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Dualism In Mental States

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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

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