The History Of Physicalism

In his writings, “A Contemporary Defense of Dualism,” J.P. Moreland argues the point that the mind and brain are separate from each other. It seems as a quick thought that both are the same. However, the mind deals with ideas, thoughts and hopes. The brain is made up of the neural process. Throughout the entire argument, Moreland tries to prove the theory of physicalism, which is the idea that only things that exist are composed of matter. His explanation is that the soul doesn’t exist and the brain controls everything.

Overall, this article describes numerous cases of people’s personality and behavior being drastically affected by various forms of brain damage, particularly to the frontal lobe. This is consistent with what we have learned about Phineas Gage and his dramatically changed personality. As such, the author, David Eagleman, concludes that humans are not really “free” and that we are all products of our brains’ physical state, meaning that the notion of all humans being equal in their decisions is fundamentally flawed. He therefore proposes modifying the criminal justice system so that sentencing is customized more for the particular offender, taking into account the functionality of the criminal’s brain,

This accident is so well known in medical circles because it was a surgical feat at that time (considering the lack of sanitation) and sparked the start of neuroscience investigation. My evidence for these claims are found on www.slate.com when it says, “In particular, personalities might change, and people with prefrontal damage often betray a lack of ambition, foresight, empathy, and other ineffable traits” and, “Harlow shaved Gage’s scalp and peeled off the dried blood and brains. He then extracted skull fragments from the wound by sticking his fingers in from both ends, Chinese-finger-trap-style.” To explain, these quotes show that damage to the brain in the frontal cortex does affect personality and also outline the absurdity of the circumstances in the surgical procedure that make this event so

Phineas Gage, a railroad worker, was accidently struck by a piece of iron through the frontal lobe after an explosion he set himself (Phineas Gage Information). The iron piece shredded the front left side of his brain when it entered under his cheek bone and exited out the top of his head (Phineas Gage Information). Phineas was treated after the explosion by Dr. John Martyn Harlow (Phineas Gage Information). The treatment by Dr. Harlow allowed Phineas to return back to his house only ten weeks after the incident; which is a significantly short time considering the trauma from his accident and the medical advances at this time were not nearly what they are today (Phineas Gage Information). The accounts of his personality change seem to have differencing opinions (Phineas Gage Information).

When contemplating the relationship between the mind and body, most philosophers advocate either dualism, the view that the mind and body belong to the mental and physical categories respectively, or physicalism, the stance that there is only the physical. (Gertler 108) Brie Gertler upholds the former perspective, and her essay In Defense of Mind-Body Dualism aims to disprove physicalism by establishing the possibility of experiencing pain without the firing of C-fibers, which physicalists believe is identical to pain. (110) She claims that thought experiments are best for determining matters of possibility, but only if such experiments utilize “sufficiently comprehensive” concepts. After first clarifying why Gertler emphasizes the need for

Phineas’ brain was changed – and his personality changed too. This misfortune has provided lots of fodder for researchers of psychology and neurology. But the case for Phineas Gage holds lessons for Philosophers and Theologians too. It provides

I would like to begin this paper by addressing what question I hope to answer through the entirety of this paper: is the mind physical? As simple as this question may seem to be, there still, to this day, is not a definite answer. There are, mostly, two approaches to answering this problem, through dualism or physicalism. The dualist, for the purposes of this paper, simply believes that the mind and the body are not equal and therefore, they are not one in the same. The physicalist, however, would come back to say that there are no such things as non-physical objects and therefore, they would conclude that the body and the mind are both physical. After weighing on both sides of this argument, I am going to defend the physicalist ideas and

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

The mind-body problem is an age-old topic in philosophy that questions the relationship between the mental aspect of life, such as the field of beliefs, pains, and emotions, and the physical side of life which deals with matter, atoms, and neurons. There are four concepts that each argue their respective sides. For example, Physicalism is the belief that humans only have a physical brain along with other physical structures, whereas Idealism argues that everything is mind-based. Furthermore, Materialism argues that the whole universe is purely physical. However, the strongest case that answers the commonly asked questions such as “Does the mind exist?” and “Is the mind your brain?” is Dualism.

The mind is perhaps the most fascinating part of the human body due to its complexity and ability to rationalize. In essence, the mind-body problem studies the relation of the mind to the body, and states that each human being seems to embody two unique and somewhat contradictory natures. Each human contains both a nature of matter and physicality, just like any other object that contains atoms in the universe. However, mankind also is constituted of something beyond materialism, which includes its ability to rationalize and be self-aware. This would imply that mankind is not simply another member of the world of matter because some of its most distinctive features cannot be accounted for in this manner. There are obvious differences between physical and mental properties. Physical properties are publically accessible, and have weight, texture, and are made of matter. Mental properties are not publically accessible, and have phenomenological texture and intentionality (Stewart, Blocker, Petrik, 2013). This is challenging to philosophers, because man cannot be categorized as a material or immaterial object, but rather a combination of both mind and body (Stewart, Blocker, Petrik, 2013). Man embodies mind-body dualism, meaning he is a blend of both mind and matter (Stewart, Blocker, Petrick, 2013). The mind-body problem creates conflict among philosophers, especially when analyzing physicalism in its defense. This paper outlines sound

One of the most talked about concepts of philosophy is that of the mind-body problem. In short, the mind-body problem is the relationship between the mind and the body. Specifically, it’s the connection between our mental realm of thoughts, including beliefs, ideas, sensations, emotions, and our physical realm, the actual matter of which we are made up of the atoms, neurons. The problem comes when we put the emphasis on mind and body. Are the mind and body one physical thing, or two separate entities. Two arguments have stood amongst the rest, Interactionism and physicalism. Interactionism claims that mind and matter are two separate categories with a casual integration between the two. By contrast, physicalism draws from the idea that all aspects of the human body are under one physical being, there are no nonphysical connections that come into play. While both state a clear and arguable statement regarding mind-body problem, Interactionism gives a more plausible answer to the mind-body problem because although it may seem like we are tied as one, our minds have a subconscious that influence our thoughts, actions, ideas, and beliefs, which is completely independent from the realm of our physical matter.

In denying that the mind and mental properties, like qualia, are nonphysical things, mind-brain theory objects to both substance and property dualism. Therefore it is a physicalist approach to the philosophy of

The mind-body problem is a complex argument that permeates through our current understanding of how consciousness functions with a body and the physical world. Two ideologies attempt to explain this phenomena by placing consciousness and the mind’s relationship to the body into two distinct categories. The first, holds that the mind can be explained as a byproduct of the body known as physicalism while the other holds that the mind does not depend on the body which is anti-physicalism. Nagel’s argument in, “What Is It Like to Be a Bat?”, supports an anti-physicalism understanding of the mind and is successful in displacing physicalism’s explanation of what the mind is and how it functions. Likewise, counterarguments to Nagel’s thesis, are not compelling in that they do not account for “the subjective character of experience” which Nagel argues is an essential mental property of consciousness. Nagel’s argument is substantial in that it demonstrates the inherent limitations of physicalism while asserting an anti-physicalist approach to the mind-body problem.

1. When discussing the real issues between consciousness and physics, we are forced to speak upon the mind-body problem. The mind-body problem is the problem of explaining how mental states (consciousness) are related to the physical states given that the human body is a physical and the mind is non-physical. Consciousness is real and cannot be negated by illusions. The mind-body issue is a debate that is continuously ongoing however, it can be argued that the mind and body are not necessarily separated however, when in use, one is reduced so the other can do its job. This can be seen in the Chinese Room Experiment. In the Chinese Room Experiment, was conducted by John Searle, which proves that computers do not have the ability to have knowledge. Computers are programmed to manipulate symbols; this makes the computer appear as though it understands the language but its understanding is not pure. This goes on to show the amount of issue that consciousness poses to the idea that we are able to understand the world through science. Science is able to create illusions and manifest many faulty ideas which can be believed as true. Consciousness allows individuals to think and question if what is seen before then actually exists.

Imagine a situation where your entire personality is changed forever by an object that pierces an area of your brain. Those who have had a frontal lobotomy, whether purposefully or not, have had their personality changed permanently. An unlucky foreman of the Rutland Railroad, Phineas Gage, was on the receiving end of a tragic occurrence that severed the frontal lobe area of his prefrontal cortex. He underwent the experience of having a railroad spike pierce him beneath his left cheek and exit through his skull, consequently injuring an important area of his brain. This occurrence changed one part of Gage’s personality completely, though he seemed almost entirely functional after his accident. The one thing that changed in Gage was his ability to imagine the future. He lived completely present in the moment. The unique accident that affected Phineas Gage can be broken down with various different philosophical approaches to answer what is called the “mind-body problem”. The mind-body problem is composed of attempting to explain things like beliefs, consciousness, emotions, etc., in organisms. Physicalism, dualism, and functionalism all have their unique explanation for the mind-body problem’s implication of Phineas Gage’s accident.