1. Describing Mental States
Write a paragraph explaining the mind-body problem. Use at least 3 examples of differences between the physical and the mental.
The mind-body problem is the question of what type of thing the mind is, given that the mental seems to have different characteristics when compared to the physical. This would suggest they are two different things.
One quick way to state the problem is this: what is the relationship between the mind and the body -- between the mental realm (the realm of thoughts, beliefs, pains, sensations, emotions) and the physical realm (matter, atoms, neurons).

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

3. 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).

4. 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

5. 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.

6. A Separate Mind…
Suppose one member of your class were to relate a story of how they had an experience last night of leaving their body. They were able to float up, look down on her motionless body and rise up through the ceiling, through the attic and out above the roofs. From there they could fly anywhere they pleased. After a while they went back to their room, returned to their body and fell asleep. These experiences are not uncommon. But do they provide us with evidence for the view that the mind and body are two distinct “things”? Now try to imagine yourself without a body, as a disembodied consciousness or pure soul. To do this, you might imagine opening your eyes on morning to find you cannot see your body. Thinking you may be invisible, you try to touch yourself, but find you have no hands to move. Is this possible to imagine? What difficulties do you encounter?

7. Early Dualism
We’re going to start with the view that the body and mind are two distinct separate “things”- a view known as dualism.
Dualism has a long history, with one of it’s earliest proponents (at least philosophically) being Plato.
Plato believed that the virtuous soul would be rewarded by living a better life after bodily death (sound familiar?). He spoke of the soul surviving death and facing the crossroads of judgement.
He later argued that death is not something a philosopher should fear, instead it is our soul escaping our body to potential punishment or reward.

8. Descartes
A later version of dualism comes from Descartes and is based around his “Cogito”.
Name: Rene Descartes
Dates:
Important Facts: Known as the “Father of modern philosophy” as much of subsequent Western thought is in response to his writings.
Influential mathematician.
French
Died because he got up too early.
Key Idea: Cogito Ergo Sum (I think, therefore I am)

9. Attractions?
Is there anything particularly attractive about Descartes view that ‘I’ am a thinking thing and nothing more?
Our mind can survive the altering of our body, loss of a limb or an organ does not necessarily mean our mind will automatically be effected as well.
Even our brain being changed does not automatically mean our minds will also change.
Our mind can survive the death of our body, if it is just a thinking thing and nothing else then it is not dependent on the body to exist.
It fits with traditional religious views of the soul and examples of out-of-body experiences.
Crucially then - As long as you have consciousness you can say categorically that “you” exist somewhere.

10. Descartes Dualism
So for Descartes, the idea that the mind (which cannot be doubted) and the body (which can be doubted) are two separate things is fairly obvious. He gives a number of arguments towards this view that we will be looking at next week.

11. Substance Dualism
Descartes view becomes known as substance dualism. A substance is an entity that does not specifically rely on anything else e.g. atoms.
These substances can possess properties that do rely on them to exist.
A neon atom (substance) for example is non-reactive (property).
For Descartes the physical and the mental are two distinct substances each with their own properties, neither relies on the other to exist.

12. Copy and Complete…
A ____________ is something that does not depend or rely on anything else to exist.
A ___________ is something that relies on a __________ to exist.
____________ dualism is the view that there are two distinct types of substance in reality – __________ and ___________.
A major proponent of ___________Dualism was ____________who believed that we could doubt everything except our existence as a thinking thing. This is known as “________ ______ _____” or “I think, therefore I am”.
He believed that because we could doubt our _______ (physical) but not our __________ (mental) it showed that they were two distinct ____________ (dualism).

13. Copy and Complete…
A substance is something that does not depend or rely on anything else to exist.
A property is something that relies on a substance to exist.
Substance dualism is the view that there are two distinct types of substance in reality – physical and mental.
A major proponent of Substance Dualism was Descartes who believed that we could doubt everything except our existence as a thinking thing. This is known as “Cogito Ergo Sum” or “I think, therefore I am”.
He believed that because we could doubt our bodies (physical) but not our thoughts (mental) it showed that they were two distinct substances (dualism).

14. The brain and the mind are essentially the same thing…
Opinion Line…
The brain and the mind are essentially the same thing…

15. There is nothing more than the physical in the universe…
Opinion Line…
There is nothing more than the physical in the universe…

16. Opinion Line…
The mind is mental and a separate substance to the physical side of us…