Metaphysics, Philosophy And Philosophy: Jack Smart

In the Discourse on Metaphysics by Leibniz he suggest that, "we maintain that everything that is to happen to some person is already contained virtually in his nature or notion, as properties of a circle are contained in its definition." This assertion raised a difficulty for Leibniz. This difficulty was that "human freedom will no longer hold, and that an absolute fatality would rule over all our actions as well as over all the rest of what happens in the world." With such a reality there would be no use for free will and whatever fate succumbs an individual is the will of the Most High; in other words, being destined. But for Leibniz, this is not the determined reality of humanity. Leibniz

The mind-brain identity theory is an ontological perspective which centers around the idea that the mind can be closely associated with the brain to be considered the same. In other words, a person’s mind processes are coherent with their brain processes. It is a significant topic included in the philosophy of mind. According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, the identity theory of mind is “to the effect that these experiences just are brain processes, not merely correlated with brain processes”. In this

As the tool of scientific investigation increase, the relationship between the mind and the brain has never been more intimate. Chemical changes in our brain could lead to heightened euphoria or it can lead to the most profound depression. Damages to the brain can lead to changes that can eliminate the some abilities of the brain, such as smell, vision, or even the ability to recognized faces. Therefore, this is at that vary lease a powerful correlation between the state of the mind and state of the brain. But this is not enough for the Identity theories, so they go above and beyond this to explain this profound view.

To quote Karl Popper, “Every solution to a problem, raises another unsolved problem” (Williams, 2003, p. 2). It has been a topic debated for centuries, still, a definitive solution is yet to be found that universally satisfies the problem of mind brain identity. The most logical answer comes in the form of monism. Therefore in this paper I will argue that the mind and the brain are identical, as the mind exists only as a property of the brain. David Lewis and D.M Armstrong give support for the causal relationship between mind and brain states in the form of the identity theory, and deal with the multiple realisability argument provided by Hillary Putman. Gottlob Frege provides his support for materialism by showing that mental states are determined by the function of the brain, while discounting Thomas Nagel’s argument which proposes the idea of Qualia. Both the functionalist theory and identity theory reach agreement on the materialistic view that the mind and brain are of the same substance.

I actually read the Star Trek Synopsis first, then I read chapter 3 in the book Metaphysics: Constructing a Worldview by William Hasker (1983). With me doing that, even though the reading by Hasker was very difficult in understanding it helped me gain a little understanding on what Hasker were saying. According to Maddox in the Synopsis: Star Trek Episode “The Measure of a Man”, Data is not a person but property. Maddox refer to Data as a “it” and not a he. Data is a unique android that can mimic human behavior, so in other words he has feelings, emotions, and believes he has a free will to make his own choices. However, to Maddox because Data was created and has a positronic brain “it” is not human but property. According to Hasker (1983),

Since Plato, two mutually exclusive yet essential categories of reality have been posited, one of concrete particulars and the other being abstract universals. Particulars are “unproblematic,” but universals may be entirely extant in many positions with no influence on the universal itself. A particular “distinguishing mark is that is exhausted in the one embodiment, or occasion, or example.” (Campbell 298) Particulars are unproblematic because they are restricted to a single point at any given time, not like universals which exist in different locations and are wholly present in those instances. The number of examples which contain the abstract universals are not diminished in quality of the universal. Campbell posits that this “problem” can be alleviated if properties were not universal at all. There is a distinction between abstract and concrete which differs from the distinction between universals and particulars. This is because particulars and universals can both be abstract where only particulars can be concrete. The particulars that

The idea that mental states are non-reducible properties of brain states is the central tenant of a theory of mind called property dualism. However, before we can assess the theory we must be aware that the question assumes the existence of mental states and as such we cannot answer this question from some perspectives (e.g. eliminative materialism)

Using a real human brain, Dr. Taylor explained the separation of the brain’s right and left hemispheres. The two cerebral cortices are completely separate from one another, but maintain communication via the corpus callosum. She described the right hemisphere as a parallel processor, thinking in images and learning from body movement. The right hemisphere is responsible for gathering sensory input, in the form of energy, from the environment around us. The left hemisphere, according to Dr. Taylor, is a serial processor, interpreting the sensory information gathered by the right hemisphere. The sensory information is analyzed and categorized by the linear and methodical thinking of the left hemisphere. Dr. Taylor believes the left hemisphere is responsible for interpretation of the past and future, as well as, an individual’s self-awareness. The

The brain consists of billions of neurones and trillions of connections. Those neurones are able to ‘represent’ things

This weeks reading discussed the brain and many complicated factors that go along with it. The brain has been an important area of study for decades and there are many different perspectives when it comes to how it works. Brain imaging, like what is discussed in the reading provided by Dr. Gordon Rose entitled "Postcards From the Brain" has shown us more information about how the brain works, but it has also led to many perspectives related to how consciousness works, and hard versus easy problems in the brain. It debates whether hard problems even exist. Furthermore, the reading provided, also describes language in a baby's brain, how mimicry works, and disorders throughout human development. These sections all involve slightly different perspectives when it comes to how our mind works.

our concepts, ideas, and feelings” (Hall 1997a, p. 1). He contends that “language is one of the

Central Argument (3-5): The brainstorm machine is part of the intuition pump that has the possibility to confirm two individuals have different color qualia. The issue here is that one could never know the correct orientation of the brainstorm machine because there is never an intersubjective comparison of qualia, even with the help of technology. Additionally, the intuition pump of the neurosurgical prank and alternative neurosurgery describes an evil neuroscientist did something horribly wrong in one’s mind where his or her color qualia are inverted. What the evil neuroscientist might have done is maybe inverted the optic nerve or the certain memory-anchored dispositions to react to qualia. Concluding that these two procedures do not

Intellectual brain research is the investigation of mental procedures including learning, memory, discernment, and thought. Though still generally new relatively as a formal branch of brain research, its roots stretch out back to Descartes who looked for an approach to clarify how the psyche functioned, proposing the similarity of a "water powered arrangement of nerve capacity" (Willingham, 2007, p. 26) after he watched energized statues in Saint-Germain-en-Laye. It has been the tenacious quest for how did the psyche fill in as well as what precisely constituted the brain that in the end drove the establishments of intellectual hypothesis. As clinicians analyzed how mental procedures created conduct, it was obvious an alternate methodology

Furthermore indirect evidence has reinforced the idea that cognitive processing, in this instance semantic, is necessary for affective processing of visual stimuli. Nevertheless neurological evidence seems to show that the processes underlying cognition and affective processing are distinctive. Storbeck’s study even pinpointed two potential brain regions mediating IS and IE respectively. The distinction between the two was also visible in different behavioural outcomes with an out-group

Meta refers to the Meaning of after or beyond. Metaphysics is the study of reality. On the other hand, Kit Fine describes Metaphysics as follows; “it 's the study of the most general features of reality.” Thus, it is the philosophical study of any widespread characteristics of reality. The study of the nature of the existence of a characteristic will let metaphysician answer and bring about theories for it being there. Some questions Metaphysician think of are as follows: Is there an Evil Demon? If there is a Demon can we control what we do? Are the things we do already determinant? Philosophers try to solve or bring about theories of the nature of any feature in the world. Although the answer is not accurate and trustworthy, their theories will bring about ideas of the nature of their existence. While some mistakenly thinks of metaphysical questions as being scientific questions, scientific questions are usually revolves around either being measurable or experimental, thus the questions that follow: What is the source of planets? That is experimental, what is the speed of an object in motion? That is measurable, or how can we determine the speed on of an object? That is experimental. Some might believe that metaphysical questions are not that useful, thus meaningless, but individuals believe that the question brought up leads to the development of scientific question that could and might have some usefulness for the people.