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QLDPhilosophy and ReasonQuick questions
Unit 4: Moral philosophy and metaphysics
Quick questions on The mind-body problem and theories of mind: QCE Philosophy and Reason
7short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
what is the mind, and how does it relate to the physical body?Show answer
You need the main theories (substance dualism, physicalism including identity theory, and functionalism), their key arguments and objections, and the hard problem of consciousness. This connects to free will and personal identity.
What is substance dualism?Show answer
Rene Descartes, in the Meditations (1641), defended substance dualism: mind and body are two distinct kinds of substance. The body is extended matter, governed by physics; the mind is an unextended, thinking, non-physical thing. His argument: I can doubt that my body exists but cannot doubt that I think, so mind and body have different essential properties and must be distinct. Strength: it respects the obvious difference between thought and matter and leaves room for an immaterial soul.
What is functionalism?Show answer
Functionalism responds: a mental state is defined not by its physical make-up but by its functional role, its causal relations to inputs, outputs and other mental states. Pain is whatever state is typically caused by injury and typically causes wincing and avoidance, whatever realises it. This accommodates multiple realisability and underpins the idea that minds could be implemented in different hardware. Objection: functional role seems to leave out what it feels like, the subjective quality of experience.
What is the hard problem of consciousness?Show answer
David Chalmers distinguishes the "easy" problems (explaining functions such as perception and attention) from the hard problem: why is there subjective experience at all, the felt quality of seeing red or tasting coffee (qualia)? Frank Jackson's knowledge argument dramatises this: Mary, a brilliant scientist who knows every physical fact about colour vision but has lived in a black-and-white room, seems to learn something new when she first sees red, namely what it is like. If so, there are facts about experience beyond the physical facts, which challenges physicalism. Replies include denying Mary learns a new fact (she gains an ability or a new mode of acquaintance, not new information).
What is q1?Show answer
Explain Descartes's argument for substance dualism and the interaction objection. [4 marks]
What is q2?Show answer
Explain multiple realisability and what it objects to. [3 marks]
What is q3?Show answer
Outline Jackson's knowledge argument. [3 marks]
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