Filosofie en psychologie hoorcollege 1 04-09-2024
This course
Part 1: philosophy of mind
Part 2: philosophy of science
Today
Philosophy of Mind
• Might ask yourself: why do I need to learn anything about philosophy of mind?
- Doesn’t come as a big surprise that philosophy of mind is about the particular kind of
subject of what psychology is about
- Because psychology seems to be: the science of the mind
- Question to ask: what exactly is this kind of research subject that psychology is a science
of?
• So, if psychology is the scientific study of the human mind, its structure and functions
→ What actually is the mind? (= central question that all philosophy of mind is about)
• The mind
- Quite special thing - different from organisms like arms, legs, heart, (can make
good/clear definitions about these things) → trickier with the mind
- The mind makes us the person we are
- When trying to approach what the ‘mind’ is → commonly used as an umbrella term
referring to all states, processes, events, and capacities that we call ‘mental’:
Perceptions seeing, smelling
Bodily sensations hunger, thirst, pain
Emotions anger, love, grief
Beliefs ‘Paris is capital of France’
Desires ‘I want ice cream’
Intentions ‘I will move to Amsterdam’
Reasoning ‘if x, then y’
Memory & imagination memory & imagination
But this is still quite vague and circular characterization
• Central aim of philosophy of mind:
- Define what the mind is
- Define who we consider to be minded
Adult humans, infants, animals, machines
→ Often say adult humans are minded
→ what about infants? Long time said they’re not minded, not anymore now
→ do we think all animals are minded? Or are they minded in different ways? Bee
just as minded as a cow?
→ with machines: do artificial intelligence possess the mind? Or do they just possess
capacities that pretend to be like their minded
- Define what individual mental states are (do they actually exist?)
Beliefs, emotions, imagination
, - Define which properties mental states can have
Conscious vs. unconscious
→ do we believe mental states can be only conscious or unconscious?
- Study the internal structure of the mind
Which kind of relations exist between different kind of mental states
→ do we believe that our perception and our beliefs are really distinct processes? Or
is there one big dynamic process where these aspects are directly interacting?
- Fathom the possibility to explain the mind in scientific terms
→ so, the possibility of investigating the mind scientifically, with objective measures
that we use in empirical sciences
• Mind-Body Problem
- One of most central problems in philosophy of mind
- It has two premises:
1. We have a mind
2. We have a body
- The mind has characteristics that the body doesn’t have, and vice versa
Examples:
Some mental states are conscious and have a particular phenomenal quality
Example: pain and itch
➢ There is a certain feeling to what it is like to have pain, or to eat chocolate, to
be really angry
➢ These are properties (likeness, phenomenal aspects of consciousness) →
only seems to be property of the mind, not of our bodies
Some mental states have intentionality → they are about something
Example: believe that there is a table in front of me
- Is there a real difference between mind and body? Which difference is it?
If there’s a real difference → how can they possibly relate to each other
If there’s no real difference → how can we understand the minds as past of the
natural (tastbare) world?
- In general, two options:
1. Either, you accept that these two are fundamentally different
→ than you have to explain how these can exist at the same time and how they
interact while they’re so fundamentally different
2. Or you assume that body and mind are not different
→ explain why mind with these weird properties fit into the naturalistic world
The Mind-Body Problem in Psychology
- Do mental states and processes belong to a different realm of reality than the
physical realm studied by the natural sciences?
, - Why is Mind-Body Problem relevant for psychology? Different than all the other
sciences → who are all interested in matter (physics, biology)
- Is psychology the study of the physical realm? Is psychology a natural science?
How does psychology relate to other sciences, such as neuroscience?
- Answering the Mind-Body Problem: different psychological theories and frameworks
There is nothing but the body/brain
There is nothing but the mind
Body and mind exist in parallel
Body and mind interact
The Mind-Body Problem in Philosophy
- We are looking at several theories concerning the relationship between mind and
brain, body and environment and how they relate to psychology
- First question: How many substances exist? Is there only one realm of reality or two?
Substance dualists: properties between mind and body (matter) are so big, that
these has to be two completely different things
Two different realms of reality / two different substances
Substance monists: think there’s only one thing in the world: either it’s mind or it’s
matter
One realm of reality
Substance dualism
• Intuitions on Substance Dualism
• Substance Dualism in religion and everyday life
- Substance dualism core of many religions → body and soul are distinct: when body
dies, soul lives on
- Some authors argue that substance dualism the natural position of most people
towards the relation of mind and body (that mind and body can at least exist
independently)
→ not religious arguments
→ but, only interested on rational argumentation and (relatively) clear concepts
And to do this: look at substance dualism in philosophy, especially how Descartes
defended it (see him almost everywhere when talking about philosophy of mind and
philosophy of science)
, • Substance dualism in Philosophy
- Humans consist of two substances:
An immaterial soul
And a material body
- Mind and body are two different substances:
Two different ‘building blocks’ of reality that
can in principle exist independently
- Substance dualism:
Mind and body are two independent substances → thus, mind and body are not one
and the same thing
They are distinct and as such can have different properties
- Implication for psychology:
Psychology has a unique study area that’s in a relevant sense independent from
natural science (like, brain science)
• Arguments for substance dualism
- Most arguments rely on Leibniz’ Law: The Identity of Indiscernibles
If x = y → x and y have the exact same properties
If x and y do not have the same properties → x ≠ y
Mind and body have different properties → Mind ≠ Body
Do mind and body have different properties?
- Arguments:
This course
Part 1: philosophy of mind
Part 2: philosophy of science
Today
Philosophy of Mind
• Might ask yourself: why do I need to learn anything about philosophy of mind?
- Doesn’t come as a big surprise that philosophy of mind is about the particular kind of
subject of what psychology is about
- Because psychology seems to be: the science of the mind
- Question to ask: what exactly is this kind of research subject that psychology is a science
of?
• So, if psychology is the scientific study of the human mind, its structure and functions
→ What actually is the mind? (= central question that all philosophy of mind is about)
• The mind
- Quite special thing - different from organisms like arms, legs, heart, (can make
good/clear definitions about these things) → trickier with the mind
- The mind makes us the person we are
- When trying to approach what the ‘mind’ is → commonly used as an umbrella term
referring to all states, processes, events, and capacities that we call ‘mental’:
Perceptions seeing, smelling
Bodily sensations hunger, thirst, pain
Emotions anger, love, grief
Beliefs ‘Paris is capital of France’
Desires ‘I want ice cream’
Intentions ‘I will move to Amsterdam’
Reasoning ‘if x, then y’
Memory & imagination memory & imagination
But this is still quite vague and circular characterization
• Central aim of philosophy of mind:
- Define what the mind is
- Define who we consider to be minded
Adult humans, infants, animals, machines
→ Often say adult humans are minded
→ what about infants? Long time said they’re not minded, not anymore now
→ do we think all animals are minded? Or are they minded in different ways? Bee
just as minded as a cow?
→ with machines: do artificial intelligence possess the mind? Or do they just possess
capacities that pretend to be like their minded
- Define what individual mental states are (do they actually exist?)
Beliefs, emotions, imagination
, - Define which properties mental states can have
Conscious vs. unconscious
→ do we believe mental states can be only conscious or unconscious?
- Study the internal structure of the mind
Which kind of relations exist between different kind of mental states
→ do we believe that our perception and our beliefs are really distinct processes? Or
is there one big dynamic process where these aspects are directly interacting?
- Fathom the possibility to explain the mind in scientific terms
→ so, the possibility of investigating the mind scientifically, with objective measures
that we use in empirical sciences
• Mind-Body Problem
- One of most central problems in philosophy of mind
- It has two premises:
1. We have a mind
2. We have a body
- The mind has characteristics that the body doesn’t have, and vice versa
Examples:
Some mental states are conscious and have a particular phenomenal quality
Example: pain and itch
➢ There is a certain feeling to what it is like to have pain, or to eat chocolate, to
be really angry
➢ These are properties (likeness, phenomenal aspects of consciousness) →
only seems to be property of the mind, not of our bodies
Some mental states have intentionality → they are about something
Example: believe that there is a table in front of me
- Is there a real difference between mind and body? Which difference is it?
If there’s a real difference → how can they possibly relate to each other
If there’s no real difference → how can we understand the minds as past of the
natural (tastbare) world?
- In general, two options:
1. Either, you accept that these two are fundamentally different
→ than you have to explain how these can exist at the same time and how they
interact while they’re so fundamentally different
2. Or you assume that body and mind are not different
→ explain why mind with these weird properties fit into the naturalistic world
The Mind-Body Problem in Psychology
- Do mental states and processes belong to a different realm of reality than the
physical realm studied by the natural sciences?
, - Why is Mind-Body Problem relevant for psychology? Different than all the other
sciences → who are all interested in matter (physics, biology)
- Is psychology the study of the physical realm? Is psychology a natural science?
How does psychology relate to other sciences, such as neuroscience?
- Answering the Mind-Body Problem: different psychological theories and frameworks
There is nothing but the body/brain
There is nothing but the mind
Body and mind exist in parallel
Body and mind interact
The Mind-Body Problem in Philosophy
- We are looking at several theories concerning the relationship between mind and
brain, body and environment and how they relate to psychology
- First question: How many substances exist? Is there only one realm of reality or two?
Substance dualists: properties between mind and body (matter) are so big, that
these has to be two completely different things
Two different realms of reality / two different substances
Substance monists: think there’s only one thing in the world: either it’s mind or it’s
matter
One realm of reality
Substance dualism
• Intuitions on Substance Dualism
• Substance Dualism in religion and everyday life
- Substance dualism core of many religions → body and soul are distinct: when body
dies, soul lives on
- Some authors argue that substance dualism the natural position of most people
towards the relation of mind and body (that mind and body can at least exist
independently)
→ not religious arguments
→ but, only interested on rational argumentation and (relatively) clear concepts
And to do this: look at substance dualism in philosophy, especially how Descartes
defended it (see him almost everywhere when talking about philosophy of mind and
philosophy of science)
, • Substance dualism in Philosophy
- Humans consist of two substances:
An immaterial soul
And a material body
- Mind and body are two different substances:
Two different ‘building blocks’ of reality that
can in principle exist independently
- Substance dualism:
Mind and body are two independent substances → thus, mind and body are not one
and the same thing
They are distinct and as such can have different properties
- Implication for psychology:
Psychology has a unique study area that’s in a relevant sense independent from
natural science (like, brain science)
• Arguments for substance dualism
- Most arguments rely on Leibniz’ Law: The Identity of Indiscernibles
If x = y → x and y have the exact same properties
If x and y do not have the same properties → x ≠ y
Mind and body have different properties → Mind ≠ Body
Do mind and body have different properties?
- Arguments:
