Elements of Mind An Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind

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ISBN: 9780192892973 | 0192892975
Cover: Paperback
Copyright: 10/25/2001

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Elements of Mindprovides a unique introduction to the main problems and debates in contemporary philosophy of mind. Author Tim Crane opposes those currently popular conceptions of the mind that divide mental phenomena into two very different kinds (the intentional and the qualitative) and proposes instead a challenging and unified theory of all the phenomena of mind. In light of this theory, Crane engages students with the central problems of the philosophy of mind--the mind-body problem, the problem of intentionality (or mental representation), the problem of consciousness, and the problem of perception--and attempts to find solutions to these problems. A fresh and engaging exploration of the main issues in the philosophy of mind,Elements of Mindis easily accessible to students with no background in the subject.

Mind

(33)

Philosophy of mind and the study of mental phenomena

(3)

We have a scientific view of ourselves and a non-scientific view; philosophy has preoccupied itself with the question of if (and how) these views are compatible; but there is a prior question: what is the content of the non-scientific view we have of ourselves?

Perspectives and points of view

(2)

The idea that having a mind is having a perspective on things, or on the world, introduced; the distinction between those creatures with a perspective and those without is vague, but it matches the vagueness in the concept of a mind

Perspectives and their objects

(2)

Two features of a perspective introduced: objects are presented within perspectives, and perspectives are partial, they let in some things and leave out others

These correspond to the two defining features of intentionality: `directedness' and `aspectual shape'

The origin of the concepts of intentionality and intension

(5)

The origin of the term `intentionality' explained; intentionality as a mental feature should be distinguished from the logical features, intensionality; the connection and difference between these ideas explained

Directedness and intentional objects

(5)

All intentional phenomena have two essential features: directedness upon an object and aspectual shape; the idea of an intentional object introduced; intentional objects are not a kind of thing; an intentional object is what is thought about

Aspectual shape and intentional content

(4)

Aspectual shape is the way in which something is apprehended in an intentional state or act; connections and differences are described between the idea of aspectual shape and Frege's idea of sense; for a state to have intentional content is for it to have an intentional object and a certain aspectual shape

The problem of intentionality

(6)

Various things are called the problem of intentionality: the problem discussed here is the problem of how intentional states can concern things that do not exist; the best solution is to deny that intentional states are relations to genuinely existing objects; internalism and externalism introduced

The structure of intentionality

(6)

All intentional states have intentional objects (something they are about) but they are not relations to these objects; rather, intentional states are relations to intentional contents; intentional contents need not be propositional; intentional modes introduced; the relational structure of an intentional state is subject---mode---content

Body

(36)

Interaction between mind and body

(1)

Descartes's view that he is not lodged in his body like a pilot in a ship endorsed; the mind and the body do interact causally; this is taken as a starting point for debate, not something which is in need of defence

Substance, property, event

(5)

Some basic metaphysical categories introduced; substance distinguished from attribute or property; a state is a thing having a property at a time; states are distinguished from events on the grounds that events are particulars with temporal parts; mental phenomena comprise both mental states and mental events (or `acts')

The `intelligibility' of mental causation

(3)

Mental-physical causation may be considered problematic because of something about causation or something about the mental, or something about the physical; the first two of these dismissed; the problem of mental causation is a result of `physicalist' assumptions about the physical world

Physics and physicalism

(5)

Physicalism distinguished from monism in general and from materialism; physicalism gives a special role to physics; the `generality of physics' distinguished from the `completeness of physics' and the `explanatory adequacy of physics'

The problem of mental causation for dualists

(3)

The problem arises from the apparent conflict between mental causation and the completeness of physics; overdetermination of mental and physical causes ruled out

The identity theory

(3)

The identity theory solves the problem of mental causation by identifying mental and physical causes; which version of the identity theory is accepted depends on what the relata of causation are (events or properties)

Reductionism

(1)

The identity theory is an ontologically reductionist theory; ontological reduction distinguished from explanatory reduction, a relation between theories; the two types of reduction are independent

Against the identity theory: anti-reductionism

(4)

The identity theory is implausible because of Putanam's variable or multiple realization argument; ontological reduction should therefore be rejected

The problem of mental causation for non-reductive physicalism

(3)

If ontological reduction is denied, then the problem of mental causation returns for non-reductive physicalism; the non-reductive physicalist response is to hold that the mental is necessarily determined by the physical; the difficulties with this view discussed

Emergence

(4)

An alternative non-physicalist position introduced: mental properties are `emergent' properties with their own causal powers; this position denies the completeness of physics

Physicalism as the source of the mind-body problem

(2)

Some see physicalism as the source of the mind-body problem, not its solution; the problem here is how to explain the place of consciousness in the physical world; the contemporary mind-body problem as a dilemma: if the mind is not physical, then how can it have physical effects? But if the mind is physical, how can we understand consciousness?

What does a solution to the mind-body problem tell us about the mind?

(2)

Whether the identity theory, non-reductive physicalism, or emergentism are true does not tell us much of interest about the nature of mental properties themselves

Consciousness

(32)

The conscious and the unconscious

(4)

Different senses of `conscious' and `unconscious' distinguished; Block's distinction between phenomenal and access consciousness discussed; our concern is with phenomenal consciousness: a state is phenomenally conscious when there is something it is like to be in that state

The distinction between the intentional and the qualitative

(2)

Mental phenomena are often divided into intentional and qualitative phenomena; this distinction is not very clear; many intentional states are phenomenally conscious; qualitative states are a variety of phenomenally conscious states, those having a sensory character

Qualia

(2)

The term `qualia' defined: qualia are non-intentional conscious mental properties; it is a substantial thesis that qualitative character is explicable in terms of qualia

The intentionality of bodily sensation

(5)

Bodily sensation examined as the apparently best case for a non-intentionalist view of the mind; a proper conception of bodily sensation shows it to be intentional in the sense of §8; bodily sensations are ways of being aware of one's body

Strong intentionalism and weak intentionalism

(5)

Intentionalists believe that all mental states or acts are intentional; weak intentionalists hold that some intentional states or acts also have qualia which account for their phenomenal character; strong intentionalists deny this; strong intentionalism defended

Physicalism, consciousness, and qualia

(3)

The problems of consciousness for physicalism revisited; these problems do not depend on the existence of qualia; three arguments distinguished: the explanatory gap, the knowledge argument, and the zombie argument

The explanatory gap

(2)

The explanatory gap argument claims that consciousness remains beyond the explanatory reach of physicalism; this argument is shown to rest either on excessively strong understandings of physicalism and explanation, or on the zombie hypothesis

The knowledge argument examined

(6)

The knowledge argument is a sound argument against the view that all facts are physical facts; but physicalism should not define itself in that way

Zombies

(2)

The zombie argument is effective against the forms of physicalism discussed in §§14 and 17; if it is accepted, it provides a further motivation for emergence

The prospects for explaining consciousness

101

(1)

The prospects for a reductive account of consciousness summarized

Thought

102

(28)

Thoughts and beliefs

102

(3)

The term `thought' will be used for a kind of mental state or act, not for the content of such states or acts

Consciousness and belief

105

(3)

Belief, properly so-called, is never conscious; belief is a mental state, not a mental act; what philosophers call `conscious belief' is really the event of becoming conscious of what one believes

Propositional attitudes

108

(4)

Russell's term `propositional attitude' picks out those intentional states whose intentional content is evaluable as true or false; the nature of propositional content discussed; Fregean and neo-Russellian accounts compared

The propositional attitude thesis

112

(2)

The thesis that all intentional states are propositional attitudes introduced and rejected; the thesis is unmotivated and it has obvious counter-examples

De re and de dicto attitudes

114

(3)

Thoughts and attitudes can be described in a `de re' or relational style as well as in the more usual `de dicto' style; the fact that there are such de re ascriptions does not imply that there is a category of de re thoughts or attitudes; the nature of intentional states can be separated from the conditions for their ascription

Internalism and externalism

117

(4)

Externalists about intentionality believe that some intentional states or acts constitutively depend on the existence of their objects, while the strongest form of internalism denies this; it is argued that internalist intentionality is coherent, and that there is no prima facie intuitive case in favour of externalism

The argument for externalism

121

(5)

Externalists employ the influential `Twin Earth' argument in favour of their position; internalists may challenge this argument in two ways; the most plausible way is to deny the externalist's claim that content determines reference; no positive argument for internalism is provided, though

Demonstrative thought

126

(2)

Demonstrative thoughts (`that F is G') have been claimed to be another source of externalist arguments; much of what externalists claim about demonstrative thought can be accepted by internalists

The prospects for explaining thought

128

(2)

The prospects for a reductive account of thought or intentionality briefly considered

Perception

130

(27)

The problem of perception

130

(2)

The phenomenological problem of perception distinguished from the epistemological and psychological problems; the phenomenological problem is a result of the conflict between the immediacy of perception and the `Phenomenal Principle', once one allows the possibility of perfect hallucination

The argument from illusion

132

(5)

The argument outlined, and its most plausible version defended; the argument is shown to rest on the `Phenomenal Principle'

Perception as a form of intentionality

137

(3)

The way to solve the problem of perception is to give a correct account of the intentionality of perception; the `Phenomenal Principle' rejected; the nature of perceptual contents and modes examined

The phenomenal character of perceptual experience

140

(5)

It is sometimes said that an intentionalist view of perception cannot account for the phenomenal character of perception; two kinds of evidence for this claim considered: introspective evidence and inverted spectrum/earth thought-experiments; introspective evidence shown to be inconclusive, once we understand intentionality in the proper way

Inverted spectrum, Inverted Earth

145

(5)

The inverted spectrum possibility (if it is one) presents no knock-down argument against intentionalism; Inverted Earth only presents a problem for a purely externalist version of intentionalism; if narrow perceptual content is coherent, then the inverted earth argument is unsuccessful

Perception as non-conceptual

150

(7)

A further aspect of the phenomenal character of perception introduced: its distinctness from belief and judgement; this is expressed by saying that perceptions have non-conceptual contents; this idea is clarified, motivated, and defended against its critics

Endnotes

157

(12)

References

169

(10)

Index

179

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Elements of Mind An Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials