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The philosophy of mind is a very pertinent field of reflection today, since it addresses one of the great enigmas of humanity: the human mind.
philosophy of mind is a branch that studies the nature of mental phenomena (thoughts, perceptions, feelings, etc.) and its relationship with the physical body (especially the brain). In other words, it focuses on explaining how the mind—a supposedly immaterial phenomenon—influences a material body, and vice versa.
For this, different positions have emerged that try to explain this questioning. Of these, dualism and monism are listed as the most important. Do you want to know more about it? Next, we detail why it is so important for the development of cognitive sciences and for the understanding of the human being.
Philosophy of mind: what does it consist of?
philosophy of mind raises general questions about the nature of mental phenomena, as the following:
- The thoughts.
- The emotions.
- The memory.
- The sensory experience.
Now, it is pertinent to make a distinction between the philosophical questions of this branch and the questions that more empirical approaches, such as experimental psychology or neuroscience, try to answer, which crucially depend on the results of observation. In other words, despite the fact that these disciplines deal with the same issues, it must be taken into account that the approach of each one is different.
For example, empirical psychologists often study contingent facts about real people and animals, like discovering that a certain chemical is released only when experiencing fear; or that a certain region of the brain is activated when suffering some pain.
Instead, philosophy of mind wants to know whether releasing that chemical, or having the brain activated in a certain region, is essential to feeling fear or pain. Therefore, questions such as the following are asked:
- Would beings that lack that particular brain chemical or design be unable to experience such experiences?
- Is it possible that something has such experiences and is not composed of the same matter, as in the case of machines?
In asking these questions, philosophers not only think about the remote possibilities of divine entities or extraterrestrial creatures (whose physical constitutions would be very different from those of humans), but that they also consider closer realities, such as the possibility that computers are capable of thinking.
However, this does not mean that the contingent findings of empirical science are not relevant to philosophical speculation about the mind. In fact, many philosophers think that scientific research can reveal the essence or nature of many mental phenomena that until now remain an enigma.
The mind-body problem
The central theme of philosophy of mind is the “mind-body” problem. Therefore, it tries to explain how these two entities —one immaterial and the other material— relate to each other and influence each other.
Among the most accepted explanations, we find dualism and monism, two currents of thought that in turn are divided into several perspectives. Let’s look at the most influential.
Dualism
It is the position that argues that the mind and body are categorically separate from each other. Also, that mental phenomena are non-physical in nature in some respects.
This tradition dates back to Plato and Aristotle, but was formulated more precisely by René Descartes in the 17th century. He was the first to clearly identify the mind with consciousness, and distinguish it from the brain, the physical seat of intelligence. Within dualism we can distinguish two main perspectives.
Substance dualism (or Cartesian dualism)
It holds that the mind is a substance that exists independently of the physical body. In this way, the mental has no extension in space and the material cannot think.
This is the dualism popularly defended by Descartes. It is compatible with most theologies that claim that immortal souls exist in a “realm” independent of the physical world.
property dualism
It defends that the mind is a set of independent properties that emerge from the brain, but that it is not a substance other than matter. Thus, when matter is organized in the proper way (as in living human bodies), mental properties emerge.
Monism
For its part, monism defends that the mind and the body are not ontologically distinct entities. It was first advocated in Western philosophy by Parmenides (5th century BC) and Baruch Spinoza (XVII century). Within this position, the following perspectives stand out.
Physicalism or materialistic monism
The physicalism he argues that the mind is a purely physical construct and that it will eventually be fully explained by the empirical sciences as it continues to evolve. With the great advances in science in the 20th century, this position has become the dominant doctrine.
non-reductive physicalism
He argues that although the brain is all there is to the mind, the vocabulary used in mental descriptions and explanations cannot be reduced to the language of physical science.
A) Yes, mental states depend on physical states, but are not reducible to them. In this way, there can be no change in the mental, without some change in the physical.
Idealism
It holds that the mind is all that exists. Therefore, the external world is mental in itself or an illusion created by the mind. Therefore, the problem of the interaction between the mind and the body is not a problem at all.
neutral monism
It suggests that existence consists of one type of primary substance (hence monism), which is itself neither mental nor physical, but is capable of producing attributes of both types.
Therefore, there is some other neutral substance (named in different ways: “substance”, “nature” or “God”); and both matter and mind are properties of this other unknown substance.
Importance of philosophy of mind
As we can see, the philosophy of mind is a very pertinent field of reflection in our days, since addresses one of the great enigmas of humanity, the human mind.
In this way, we can have a greater understanding of the human being and the world around us. In fact, the explanatory theories offered by philosophers of mind have contributed to the theoretical development of cognitive science.
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