What is a mind How do mind and

What is a mind? How do mind and body interact? Are mental states identical to physical states? How can mental states affect what we do with our bodies? How can a physical process give rise to a conscious experience?

• this is the mind – body problem • puzzle of the relationship between the mind and the body

What kind of things are we? view 1 – we are souls housed in bodies • DUALISM view 2 – we are bodies, complex physical organisms • MATERIALISM

4 obvious common sense facts 1. you have a mind a body 2. your body is physical • your body has certain characteristics: height, weight, hair color, eye color • it is made of matter which occupies space • what you do with your body is public and observable (other people can see you raise your arm)

3. your mind is non-physical • your mind has certain characteristics: thoughts, perceptions, emotions, memories, hopes, fears, self-awareness • mind is not made up of matter and does not occupy space • what is in your mind is private and internal • nobody else can get in there (other people cannot know what you see when you see a sunset)

4. your mind and your body work together a. mental events cause physical events • but how can a mental experience (desiring a candy) cause a physical event (moving your arm)? b. physical events cause mental events • but how can a physical event cause a conscious experience?

what must reality be like for bodies and minds to work this way?

DUALISM • human beings = physical body + non-physical soul • body and soul are separable • soul is essence of a person

What souls are • immaterial (not made up of matter) • substance (an individual thing that has certain powers or properties)

What souls do • contain consciousness – contain mind • have psychological powers • thinking • sensing • feeling • planning and choosing • remembering • make human beings different from animals

How souls and bodies interact 1. events in mind cause events in body • feel embarrassed blush 2. events in body cause events in mind • hit finger with hammer feel pain

Arguments for dualism 1. Soul (mind) is not brain (body) • if two things are identical – if they are the same thing – then anything true of one must be true of the other • but the mind and the brain have different properties – so they can’t be the same

a) brain processes have a location in space – but thoughts don’t (my desire for ice cream is not to the left of my belief in a round earth) b) brain processes are public (because they are physical) but thoughts are private • you can’t feel the pain in my hand or know what the color red looks like to me

• mental states (fears, pains, desires, beliefs) are not physical brain events (neurons firing) Conclusion: body and mind (soul) are not the same thing

2. Soul is subject of conscious awareness – the container or medium of mental states • we are aware of ourselves as a single me having many different experiences • there is one single you hearing teacher, feeling chair, seeing walls, tasting candy • this “experiencer” is the soul – the thing where this unified experience occurs (like a TV screen is the thing where images appear)

• thoughts and the thinker of those thoughts are not the same Conclusion: body and mind (soul) are not the same thing

Problem of body – mind interaction • if the mental and the physical realms are totally different kinds of things, then they cannot possibly interact with each other • how does a physical event like being pinched cause a non-physical feeling of pain in mind? • how does a non-physical thought “I want an apple” cause a physical neuron to fire in brain?

• interaction between body and mind can’t be physical (since soul is non-physical) • interaction between body and mind can’t be non-physical (since brain is physical) Conclusion: dualism has to be wrong

Dualism and LAD • at death, soul separates from body and continues existing

dualism allows three afterlife possibilities 1. the soul leaves the body and lives on as a soul 2. the soul leaves the body but is eventually reunited with it 3. the soul leaves the body and is reincarnated in another creature

MATERIALISM • human beings = physical body • we are composed of only one substance – a physical body • there is no non-physical soul • brain processes (which cause consciousness) are essence of person

• mental states are identical to brain states • science has discovered that one kind of thing often consists in something else • water just is H 20 • heat just is molecular movement • we don’t have 2 different things – we have 1 single thing referred to by 2 different names • in same way, pain just is neurons firing

Arguments for materialism 1. Scientific research connects mental states with brain processes • consciousness and mental activity depend on a properly-functioning brain • neurons firing in different patterns cause all mental states (smells, emotions, thoughts)

• damage to brain affects consciousness, memory, emotion, planning, thinking • specific parts of brain perform specific functions and tasks (e. g. David’s localized brain damage) • putting chemicals in brain affects mind (depression, drunkenness) • no higher brain function = no consciousness (e. g. Paul Brophy in PVS)

• there is no extra part – a soul – that accounts for consciousness, only the brain Conclusion: brain and mind (consciousness) are the same thing

2. Evolutionary continuity of human beings and animals • human uniqueness IS NOT having a special part (soul), but IS having special abilities (self-awareness, emotion, language, reasoning, creativity, morality, free will) • these abilities do not belong to a soul but are caused by and depend on huge assembly of nerve cells in the brain’s cerebral cortex

• consciousness and mental abilities appear when physical brain reaches high level of complexity (in evolutionary scale or fetal development) • higher brain complexity higher mental abilities • dogs vs. humans • infants vs. adults

• in both human and non-human animals consciousness depends on functioning brains Conclusion: brain and mind (consciousness) are the same thing

Problem of consciousness • idea that brain and mind are the same leaves out something important – conscious experiences have a qualitative feel (there is something it is like for me when I see color yellow or taste coffee) • the subjectivity of conscious experience is an additional element above and beyond the objective physical state of brain

• I cannot know what is happening in someone’s mind by knowing what is happening in their brain • e. g. bats and echo-location • e. g. blind scientist and color perception • knowing that brain area 1 goes with conscious experience A does not mean knowing why or how it happens

• how can brain states (chemical and electrical processes) create mental states (sensations, thoughts, feelings)? • even if mental states depend on brain activity (which is undeniable), they aren’t identical things Conclusion: materialism has to be wrong

Materialism and LAD • at death consciousness is annihilated • when brain stops functioning, consciousness is destroyed

materialism allows two afterlife possibilities 1. there is no soul – the body dies and the person is destroyed forever 2. there is no soul – the body dies then is resurrected

Summary • LAD is possible on both views of human nature 1. Dualism • if we are souls, LAD is possible (disembodied soul or soul reunited with resurrected or new body) 2. Materialism • if we are only bodies, LAD is possible (recreated body with same consciousness)