Questions tagged [philosophy-of-mind]
Philosophy of mind is a branch of philosophy that studies the nature of the mind, mental events, mental functions, mental properties, consciousness, and their relationship to the physical body, particularly the brain.
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To what extent can one admit that language is an adequate outlet for explicit feelings and experiencings?
If I am sharing my thoughts and another person goes “oh, that’s relatable,” or “yeah, I totally get it,” and other variations like “I feel you on that one!” Do they, really? Is language ever enough, ...
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Who are some philosophers who explore the possibility/impossibility of the intimacy of understanding others?
Can one ever be understood? When people say “yeah, I feel you” do they really? Is language enough of an outlet to transmit feelings with enough exactitude?
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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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How do we forgive our debtors?
Lord's prayer says:
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
In this sentence it seems assumed that we are capable to forgive "our debtors". I do not understand how we ...
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Who first came up with heterophenomenology, and when?
Dan Dennett, in his article "Who’s On First?
Heterophenomenology Explained" (https://ase.tufts.edu/cogstud/dennett/papers/JCSarticle.pdf) says:
"In short, heterophenomenology is nothing ...
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What is the value of maintaining an interest in catastrophe? [closed]
If i can't help the people I see suffering in the news, what is the value in watching it, given how bad it makes me feel?
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Can happiness be purely a state of mind?
Are there any mainstream philosophers (I assume it is meaningful to define such a subset of philosophers!) who argue that happiness can be a self-induced frame of mind? To put the question another way,...
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How to represent concepts without words or gestures (purely in your mind) in a discrete and easily "navigable" way?
I have spent a lot of time thinking about language and how humans may have evolved language, and keep going further and further back into the depths of what may have been known at a certain time, and ...
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What are the different types/levels of consciousness in the experiencing of feelings?
What type of consciousness is the mere experience of having a feeling. So one has a feeling of anger, happiness, excitement, etc. By the word "mere," I mean the feeling is not reflected on;...
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How do humans generalize abstract concepts from concrete objects?
To elaborate, I would like to take the definition of square as example, the square is shape with four equal sides and either two sides form a 90 degrees angle, while we can not directly see it. What ...
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What is the difference between the thing-in-itself and substance? (Kant)
I have thought about this for a long time, but unfortunately still do not manage to understand how exactly the thing in itself differs from substance. I am aware that the thing in itself is something ...
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Objections to token-token identity theory in philosophy of mind
There are well known objections to type-type identity (IEP) such as multiple realization and Kripke's argument, but I don't know any objections acceptable (by the majority of philosophers) to this ...
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What is there to philosophy these days, other than intellectual self-gratification?
Preliminary notes
I understand that the title of my question has a provocative note. However it also stems from a genuine question.
I come from the standpoint of being a radical agnostic and ...
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Should conscious fears be justified?
If so, how would a fear be justified? Note that I'm talking about fears that you have in life that you can sort of think about consciously and ponder about. I am differentiating these fears from more ...
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Is anything known about the physical, neural, mental, and/or logical characteristics or conditions of “wanting”?
I do not mean the word “wanting” itself, since a word can refer to many things, or a spectrum of qualities that may or may not be seen a connected thing or not.
If we try to identify a more clear ...
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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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Why is consent important?
We cannot see or feel consent. Why is it important when its existence cannot be proven?
The importance of consent seems to rely on the principle of respect for autonomy or self-determination; for one ...
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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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What is existence?
If I wanted to define "existence" as "that which we encounter but cannot will", what philosophical tradition would that put me in? What authors took up that position or a similar ...
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Why should one study? [closed]
At school, a student seems to learn many things that will most likely never be specifically used in their lifetime. So why should they study it at all?
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Relation between free will and consciousness
What is the relationship between consciousness and free will ? Many scientists think there is no free will.
And does free will mean a phenomenon not bound by cause and effect ?
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Are moral intuitions considered equally valid as other intuitions?
In reading this article on SEP about intuition: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/intuition/, the following statement is made:
"Consider the claim that a fully rational person does not believe ...
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How and where do I learn philosophy?
I am very new to philosophy, in what ways can I gain deeper knowledge about the subject itself and explore all the branches and truly understand what philosophy exactly is?
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What is the syntactic representation of mental content? Is that even possible?
In the philosophy of mind, the Representational Theory of Mind (RTM) usually is said to be associated with semantic propertys of intentionality. Does representation have to be semantic? What would be ...
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Is mathematical creativity the same as artistic creativity?
Do philosophers distinguish between mathematical creativity, and the broader artistic creativity? If so, what are the differences between these two?
A lot of people seem to treat IQ as something ...
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Are our emotions underpinned by reasons or is it the other way around?
When one feels fear doing something or feels uncomfortable, is this because of a potential false belief that is undperpinned in a mistake in reason? Or is that person just prone to looking at the ...
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The Turing-Asimov Dilemma
The Turing Test is a simple test devised by Alan Turing to check for AI. If a machine is able to fool a human into believing it's a human then that machine is AI.
The 3 Laws of Robotics were laid down ...
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If one has a tendency to self doubt, how does one know if their next doubt is genuine or a false one because of this tendency?
Suppose you have a brain that has a tendency to self doubt more than others. How would an agent, after analyzing a claim, coming up with a belief, and then doubting his belief, know if the doubt ...
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Strawson on Free Will: What are the most persuasive challenges to his position?
There are arguments against free will and moral responsibility which rely on strict causal determinism and/or determinism modified by quantum randomness. Criticisms of these views raise doubt as to ...
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How do philosophers support their faith in other minds? [duplicate]
How do you support your belief that other people have minds like yours?
Do you use any arguments to explain the reasons for your belief?
I believe that other people have minds and mental states like ...
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Please clarify this answer about the argument
I did not understand how this argument should sound.
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/other-minds/#BestExpl
The article reads as follows: On this way of thinking, mental states are taken to be inner ...
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Is the problem of induction not self refuting? Also, can we be certain of our experience?
The problem of induction is considered a problem because of the argument that ultimately the past does not necessarily predict the future. It could be true that the sun won't rise tomorrow, but it has ...
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Is this statement convincing and good? [closed]
There is the following wording:
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck.
What type of argument is this?
If we use this argument in favor of the existence ...
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Are perceptual arguments convincing and good?
Are the perceptual arguments for the existence of other minds convincing and good?
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/other-minds/#PercKnowOtheMind
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/other-minds/#...
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How do ordinary people and scientists maintain their belief that other people also have minds? [duplicate]
How do ordinary people and scientists maintain their belief that other people also have minds?
Which do ordinary people and scientists use arguments for their belief that other people also have minds?
...
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Explain what is meant in the article
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/other-minds/#BestExpl
"But he also makes the following, important, observation: “A complete response to the problem of other minds seems obliged to incorporate ...
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Are certain intuitions more valid than other kinds of intuitions?
Suppose I can't think of any good reason to doubt that the external world is "real". I.e. when I touch the cup in front of me, I recognize that even though it could be an illusion, I ...
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Is there any psychological research into, or theory about, propositional attitude reports？
What do propositional attitudes such as belief and suspicion mean not just as logical (syntactic) conceptions but as something in the mind？ When I believe or feel skeptical about certain propositions ...
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What is the status of the argument by analogy now?
Now what about the argument by analogy in favor of the existence of other minds.
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/other-minds/#ArguAnal
It is written in the article that he was heavily criticized ...
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How to solve "impossible" problems?
In mathematics and philosophy there are some unsolvable problems like Russell's paradox or the liar's paradox that are usually said to be undecidable... There are also other "impossibilities"...
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epistemic externalism and content externalism
Putnam's original twin earth experiment shows that the meaning of "water" is determined by external factors. This is an epistemic fact about knowledge and meaning: What we really mean by ...
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What is the thing which evolves?
I felt puzzled when I heard about the "Ship of Theseus paradox". If we change any part, the whole is not the same as before.
But evolution needs a small change. So:
If A evolves to B., what ...
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Instant Gratification and Self-Sabotage [closed]
I notice that I often engage in activities that provide instant gratification and not do the work I am supposed to do. (I need to learn to delay gratification)
I also fall prey to obsessive ...
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Flawed Thinking -> Thinking Clearly. Metacognitve approaches to change the way we we think?
Flawed thinking -> Flawed Understanding -> Flawed Conclusions (1)
Flawed thinking -> Flawed application of concepts. (2)
(1) and (2) -> Inability to solve a Novel problem even if you have ...
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Opacity in Fodor's computational theory of mind
I don't understand what opaque construals are, nor what opaque taxonomies are. What does he mean by opaque, and how are opaque construals different from transparent construals?
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Fodor's formality condition
I'm reading an excerpt from Fodor's Methodological Solipsism Considered as a Research Strategy in Cognitive Psychology and I find a lot of what he says confusing. I don't really understand the ...
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Is conscious thought ever necessary?
I have noticed that every time I end up "sitting down" and "thinking" about something as if it's some sort of exercise to plan out, I end up just repeating thoughts in my head or ...
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On the axiomatic behavior of the principle of sufficient reason
Have a look at the most controversial principle popularized as the principle of sufficient reason (PSR):
I mean that the concept of PSR, which has been introduced by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, remains ...
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What arguments can I use to justify my belief in other minds? [duplicate]
What arguments can I use to justify my belief in other minds?
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/other-minds/
Here are all the arguments in favor of the existence of other minds, but I do not ...
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What's the solution to the problem of other minds? [duplicate]
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/other-minds/
I have never understood what the solution to the problem of other minds is.
At first, the article said that:
"One standard line of reply to this ...
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