1. How do you know you have a mind? How do you know the person next to you has a mind? What is a mind? psychlotron.org.uk

2. Today we will… Examine the mind-body problem Distinguish between what people mean by ‘mind’ and ‘body’ Discuss some different approaches to the mind-body relationship including: Cartesian dualism Materialism (mind-brain identity) Emergentism psychlotron.org.uk

3. What is the difference between ‘brain’ and ‘mind’? First person ontology I have sensations, thoughts, feelings, intentions… Third person ontology A person is a body with a brain that behaves in particular ways… psychlotron.org.uk

4. Mental states Are conscious They involve a subjective experience of thinking, perceiving, imagining etc. Are private They are not open to inspection by anyone other than the person who has them Have ‘intentionality’ Are always ‘about’ something psychlotron.org.uk

5. The mind-body problem How can we account for the existence of both first and third-person ontologies? “How can a thing have a point of view?” (Dennett, 2005) psychlotron.org.uk

6. Cartesian dualism Rene Descartes (1641) Physical Mechanistic Non-physical Free-willed Pineal gland Body res extensa Mind res cogitans psychlotron.org.uk

7. Cartesian dualism Is it possible for something non-physical to affect something physical? Is it legitimate to use the action of God in a solution to the mind-body problem? psychlotron.org.uk

8. Materialism Mind-brain identity theory Mental states are brain states. Brain activity is necessary and sufficient to explain mental activity (Place, 1956). psychlotron.org.uk

9. Materialism What evidence can we put forward to support the view that mental states are brain states? psychlotron.org.uk

10. Materialism What does the materialist view imply about free will? If we provide a complete account of the brain processes that give rise to consciousness, will the mind-body problem have been solved? psychlotron.org.uk

11. Emergentism O HH Liquidity Wetness Transparency Water molecule psychlotron.org.uk

12. Emergentism A ‘plan’ for the termite mound is not held by any individual termite psychlotron.org.uk

13. Emergentism Conscious experience An individual neurone is not conscious, but 100,000,000,000 neurones interacting in certain ways may give rise to consciousness as an emergent property psychlotron.org.uk

14. An ‘emergentist’ is just a dualist who is too embarrassed to use the word ‘soul’. Discuss. psychlotron.org.uk

15. ‘Yes, we have a soul. But it is made of lots of tiny robots.’ (Dennett, 2005) psychlotron.org.uk