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Pg 80-86: Self, death and Afterlife# - Coggle Diagram
Pg 80-86: Self, death and Afterlife#
What is functionalism?
a belief wherein the mind is a function and mental states are identified by their functional role
Well what does that actually mean?
It is a theory that has derived from cognitive science, think of the mind as an information-processing system Link Title
Thermostat example: functionalists compare the mind to a thermostat
IT operates like this: INPUT -> FUNCTION -> OUTPUT
Therefore our minds operate in the same way - the significance lies in the role of the mental state, not what it is composed of
Understanding 'multiple realisability'Definition: the argument that minds/mental states can run on a variety of platforms including computers Clock analogy:
Function: is to tell the time
But we have a variety of different clocks
- mechanical
- digital
- water clock
(but they all serve the same function)
thus, applied to minds- the platforms minds can run are equally varied mental states can be "multiply realised" through human brains or non-biological systems like computersCOMPUTER EXAMPLE: the input, function and output process remains the same
- if a robot felt pain it could be programmed to react in the same way we would!
In sum, functionalism:
- invents mental substance to explain the mind
- mental states consist of sensory inputs and behavioural outputs
- human minds might be seen as powerful biological computers
DOES FUNCTIONALISM SHOW THAT CARTESIAN DUALISM IS FALSE?
- Functionalism proves many problems with Descartes' dualism
- if mental substance and physical substance are different, there is no way they can interact
( HOW CAN A NON-PHYSICAL MIND INFLUENCE A PHYSICAL BODY)
- DUALISM IN SOME FORM A VALID OPTION
- IT HAS UNDENIABLE RELIGIOUS SIGNIFICANCE, MANY RELIGIONS BELIEVE IN THE SOUL (ALMOST ALL)
-EVIDENCE IN NDE'S
- HARD PROBLEM OF CONSCIOUSNESS IS NOT YET SOLVED
THE 'QUALIA ARGUMENT'- IT MEANS WHAT SORT/KIND of subjective, conscious experience.
EXAMPLE OF SUCH SUBJECTIVENESS: Wittgenstein says try and describe the smell of coffee
problem is the disconnect between our brain and the qualia we experience
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Thomas Nagel - What it is like to be a bat? - All animals and mammals have subjective experiences which are alien to us. It is unimaginable to feel the way a bat would.
We cannot fathom the way a bat feels, its conscious experiences are completely unimaginable to us
Whatever organism we are talking about, cannot be reduced to just its conscious or subjective experiences
Nagel rejects reductionist and purely physicalist explanations of consciousness. He believes that consciousness is something uniquely subjective and that any objective scientific approach will always leave out something essential—namely, what it feels like to be a conscious being. Therefore, he argues that any complete theory of the mind must account for subjective experience, not just objective physical processes.
Dual Aspect Monism
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First-Person (Mental Aspect): Subjective experience (qualia), e.g., the taste of chocolate.
Third-Person (Physical Aspect): Observable brain activity, e.g., MRI scans.
Key Idea: Objective analysis of the brain does not reveal subjective experiences.
Think of a coin. One side is "heads," the other is "tails," but they are part of the same coin. Similarly, mind (thoughts, emotions) and brain (neurons, electrical activity) are just two ways to look at the same thing.