What did I google to find this picture?

Philosophy Of Mind The philosophy of mind is the study of mental states, events, functions, consciousness and the nature of the mind. Who am I? What does “I” mean? Are we entirely physical things? Are there other minds? Are we perceiving reality?

A Thought Problem B A Which is the original ship? If you think it is B at what point does it become the original ship?

A Thought Problem If every part of your body is replaced (on a cellular level) can we definitely say you would be the same person? If so what makes you the same? Some people think it might be the mind – and here we get to the main issue in the Philosophy of Mind.

What is the mind? 40 39 41 43 44 38 42 36 32 31 33 34 45 35 37 46 56 55 57 58 60 59 54 53 48 47 49 50 52 51 30 29 8 7 9 10 12 11 6 5 1 End 2 3 4 13 14 23 22 24 25 27 26 28 21 16 15 20 17 18 19 How would you define the term “mind”? 60 seconds in pairs to come up with a simple definition. Does it include all someone would need to know?

Mind – “Thinking thing or centre of consciousness” Defining the Mind Mind – “Thinking thing or centre of consciousness” This does not assume we know anything particular about the structure of the “mind” (i.e. whether it is physical or non- physical) It just means that it is the thing that contains our thoughts, or the thing that does the thinking. “What is ‘mind’?” Is essentially a problem about the kind of thing that contains our mental states (beliefs, thoughts, desires, emotions, sensations etc.)

Describing Mental States Are mental states different from physical states? Which of the terms below apply to the physical and which apply to the mental? 2 minutes in pairs! Lawless Private Public Spatial Key Concepts Sheet! Permanent Transient Non-Spatial Follow Laws

Describing Mental States Don’t have intentionality It seems then looking at the table below that mental states are very different to physical states. I’ve also included two key terms here that we’ve not already mentioned: Qualia and Intentionality. Physical states Mental states Public Private Fallible Infallible Spatial Non-spatial Permanent Transient Follow laws Lawless/ Anomalous Don’t have qualia Have qualia Don’t have intentionality Have intentionality

Quick! What are you currently thinking about? Intentionality Quick! What are you currently thinking about?

What is this table about? Intentionality What is this table about?

Intentionality Mental states, such as beliefs, desires, thoughts, emotions, sensations, etc., point beyond themselves; they are about something else. For example: The emotion of sadness because I failed the exam is about the exam. The thought I would like a good whisky is about the whisky. The belief that I am awesome is about my awesomeness. This is consistent for all of our mental states. The mental is characterised by this feature of ‘aboutness’ – a feature to which philosophers refer by the term ‘intentionality’.

Don’t confuse “Intentionality” and “Intentional” In contrast – physical things, like this table, do not have an aboutness. They do not have intentionality. Important Don’t confuse “Intentionality” and “Intentional”

Problems with Intentionality Can you think of any cases where our mental states lack intentionality? Where they are not about something? What about physical things that do have intentionality? That are about things?

Key Concepts Sheet! Possible Responses All mental states are about something (including emotions) but we might not always recognise what they are about. Key Concepts Sheet! Physical things only have intentionality (an aboutness) when given it by mental states. Writing on a page would mean nothing without mental states, nor would statues or flags.

Qualia 40 39 41 43 44 38 42 36 32 31 33 34 45 35 37 46 56 55 57 58 60 59 54 53 48 47 49 50 52 51 30 29 8 7 9 10 12 11 6 5 1 End 2 3 4 13 14 23 22 24 25 27 26 28 21 16 15 20 17 18 19 Imagine you are a scientist and you have made friends with an alien (she speaks perfect English). You have discovered that your alien-friend has a completely different physical body to us. You are trying to find out how similar her experiences are to ours. You know that the alien-body needs food for energy, and at certain points she looks for food and eats it. But you want to know whether she feels hungry. What would you ask her?

Key Concepts Sheet! Qualia Explanation Qualia is the Latin term used to refer to the phenomenological aspects of conscious experience, the ‘what it is like to be’ in a certain conscious state. These properties are subjective (the inner feel of an experience): they can be thought of as our particular points of view or as our personal experience of the world around us, and, it is argued, what is subjective (conscious experience) cannot be reduced to what is objective (physical existence). We might say that while we can know everything there is to know about the physicality of another person, we cannot know what it is like to be that person. The study of the consciousness from the first person point of view. Key Concepts Sheet! “This is going to suck for Bob” We may be able to observe the effect this has on Bobs body (blisters), we may be able to see the nerves firing in his brain (signifying pain) we may even hear him scream out and swear loudly. But do we really know what it is like for Bob to feel this pain?

Qualia Explanation In short we can say that Qualia are features of mental states that are: Introspectively accessible (accessed by looking inside yourself) and subjective (“What it is like”).

Qualia Explanation Thomas Nagel, in an article entitled ‘What is it like to be a bat?’ claims that, in order for something to have conscious mental states, there must be something that it is like to be that thing. For example, that bats have conscious mental states is to say that there is something that it is like to be a bat. We can deduce that, since a bat’s perceptual apparatus is very different from our own, what it is like to be a bat must be very different from what it is like to be a human being. However, what we cannot do is to deduce, purely from the differences in physical characteristics, exactly what the mental characteristics will be. We cannot, in other words, deduce the phenomenology of a bat’s world. It seems to follow from this that qualia are private to each individual.

Don’t have intentionality What does this all mean? The problem then appears to be that physical brain states and mental brain states have very different characteristics. This seems to suggest that they are clearly two different things. Physical states Mental states Public Private Fallible Infallible Spatial Non-spatial Permanent Transient Follow laws Lawless/ Anomalous Don’t have qualia Have qualia Don’t have intentionality Have intentionality

What does this all mean? The problem then appears to be that physical brain states and mental brain states have very different characteristics. This seems to suggest that they are clearly two different things. For a lot of people (scientists and philosophers) this does not seem right. They believe we are only physical things, there is no mysterious non-physical element to our existence. But the differences do not support this theory. This is known as the mind-body problem.

Where are we going with this? There are a number of possible responses to the mind-body problem (the observation that the mind and body seem to have completely different properties): These are what we will be discussing and examining throughout the Philosophy of Mind topic.

What are qualia? (3 marks) EXAMple question What are qualia? (3 marks)

How good is your answer? Which is the best? Why? A: Qualia are mental states that are “about” other things, for example I might have a feeling “about” pain or a thought “about” a bat. They are subjective and personal. B: Qualia are kinds of mental state that are personal, subjective and can only be accessed by the person having them. They are the “what it is like” to have a particular feeling. For example, if Bob burns his hand, his feeling of pain can only be accessed by him, I do not know “what it is like” for Bob to be in pain because his feeling of pain may be entirely different from mine (he may not even be feeling pain). This feeling of pain is Qualia. How good is your answer? C: Qualia are the “what it is like” characteristic of mental states. The way it feels to have mental states such as pain or sadness. They are entirely subjective and only accessible internally to the person having them (introspectively accessible).

Quick Recap How many differences between the physical and the mental can you list from yesterday without looking at your notes?

Don’t have intentionality The Mind-Body Problem The mind–body problem is the problem of explaining how mental states, events and processes—like beliefs, actions and thinking—are related to the physical states, events and processes, given that the human body is a physical entity and the mind is non-physical. This is established through looking at the respective properties of the physical and the mental. Physical states Mental states Public Private Fallible Infallible Spatial Non-spatial Permanent Transient Follow laws Lawless/ Anomalous Don’t have qualia Have qualia Don’t have intentionality Have intentionality

Tasks Use the list on the right to create a mind-map (pictures only) of the ways mental states are different to brain states. You can use two words maximum for each picture (not counting the keyword itself) Mental states Private Infallible Non-spatial Transient Lawless / Anomalous Have qualia Have intentionality Write a paragraph explaining the mind-body problem. Use at least 3 of the things in your mind-map as examples. Summarise Nagel’s “What it is like to be a bat” and how it explains what Qualia are. Use your handout to help you. This can be done in pictures or writing.

Possible Responses The main body of the Philosophy of Mind is made up of possible responses to these questions, there are a number of possibilities: 4th Possibility: Idealism – You may have touched on this last year, any ideas?