Questions tagged [mind-body]
The mind–body problem is the problem of explaining how our mental states, events and processes—like beliefs, actions and thinking—are related to the physical states,events and processes in our bodies, given that the human body is a physical entity and the mind is non-physical.
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What does the "mind-body problem" mean?
I'm confused about what the mind-body problem means. On some accounts the mind-body problem is specific to dualism. The dualist has to explain how the mind, a non-extended substance, interacts with ...
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Is the experience of love evidence that we are more than bodies and brain chemistry?
The motivation for this question comes from part of the transcript of this video:
So what do you think about that?
You can't measure love, hey? So, I would hope that Destiny, a
romantic, would ...
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Are there promising scientific research avenues that could ultimately help resolve the debate on the nature of the mind? [closed]
The nature of the mind and its relationship to the body remains a central topic of debate in the philosophy of mind, as evidenced by overview articles such as:
Wikipedia: Mind–body problem
Britannica:...
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Is mind-body dualism falsifiable?
I've previously asked Is epiphenomenalism falsifiable?, which was well-received, so I’d like to explore a follow-up. Are there any versions of mind-body dualism that make testable predictions, thus ...
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Does idealism allow for thought without any sensory input?
As I understand, idealism is the view that the mind is fundamental and the body as well as the world we perceive are just derivatives of the mind. Is this right?
If so, if we had a hypothetical being,...
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Are neural correlates of consciousness and immortal souls compatible?
Can one be a hard-boiled believer in neural correlates of consciousness and at the same time believe in things like
the immortal soul
reincarnation
telepathy
and if so, which approaches have been ...
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Is there a modern, secular argument for the soul?
In modern times it is common to think the soul is a religious belief. Even though the original arguments for the soul were not religious (e.g. Plato and Aristotle, and more recently Descartes, ...
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Distinction body / individual: was Foucault the first to make it? Did he coin this expression?
You now often hear people talking about the body where one could say the individual or the people ("les gens" in French).
I've found in Foucault's Discipline & punish the following ...
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Private language argument as an argument against the self and so egosim
“The words of this language are to refer to what only the speaker can
know — to his immediate private sensations. So another person cannot
understand the language.”... Immediately after introducing ...
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Is mind-body dualism necessary for mathematical Platonism?
I'm asking whether mathematical Platonism can exist without mind-body dualism because Platonism posits that mathematical objects are abstract, non-physical entities that exist independently of human ...
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Does a break in consciousness mean a death of personhood?
Descartes famously states, "I exist but how often," In this statement, he assumes that in every instance of consciousness, it is him —- the same self —- that exists. If we conceive of ...
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Why do people call the middle finger the "cursing" middle finger? [closed]
Why do people call the middle finger the "cursing" middle finger? Where did that concept originate from?
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Has any philosopher written about how our reasoning relies on subtly incompatible assumptions depending on the kind of question we are asking?
I would like to know whether the following idea has already been formalized by some philosopher:
When we reason about questions for which we assume there is an objective or true answer, we rely ...
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Could you critique my statements below about connection between mind and reality? [closed]
I've thought about reality and how it connects to the mind. Starting from the only thing we can be certain about, our existence, and principle of causality. With those I've come up with the below ...
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Am I not my body?
My intuitive reaction to thought experiments such as described in the following question leaves me thinking I am not my body.
Almost Sure Mind Transfer via Parfit's Identity Theory (interesting ...
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How do Thomists respond to the medical condition of aphantasia?
In Thomistic epistemology having phantasms in the mind is central, out of which the mind extracts a universal, the activity of the active intellect characteristics of rational beings (like us). But ...
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is subjective idealism or solipsism debunked because of the existence of "Brain" and "Surprise"? related to mind- body problem
reading this might help you understand my point
Idealism, Narrative and the Mind-Brain Relation
https://www.jstor.org/stable/44807008
how does someone like Berkeley explain the fact that there is ...
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What are book recommendations on Philosophy of Consciousness by contemporary authors?
I am looking for a book that is more focused on the philosophy of consciousness(rather than general topic of Phil. of Mind) which takes up the hard problem as a major theme. Can you guys give me ...
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Did consciousness always exist?
Speaking of Stuart Hameroff and Sir Roger Penrose:
"Both of them now believe that consciousness, as the interplay of
fine-scale quantum events, may have always existed in the universe."
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Chalmers' two-dimensional argument against materialism
I'm trying to understand David Chalmers' two-dimensional argument against materialism in philosophy of mind (here). I'm particularly confused by the paragraph (pp. 11-12) where he claims that it's not ...
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Divided brain thought experiment: what is an analog of Born rule in biology? [closed]
Consider the following thoght experiment: your brain is divided in two and then each part is inserted in new body and regenerated (using future medicine), including all memories being restored. So, ...
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Is it even possible to know, from the outside, whether a physical system is conscious?
I take it for granted that other humans, and other higher animals like chimpanzees and dogs and cats, are conscious. But is it even possible to know, from the outside, whether a physical system is ...
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Does mind-body dualism entail supernaturalism?
The concept of mind-body dualism emphasizes a profound division between the mental and physical dimensions of human existence, positing the body as physical and the mind as non-physical. With this ...
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What would it be like for a person with no senses and no motor functions at all since birth?
As a sort of thought experiment trying to go to the farthest lengths of knowing oneself from the distractions of this world, I wanted to know what it would be like for a person that was born with none ...
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What would happen if I suddenly lost consciousness?
What would happen if I (my body) suddenly lost consciousness? Let's say a freak accident caused the part of my brain responsible for connecting/creating/hallucinating my "being", my ...
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Can individuality be copied? [closed]
Let's do a thought experiment, You are sleeping in a sensory deprivation tank 1, there is another tank next to you let's call it tank 2. Now there is a hypothetical machine M, which is a Universal 3-D ...
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Arguments for a Socratic Daimon and Embodiment: A Dialogue between an A-pneumatic and Pneumatic: Is this coherent? [closed]
Dear all, can you help me find any inconsistencies from theory of mind, philosophy of mind and phenomenology of percetion in this dialogue?
A conversation between an a-pneumatic and a pneumatic:
A-...
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What, if anything, is the flaw in SMBC's "happiness-3" comic?
Today's Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal raises in interesting philosophical issue.
The comic posits a machine that makes your life perfect and happy, and asks if people would get bored of this. The ...
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If I upload my brain into a computer is it still me?
I think the answer is yes but I know a lot of people disagree. So, I would like to ask these people when exactly does it stop being me.
Let's say I want to upload my brain into a computer using the ...
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Should the failure to provide a naturalistic explanation for an event increase our credence in a supernatural one? An NDE case study
The question in the title, although meant to be general, is mainly motivated by a specific type of Near-Death Experience (NDE) that currently perplexes me. Specifically, I am referring to NDEs ...
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Can science prove or provide evidence that the brain is the source of the mind
I am seeking published discussions or arguments about this proposition, though some discussion here would be useful:
Science can prove or provide significant evidence that the brain is the
source ...
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According to theories of embodiment, am I in all my body?
According to theories of embodiment, am I in all my body? Am I in my fingernails and teeth, even when I do not feel them? If I pick up a large stick, then am I in the stick, when I poke things with it?...
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Critique of those missing the Hard Problem?
From everything I've ever seen about the “Hard Problem of Consciousness”, the issue is that materialists and physicalists presume a different question and answer that one instead.
I feel like the two ...
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How Can Computation Cause Consciousness?
The question of how consciousness arises and what, if any, effect it has on our behaviour is clearly both fascinating intellectually and of great practical and ethical significance. One very common ...
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Does the use of senses require any knowledge about what is sensed? [closed]
Does the use of any sense (hearing, sight, pitch, proprioception, heat/cold, pain) require any knowledge about what is sensed in order to be used effectively?
I phrased this poorly.
I really mean &...
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Is personhood different from personal identity?
I'm confused as to what the difference between these two terms are. Suppose that I am a cognitivist about personhood. Does this imply that higher order cognitive functions underwrite personal identity ...
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Can minds be uploaded in computers?
The idea runs around of loading minds up in computers. It's a recurring theme in SF culture and thought about the technological possibilities in the future. We can read on Wikipedia:
Mind uploading, ...
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What are the main arguments that emergence-based theories of consciousness can't solve the hard problem of consciousness?
Ever since reading Douglas Hofstadter's Gödel, Escher, Bach as a teenager I've been fascinated by the idea that consciousness is an emergent property of physical systems. Roughly the claim is that ...
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Does claiming that strong AI is impossible imply a belief in substance dualism?
I was reading an article by J Mark Bishop "The danger of artificial stupidity" on ScientaSalon, where he quotes his own research, John Searle and Hilary Putnam, among others, as proof of the ...
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Why did phenomenalism fall out of favour in analytic philosophy?
Modern analytic philosophy proposes various reductionist projects to reduce phenomenal terms (like redness e.t.c) into physical terms (like neural-states, functional states e.t.c) such as for example, ...
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Methodologies for exploring philosophic assumptions in media?
I am interested in exploring the philosophic assumptions present in a video game I am currently enjoying, but I am struggling to find methodologies or works that could assist me in this endeavor.
I am ...
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I have seven steps to conclude a dualist reality. Which of these steps are considered controversial/wrong?
Step 1: We start by believing in the bare minimum : our own subjective experience exists. This is the only thing we know to exist. The existence of other things can only be inferred. And to deny your ...
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Seeking Help on Cartesian Dualism and the Mind-Body Relationship
I'm currently studying philosophy and I'm struggling with the concept of Cartesian dualism, particularly in relation to other theories about the mind-body relationship. I'm wondering if anyone here ...
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What happens to statements like cause must precede effect for the mental events for this model?
My understanding is that for this model (epiphenomenalism (?)) is there isn't mental causation rather a kind of mapping between physical and mental events?
What happens to statements like cause must ...
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Why is mind interacting with matter any more problematic than matter interacting with matter?
So there's this supposedly an 'interaction' problem for substance dualism, that isn't there for physicalism or idealism. I've never understood this.
So as Hume pointed out, we see event a followed by ...
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Difference between mental states and mental events?
What is the main difference between mental states and mental events in philosophy of mind? I heard from a lecturer that mental events are those entities which occur instantly or in short period of ...
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Is peripheral attention an example of the intentionality of consciousness?
Suppose I fix my gaze on an object, say a flower. Without moving my eyes, keeping them fixed on the flower, so with the same exact visual experience, I can "direct my attention" towards ...
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What is this idea of causality being articulated?
So I wanted to ask about the kind of causality when someone says something of the sort: "Communism made these people destroy their own society" or "I have a brilliant idea now I will ...
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How does mind discover its own existence?
By mind I mean the observer, the self, something that perceives. I hope that you understand because I can't find the right word.
So, your mind can observe the external existence, and can observe its ...
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Can the laws of physics rule out disembodied minds?
In this article, philosopher Evan Fales argues that the laws of physics establish that disembodied minds (such as an immaterial God, for example) could not influence the physical world. Is it true?
(...
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