Are minds physical things, or are they nonmaterial? If your beliefs and desires are caused by physical events outside of yourself, how can it be true that you act the way you do of your own free will? Are people genuinely moved by the welfare of others, or is all behavior, in reality, selfish? (Sober 203). These are questions relevant to philosophy of the mind and discussed through a variety of arguments. Two of the most important arguments with this discussion are Cartesian dualism and logical behaviorism, both of which argue the philosophy of the mind in two completely different ways. Robert Lane, a professor at the University of West Georgia, define the two as follows: Cartesian dualism is the theory that the mind and body are two …show more content…
Leibniz’s Law supports dualism through three main arguments: the Indubitable Existence Argument, the Extension Argument, and the Divisibility Argument. Lane summarizes the three arguments as follows: Indubitable Existence
1) A person’s mind has the property of indubitable existence
2) A person’s body (including the brain) does not.
3) If a has some property and blacks that property, then a and b are not the same thing.
4) Thus, a person’s mind and body are not the same thing. Extension 1) My mind lacks the property of extension. 2) My body, including my brain, has the property of extension. 3) If a has some property and blacks that property, then a and b are not the same thing.
4) Thus, my mind is not the same things as my body.
Divisibility 1) My mind is not divisible. 2) My body (including my brain) is divisible. 3) If a has some property and blacks that property, then a and b are not the same thing.
4) Thus, my mind is not the same thing as my body. Within all three arguments to support dualism, the third premise (Leibniz’s Law) and conclusion are shared. By sharing the third premise, all three arguments have deductively valid forms, and the shared conclusion of the arguments ultimately supports Cartesian dualism. Descartes argues that the mind can exist without the body, or has the property of immortality (Sober 205), while the body can
2. "Usually people just call us blacky". What does this suggest about the attitudes of other people?
A. The categories used to divide groups into races are not fixed and vary from society to society. B. The biological characteristics that have been used to define different racial groups vary both within and between groups. C. The different criteria used to define racial groups in any society are arbitrary. D. All of these choices are true.
o) Insolence, putting on airs: blacks didn’t move out of way of whites and didn’t answer to the basic names given
2. "How have your ideas about African-American history in particular and history in general been shaped by the contexts in which you encountered these histories?"
America has a history of implementing laws that discriminate against its citizens that often affect the life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness proclaimed in the United States of America, Declaration of Independence. Laws such as the Fugitive Slave Act, The Black Codes, and Jim Crow laws were implemented to discriminate against African Americans. Explain how laws like these have uniquely shaped the history and identities of African Americans? How do the limited shifts of inequality today parallel to the limited progression of the past?
There is an extricable relationship between race, capitalism, and property and how it perpetuates the notion of whiteness through the exploitation of “others”. Property is a relationship of a person and an object; slaves were considered as objects. Race is constructed from white workers’ ideology of whiteness and labor wage. Racism has been long constructed through the production of race and its relations to property, and we can see it through the notion of capitalism and the idea of whiteness.
lynched(C), and forty-five to sixty percent of Blacks over the age of nine are illiterate(B),
Compare the treatment of black indentured servants and white indentured servants leading to the legalization of slavery. Give at least three comparison points from the reading.
Racial segregation is a distinct social challenge that stem from both overall inequality and the racial wage gap. Because wealth is “the sum total of a person’s assets … [that is] built up over a lifetime and passed on to the next generation through inheritances,” wealth inequality and the racial wealth gap exists from the past. It was not until 1984 that the United Stated began to statistically record wealth inequality, however, the wealth inequality between freed black slaves and white men started to grow towards the end of the Civil War. Because slaves were, by law, forbidden to own any land, they did not have any properties in their names. Even after the Civil War, former slaves were removed from land to land whenever a new order was set.
In this casebook the authors contribute their ideas on what might have lead to our separations of classes and inequality among our world. Henry Louis Gates Jr. states in his article that the research that he has obtained has concluded in the fact that former slaves in the 1920’s, when African Americans were allowed to own property, had obtained land from the Southern Homestead Act and led to having a successful descendents. On the other hand he states that if the poor African Americans were given land now that they were not given long ago the community would improve and they would work harder to achieve a better life. I agree that some of the people given land and ownership would try to improve their life with education and harder work but
b. To be black in America means you have to endure struggle in a world, where “The Dream” is out of reach. Black Americans are instilled with fear at a young age of the country that excludes them. Black children
2. Affirmative action was intended to provide equal opportunities for members of minority groups and women in education and employment. I disagree with this because I feel as if the only reason affirmative action needed to be started was due to the way Whites treated people of color back in the day. Affirmative action does not force a company to hire someone who happens to be a minority if they don’t meet the job requirements. Affirmative action policies are policies an organization actively takes place in the intent to improve opportunities for historically excluded groups in American society. This action was brought to us in the 1960's Civil Rights Movement, a time where blacks or anyone of color were looked at as basically trash. The act
Discuss the similarities and differences between race and ethnicity and give and give an example of each.
They give the examples of discrimination. Discrimination occurs when African Americans are refused jobs made available to White people, or a landlord who refuses to rent to an individual because of his or her sexual orientation. Generally, discrimination has been defined in the social science literature as “practices and actions of dominant racial and ethnic groups that have a differential and negative impact on subordinate racial and ethnic groups.” (Feagin and Eckberg 11). These examples are clearly represented that some people are suffering from the unequal situation because of discrimination. Some African Americans may have enough knowledge and equal or superior to white persons regarding education and qualifications, but it is difficult to find a job for some African Americans due to discrimination, they cannot put their ambitions to good
The aspect of the mind and the body is one of the most heavily debated subjects of philosophy. The purpose of this paper will be to explore my thoughts against the view of the French philosopher, Rene Descartes. The question is, are the mind and the brain one and the same? The body is only a physical form itself, the brain is only part of the physical body. But the mind is only a part of the brain within itself. Spiritually, they are both connected to each other. Can they take on the form of each other? No. They are both separate entities altogether. I disagree with Descartes and his belief that the mind is a physical entity or that he cannot be allowed to doubt his existence, but that spiritually one cannot exist without the other.