6 Mind and Body Free Online FlashCards

What is the mind–body problem?

It asks how mental life relates to the physical body, especially the brain, and how mental states and bodily events are connected.

What does physicalism claim?

Physicalism holds that everything is physical or ultimately depends on the physical. Mental states may be identified with, or realized by, physical states.

What does identity theory propose about mental states?

Identity theory says that a particular mental state, such as a pain, is identical to a particular neural process.

How does functionalism characterize a mental state?

Functionalism characterizes a mental state by its role, including what causes it and how it guides behavior. Different physical systems could realize the same function.

What is the hard problem of consciousness?

The hard problem asks why physical processes are accompanied by felt experience—for example, why seeing red feels a particular way.

What does substance dualism claim?

Substance dualism holds that the mind is a nonphysical substance distinct from the body.

What does property dualism claim?

Property dualism holds that mental properties, especially conscious experiences, are not reducible to physical properties, even if they belong to a physical organism.

What is the interaction problem for dualism?

The interaction problem asks how mind and body can affect one another if they are fundamentally different—for example, how a decision causes movement or an injury causes sensation.

What does idealism treat as fundamental?

Idealism treats reality, or its fundamental basis, as mental rather than material. It must explain why the world appears stable and shared among observers.

What does neutral monism propose?

Neutral monism proposes that mind and matter are aspects of a more basic reality that is neither mental nor physical.

What does panpsychism hold about experience?

Panpsychism holds that experience, or a basic precursor to it, is widespread in nature. It must explain how simple experiential elements combine into a person's unified consciousness.

What does it mean to say an experience has a subjective character?

Consciousness is often understood as there being something it is like to have an experience; this is its subjective character.