L ECTURE 9: M ATERIALISM

T ODAY ’ S L ECTURE In Today’s Lecture we will: 1.Briefly recap our investigation into the mind-body problem 2.Outline and become introduced to the concept of Materialism 3.Examine and discuss three materialistic theories of the mind: I.Behaviorism II.The Mind-Brain Identity Theory III.Functionalism 4.Critique and critically evaluate these theories

R ECAP

So far in phi o We are continuing our investigation into the metaphysical question, what is reality? o We have considered a number of possible answers: o Thales: Reality is composed of water o Plato: Reality is composed of two worlds; Being and Becoming o Descartes & Locke: Reality is composed of physical and mental substances o Berkeley: Reality is composed of ideas or mind o We investigated an important consequence of Descartes’ dualism: The mind-body problem o And a number of attempts to resolve the problem: o Descartes: Tried to find the location in which mind and body interact o Ryle: Denies the problem itself is valid o Berkeley: Reduced reality to one substance; mind

A Dualist View of Reality MentalPhysical Taste of Ice Cream Neurones and Chemicals in the Brain Experience of Seeing something Red Brain Activity in Response to Stimuli Thought About the Cow in the Road Physical and Behavioural Responses Unbridgeable Gap R ECAP

Idealistic Monism Everything in reality is composed of Mind or Ideas Neurones and Chemicals in the Brain Brain Activity in Response to Stimuli Physical and Behavioural Responses Mind/Ideas Thought About the Cow in the Road Experience of Seeing something Red Taste of Ice Cream R ECAP

Materialistic Monism Everything in reality is composed of material (physical) substance Neurones and Chemicals in the Brain Brain Activity in Response to Stimuli Physical and Behavioural Responses Physical Thought About the Cow in the Road Experience of Seeing something Red Taste of Ice Cream R ECAP

M ATERIALISM

Materialists Maintain the Following: Everything in reality is composed of one thing: physical matter Matter exhibits the following properties: Located in space and time ObservableQuantifiableMotionDivisible Everything can be investigated scientifically

M ATERIALISM The implications of Materialism are: There is no thing in reality composed of anything other than matter: Rules out the existence of anything supernatural Minds, beliefs, thoughts, etc. are nothing more than matter There is nothing more to reality than what can be observed This raises some important questions: What is the ontological status of mental events? Are mental events entirely reducible to physical events? If distinct, how can we explain their causality?

M ATERIALISM Mechanistic Materialism Maintained that humans are composed entirely of physical matter All matter is governed by physical, causal laws of nature All human actions are, therefore, governed by causal laws of nature The consequence is that the universe, including humans and animals is one big machine

M ATERIALISM Laws of Nature 1.A body remains at rest or in motion with a constant velocity unless acted on by an outside force 2.The sum of the forces acting on a body is equal to the product of its mass and acceleration 3.For every action there is an equal opposite reaction To be continued next lecture...

B EHAVIOURISM

B EHAVIORISM Behaviorism maintains: All statements about an individual’s mental life can be translated into statements about observable behaviors. Anything else is mere nonsense. Behaviorism comes in three forms: Soft Behaviorism Hard Behaviorism Logical Behaviorism

B EHAVIORISM Soft Behaviorism o Does not deny or affirm the existence of mental events o Limits its inquiries to observable, describable and quantifiable behaviors Logical Behaviorism o Advocated by philosophers such as Gilbert Ryle o Questions the logic of ‘mental’ language, not the ontological status of the mind or mental events

B EHAVIORISM Hard Behaviorism o Defended by the psychologist B.F. Skinner o Maintains that there is nothing beyond behavior, atoms in motion, laws of physics etc. o Denies the existence of the mind, mental events, thoughts etc. Man is not made into a machine by analyzing his behavior in mechanical terms. Early theories of behavior, as we have seen, represented man as a push-pull automaton, close to the nineteenth- century notion of a machine, but progress has been made. Man is a machine in the sense that he is a complex system behaving in lawful ways, but the complexity is extraordinary. His capacity to adjust to contingencies of reinforcement will perhaps be eventually simulated by machines, but this has not yet been done, and the living system thus simulated will remain unique in other ways. (Textbook, p 151)

Hard Behaviorism There is no such thing as the mind, mental events, thoughts etc. Neurones and Chemicals in the Brain Brain Activity in Response to Stimuli Physical and Behavioural Responses Physical Thought About the Cow in the Road Experience of Seeing something Red Taste of Ice Cream R ECAP

T HE M IND -B RAIN I DENTITY T HEORY

I DENTITY T HEORY The Mind-Brain Identity Theory Maintains Mental states (thoughts, sensations etc.) are identical to brain states X = Y Does not deny the existence of mental states Mental language refers to real entities These entities are neurological states Mental StatesBrain states = Activity in R1Thought about chair Neuron firing C1 Experience of seeing red Chemical event P Remembering an old tune

I DENTITY T HEORY Some Identity Relationships Water Water is composed of two parts hydrogen one part oxygen (H 2 O) Lightning Lightning is an electrical discharge from cloud to cloud to surface The Morning Star The morning star is the evening star George Orwell (Author of 1984) George Orwell is Eric Arthur Blair

I DENTITY T HEORY Some Mental-Physical Identity Relationships Experience of Eating Ice-Cream Neurological Event X Thought About a Pig in the Road Neurological Event Y Sensation of Pain Neurological Event P Desire to Eat Candy Bar Neurological Event Q

F UNCTIONALISM

Functionalism Minds and Mental States are properties of systems The mind is not a thing, or reducible to any single part of a system A system is any combination of objects that fulfils functions A function is a specific task or process Functions are completed using a process of input and output with reference to mediating inner states Functions include:Carrying out mathematical equations Giving lectures on functionalism Brewing coffee at 6 a.m. Maintaining temperatures

F UNCTIONALISM Multiple Realizability Any system that performs functions has a mind A system can be composed of any combination of objects or materials It does not matter how such functions are carried out

F UNCTIONALISM Mental States Mental States are features of a system They are realized by, but not reducible to, lower level parts of the system Mental states are defined by their causal role within a system Lower Level System Level It is 72 F Today is Tuesday It is 6 a.m. I am hungry I am low on power

F UNCTIONALISM Systems and Functions Would you like a cheeseburger? Am I Hungry? No Input Output System-level Mental States No Thank you Yes Is It Cheese Steak Wednesday? No Yes No thanks I am having a cheese steak for dinner Yes Please!

F UNCTIONALISM Systems and Functions Maintain Room Temperature at 72 F Is room temp above 72 F? Yes Input Output Turn Heater Off No Activate Heaters System-level Mental States Is Heater on? Yes No Heater turned on Do Nothing Temperature Sensor