Philosophy 1010Class 7/17/13

Title: Introduction to PhilosophyInstructor: Paul DickeyE-mail Address: pdickey2@mccneb.edu

Tonight:

Finish Chapter Two Discussion

Midterm Exam

Overview & Introduction to Chapter 3

Read:

3.1, pp. 134-140

3.2, pp. 144-150

3.3 & 3.4 (pp. 153-163)

Next Week

• The Prevalent View Regarding the Nature of Man Makes Four Basic Claims:

1) That the self is conscious (has reason) and has a purpose

2) That the self is distinct from the body, but somehow is related.

3) That the self endures through time.

4) That the self has an independent existence from other selves

The Traditional Western View

The Dualist View of Human Nature

• The Dualist View is an ancient view that can be traced back to Plato and the Traditional Rationalist View of Human Nature.

• A developed, systematic view of Dualism was best expressed by Rene Descartes (1596-1650).

• Descartes argues that he can imagine his self without a body, thus the self is not the body. We cannot think of the self without thought which is immaterial. Thus, the mind and body must be distinct.

• Descartes further argues that the mind or “soul” is the essential form of the self and could exist without the body.

• I think, therefore I am.

The Mind-Body Problem

• So how can the mind as a non-physical entity cause the physical body to act and how can the physical body cause changes in the state of the mind?

• Can the mind add energy or force to the physical world?

But that is exactly what seems to happen when I decide to move my hand and then move it.

• How can a physical body alter a state of consciousness or thought?

But that is exactly what seems to happen when a fly buzzes near my head and I become annoyed.

Cartesian Dualism on the Mind-Body Problem

• Descartes suggested that the mind/body interacts through the pineal gland, a small gland near the brain by being so small that an immaterial mind could move it.

• But the problem still seems to remain! No matter how small a physical object is, it is of course still a physical object.

Responses to Cartesian Dualism

• Gottfried Leibniz (1646-1716) denied that the mind and body actually do interact. They only appear to do so.

• Leibniz argued that the mind and the body operate in parallel universes like synchronized clocks.

• Nicholas Malebranche (1683-1715) argued that such a synchronism could not occur by coincidence. Only by the constant act of God could the two worlds be kept parallel.

Descartes & The Scientific Revolution

In 1636, a Hobbes travels to Italy where he may have met with Galileo. With the influence of Galileo, Hobbes develops his social philosophy on principles of geometry and natural science.

Galileo Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642), was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution. Galileo has been called the "father of modern observational astronomy", the "father of modern physics", the "father of science", and "the Father of Modern Science“

Galileo proposes that physics should be a “new science” based on methods of observation not just on the methods of reason.

Materialism

• Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) rejects Cartesian dualism claiming that Descartes Mind/Body problem itself refutes dualism.

• Since mind and body cannot interact, they cannot both exist within human nature.

• There can only be one realm of human nature and that is the material world.

• All human activities, including the mental, can be explained on the paradigm of a machine.

Materialism

• Hobbes was reductionist in that he believed that one kind of purported reality (the mind) could be understood entirely in terms of another (matter).

• New scientific techniques of observation and measurement being used by Galileo, Kepler, and Copernicus were making giant strides in understanding the universe.

• The spirit of his century suggested to Hobbes that all reality would be explained in time in terms only of the observable and the measurable.

• Hobbes himself was unable to explain any mental processes in terms of the physical.

• Perhaps motivating Hobbes’ view was basically his passionate faith in the advancement of science at the time.

• The Prevalent View Regarding the Nature of Man Makes Four Basic Claims:

1) That the self is conscious and has a purpose

2) That the self is distinct from the body, but somehow is related.

3) That the self endures through time.

4) That the self has an independent existence from other selves

The Traditional Western View

• Descartes argues that the enduring self is the soul, an enduring immaterial being or existence.

• John Locke (1632-1704) says that the enduring self is a based only on our having continuous memory.

• Buddhism asserts that nothing in the universe, particularly the self, remains the same from one moment to the next.

• David Hume (1711-1776) also denies that there is an enduring self. He argues that only what we perceive exists and that we never perceive an enduring self, only a constant flow of perceptions.

Is There An Enduring Self?

• The Prevalent View Regarding the Nature of Man Makes Four Basic Claims:

1) That the self is conscious and has a purpose

2) That the self is distinct from the body, but somehow is related.

3) That the self endures through time.

4) That the self has an independent existence from other selves

The Traditional Western View

• Descartes argues that the self exists independently of others and the independent self can judge the truth about what is.

• Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) suggests that the self is the ability to choose independently of others, and not being determined by conforming to others.

Georg W.F. Hegel (1770-1831) proposes that the self is relational. A person is only free and independent if others recognize him or her to be so.

• Charles Taylor (1931- ) argues that we depend on others for the very definition of what our real self is.

Is the Self Independent or Relational?

Break!