theory The identity theory refers to the understanding that the mind and the brain are identical.

Read More
766 Words | 4 Pages

Morton prince M.D wrote the article on Hysteria from the point of view of Dissociated Personality. According to the Columbia Encyclopedia, it was noted that he was an American physician and he specialized in neurology and abnormal psychology, as a physician in Boston and a founder and editor of the Journal of Abnormal Psychology. In addition, he was a leading investigator of pathology of mental disorders and he led and directed the Harvard Psychological Clinic. He was a professor of Diseases of the Nervous System, at Tufts College Medical School. His writing includes The Dissociation of a personality in 1906 and The Unconscious (1914).

Read More
746 Words | 3 Pages

Then, the reaction of the individual would no longer be like that of a "normed self" but varies according to the conditions, his mental faculties, and the beliefs and common knowledge of the moment. In this context, the abnormal does not exist anymore because the possibility of an action not conforming to the "self" is the attestation of its update and that, of course, of its dual, "the other ". Moreover, for Berger and Lukman the product of an institutionalization development remains the construction of social reality. There is no doubt that the distinctive acts of this transformation are the importance of cognition and the absence of institutional structures. As a result, without resorting to structures, direct action on the individual through his cognition is common beliefs and knowledge.

Read More
925 Words | 4 Pages

Dissociative Identity Disorder Since the dawn of time the mind has both fascinated and baffled people. Many theories about the mechanics of the mind have come out of this fascination. The mind, in essence, is who we are. The mind stores memories, enables perception, controls judgement, and is “the seat of human consciousness” (Henriques).

Read More
1443 Words | 6 Pages

This thought of theoretical antihumanism clearly rejects the basics of modern philosophy that every human being has an universal essence which is individual. The next course of dislocation to identity is due to Freud’s discovery of unconscious. Individual was considered to be a rational subject with a fixed identity but Freud’s theory said that all desires and identities are due to logic unconscious which is different from logic of reason. Again, the interpretation of his texts has had a great impact on modern thought of identity.

Read More

More about Dualism In Mental States

Related Topics

Open Document