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Lecture 8: The Mind/Body Problem Slide 2 Slide 3 Slide 4 I think, therefore I am Invented the Cartesian coordinate system and analytic geometry First major (Western) thinker to frame the mind/body relation as a problem to be solved Ren Descartes (1596-1650) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren_Descartes) Slide 5 Slide 6 (from http://www.physics.upenn.edu/uglabs/experiments/2D_collisions/) Slide 7 Descartes capstone work: Meditations on First Philosophy Explained all of animal world and most of human behavior (from http://www.xtimeline.com/evt/view.aspx?id=24505) Slide 8 Slide 9 Slide 10 Descartes reply: uh, yeah, theres like these animal spirit thingsand, uh, they sort of connect up to the brain via the pineal gland.Yeah, thats the ticket. Some of Descartes followers just give up: God did it. Modern science doesnt believe in substance dualism anyway. Theres only one kind of stuff in the universe ( materialism, physicalism). Slide 11 Slide 12 Slide 13 Slide 14 Slide 15 Slide 16 Slide 17 Slide 18 Slide 19 Slide 20 Slide 21 Isaac Newton, destroyer of body Descartes had a notion of body mechanical philosophy Newton tries to extend this to planetary motion, but ends up destroying the concept. Things can interact without there being direct contact (i.e., gravity) Slide 22 Slide 23 (from http://www.physorg.com/news176125202.html) Slide 24 Since we know we dont have the right or ultimate view of what the physical universe actually is, you cant say for definite that something (like thoughts) in principle falls outside its limits. Slide 25 We cant yet explain (in terms of quantum mechanics) how water flows down a drain, but philosophers dont think that raises a plumbing/body problem Slide 26 You just divide the world up into research areas that seem to make sense, where you have facts that seem to fall together, and you try to gain some under- standing. So it looks like theres phenomena in the world that look electrical, and chemical, and mental.