Interactionism Exam Questions

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  • Created by: Elena.S
  • Created on: 02-06-17 20:28

Define interactionism (3)

  • form of dualism stating that mental events cause physical events
  • critique of substance dualism due to no adequate account of mind in causal role
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Princess of Bohemia's dualism (5)

P1 - physical things only move if pushed
P2 - only something that is extended + can touch things can exert such force
P3 - mind has no extension ∴ cannot touch body
P4 - life experience shows thought leading to physical extended movement
P5 - there must be some kind of interaction between mental + physical but we don't know how
C - mind must somehow move body

RESPONSE

  • Descartes: not accurate understating of how things are moved i.e explanation of why something falls due to weight but weight doesn't push it - weight is result of force of gravity on mass of objective; gravity is force of attraction without need for contact between physical objects
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Criticism of interactionist dualism (12)

  • how do mental substances (not extended + no physical force) affect physical substances (extended + moved by physical forces)?

Materialist view
P1 - movement of physical object only initiated by some physical force exerted at some point in space
P2 - if dualism is true, mind is not in space + cannot exert anything physical
C - ∴ dualism is false or mind cannot cause any part of body to move
RESPONSE
PEoB: in own experience, mind causes body to move
CRITICISM
How? No evidence
RESPONSE
PEoB: "soul has properties that we don't know" - soul could be extended bc not inconsistent for that to happen

  • Descartes: third basic notion of union between mind + body (something else to enable causal interaction)
    CRITICISM
    No evidence
  • Descartes: mistake to understand mind's power to act on physical bc mental causation is different
    CRITICISM
  • how is this possible? - how can something physical cause changes in mind + vice versa

Law of conservation of energy
P1 - if mind (as non-physical substance) could move body, total amount of energy in closed system universe would increase
P2 - ∴ if mind could move moody, law of conservation of energy wouldn't apply + universe wouldn't be closed system
C - ∴ bc what is causing physical change in universe is not itself physical, physics cannot give us complete + correct account of physical energy in universe

How can mind move body?

  • current science indicates physical movements caused by physical events in brain
    RESPONSE
  • mind -> brain -> body
    CRITICISM
  • no eveidence of mind changing brain
    RESPONSE
  • no evidence to contrary - neuroscience can't account for complicated causation involved + could explain some events in brain caused by mind
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