1. The Mind-Body Problem

2. A World Without Minds Would there be color and sounds?
Would there be space and time?
Would fruit taste sweet and the ocean taste salty?
Would roses be beautiful?
Would there be love?

3. Functions of the Mind To perceive, smell, and touch the world
To have self-awareness
To have dreams, hopes, and fantasies
To feel emotions
To communicate with others
To reason about the world
To store and retrieve memories

4. Three Broad Categories
Theories about the relationship between physical states and mental states fall into three broad categories:
Physicalism
Dualism
Idealism

5. Physicalism
Mental states cannot be easily observed without relying on observation of behavior
The brain and the mind are the very same
Physical states of the body are more fundamental than the mental states of the mind (Example: Mark Twain is a physical entity and Huck Finn is an imaginary character – HF would not exist without MT)
Mental states depend on physical states
Body and mind are ontologically dependent

6. Function of Mind and Body
Some things are material and some are functional.
The mind is a functional concept – it is a mind if it functions appropriately
Computers have minds if they function like minds (they don’t need a “brain”)
Supports the idea of AI
Supporters of functionalism should accept the Turing Test – therefore a computer has a mind

7. Objections to Functionalism
John Searle, best known philosopher to attack functionalism – he presented the Chinese Room argument
Computers are not capable of understanding meaning – genuine minds are
Computers only appear that they have minds – passing the Turing Test is not a sufficient condition for having a mental state

8. Problems with the Chinese Room Argument
Functionalists point out weaknesses in Chinese Room Argument:
Relationship of computer and the chinese room argument may not be as close as Searle conceives - Searle conceived a computer that processes sequentially (unlike the mind)
The experiment might be considered holistically like the brain – my whole brain works together to understand

9. Dualism Mind and body are equally real substances
Minds can exist independently of the body
Minds are “ontologically independent” of bodies
Something irreducibly nonphysical within conscious beings
Most famous proponent was Rene Descartes

10. Arguments for Dualism
Near-death experiences corroborates the notion that the mind can exist outside the body (inductive argument so not absolutely certain)
Conceivability argument: if we can find property of the minds that the body does not have, then the minds and the bodies cannot be the same (Leibniz’s law)

11. More Arguments for Dualism
Intentionality argument: bodies and minds are different because mental states can have intentionality. My mind can conceive of intentions while physical objects cannot, therefore the two must be different. (A tree does not have intentions.)
Minds and bodies are different kinds of entities

12. Criticism of Dualism
Idea of life-after-death is attractive, but the philosopher’s argument must go beyond religion (must be reasonable)
Neurological processes in the brain produce out-of-body experiences
Oxygen deprivation can produce visions and unusual experiences
Anesthetic drugs can produce unusual experiences

13. Problem with Dualism
Dualists put the term “mind” in the wrong category
Don’t confuse mind with brain
Dualists classify minds as substances; however, minds are not real entities but rather refer to certain aspects of our bodies

14. More Criticism of Dualism
Mind and body interact (mind caused the body to act – decide to raise your arm and then you raise your arm)
However, there are instances where your body influences your mind (sit in the sun and you get burned – sensation of pain)
It is difficult to prove that the mind and body do not interact and are independent

15. Idealism Idealism is the reverse of physicalism
Minds are more fundamental than physical bodies
Minds are the fundamental building blocks of the universe

16. Food for Thought Now, how would you respond?
It is possible for my mind to survive the death of my body.
Someday in the future it might be possible to build machines that think.
Someday in the future it might be possible for some crazy scientist to create false memories in my mind by simply injecting certain chemicals into my brain.
Sometime in the future computers might have self-awareness and consciousness. (Yikes!)