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Identity TheoryPhil 255
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Brains
Mass: 1-2 kg (2% body weight)25% energy (glucose)Power: ~20 WattsArea: 4 sheets of paperNeurons: 100 billion
150,000/mm2
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CELL BODY
DENDRITES
SYNAPSEAXON
AX
ON
POST-SYNAPTIC CURRENT
• Kinds: 100s (perhaps 1000s) • Size: 10-4 to 5 m• Connections: 500-200,000 inputs/
outputs (72 km of fiber)• Communication: 100s of
neurotransmitters
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MOTHERS AND CHILDREN
FEAR
fMRI
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RESPONSE TO GRATINGS
Many Cells
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CORTICAL CELL WITH INJECTED CURRENT
CURRENT→
CELL RESPONSE
Single Cell
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U.T. Place: Conscious Brains
Consciousness being a brain process cannot be dismissed on logical grounds alone
Behaviourism is OK, but the problem of privacy looms large
Certain psychological notions (e.g. qualia) demand reference to internal goings on
Nevertheless, he is an ardent materialist
hence needs to cleave inner processes from dualist interpretations
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Three kinds of ‘is’
Analytic/synthetic distinction:
necessary/contingent; logic/fact
‘Is’ of definition
e.g.,
‘Is’ of predication
e.g.,
‘Is’ of composition
e.g.,
Does the composition/predication distinction work?
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Definition vs. Composition
Three intuitions about the meaning of ‘consciousness is a brain process’ lead to his claim that it isn’t an ‘is’ of defintion:
1)
2)
3)
So it is an empirically testable, compositional ‘is’
Hence ‘brain process’ and ‘consciousness’ are logically independent
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Logical/Ontological Independence
This ‘is’ claim is special because it is ‘universal’ (which usually means definitional)
Usually, logical independence implies ontological independence
Consider ‘a cloud is a mass of tiny particles’
shows logical independence, but ontological dependence
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When do we see the same thing?
Switches to the lightning analogy: why?
Methods for identifying lightning are radically different if treated from different perspectives
Other e.g.s:
What does the moon example do?
Direct versus indirect causal connections
What is the difference?
Can we save the intuition?
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Phenomenological fallacy
Place quotes Sir Charles Sherrington’s argument that there is a “self” always present and evaluating perceptions (c.f. “life”)
Green a6er-image: taken to be something, somewhere with the property ‘green’
That ‘somewhere’ is the phenomenal field
PF is not a brain image, as that would be a category mistake
Hence not physical
But, is there a “veil of ideas”?
Maybe we assert the similarity of our experience to that when there is something green.
Identity theory: physiology & introspection should be correlated
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Identity theory: motivations
Descrates, Willis, Newton had differing views of neural activity
Gilvani’s experiments (end 18th c.) provided electrical view.
Franz Gall (start 19th c.) founded phrenology: despite good args (e.g., damage) was evenutally scorned.
Localist view revitalized with Broca and Wernicke (mid 19th c.)
Identity theory more plausible for it
Cajal (end 19th c.) posited the Neuron Doctrine
Mid 20th c. established electro-chemical nature of the brain
Penfield (1950s) stimulation experiments
Perry & Gazzaniga (1960s) split-brain
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Split brain
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Joe
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Identity theory: Statement
Place’ provides one of the first statements (cf Boring):
Consciousness should be identified as a brain process
Smart & Armstrong extended this to all mental states
Smart added
Mental vocabulary is referent neutral
Ockham’s razor favours identity theory over dualism
Armstrong added:
Dispositions are explained by reference to inner structure (e.g. salt in water)
Therefore inner causes (neural states) explain behaviour
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Identity theory: Challenges
What is the identity supposed to be between?
Types and tokens: e.g. words, animals, cars, etc.
Type-type identity theory
Token-token identity theory
Unlike coins (Lyons), mental state-brain state identities do not seem forthcoming
Lyons argues against any such identies with the cypress example.
Suggests the ‘order’ of labeling is importantly different
...
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Eliminativism
Can’t find type identities, we can
Wait
Eliminate
Eliminative materialism argues against folk psychology as a viable theory (cf phlogiston, demonology).
Rorty thought true elimination was impractical
The Churchlands didn’t:
Radically false theories can be dangerous (or silly?)