THEORIES OF CONSCIOUSNESS

Mind-Body
Problem
Claire Albertsen
 The mind-body problem was originally
W H AT I S T H E
tailored in pre-Aristotle times and in early-
MIND BODY Asian times, but I will refer to René
Descartes' argument on the problem in 17th
PROBLEM?
century. Resulted in Cartesian dualism, in
DUALISM VS MONISM
which the mind and matter, or physical and
mental states can be described as two
different entities.
 Consciousness is what makes
the mind-body problem really
intractable.
- THOMAS NAGEL (1974)
 CONSCIOUS & UNCONSCIOUS
BODY
Physical
A physical body is an enduring object that exists throughout a
particular trajectory of space and orientation over a particular duration of
time

MIND Awareness

Mental
Mental states comprise a diverse class including perception, pain
experience, belief, desire, intention, emotion, and memory.

SPIRIT (SOUL OR PSYCHE)

Mental
Comprises the mental abilities of a living being: reason, character,
feeling, consciousness, qualia, memory, perception, thinking
T H I N K I N G V S AWA R E N E S S

“Thinking” is when your mind creates thoughts about the

situation you are in. “Awareness” is when your attention is
focused on the situation simply observing with your senses.
You are aware through what you see, hear, feel, smell, taste.
Thinking separates us from the immediacy of the situation.
THOUGTS
C O N S C I O U S AWA R E N E S S
Consciousness could rather be conceived as awareness (“to be”) in
relation to points of view (external), unconscious beliefs, subconscious
feelings, and conscious thoughts. Since thoughts are conscious and
intentional, it is questionable as to whether human beings can truly know
“what it is like” to be something of another mental state without having
the same unconscious or subconscious capacity to intentionally have the
same feelings and beliefs as that other given mental state, such as a bat.

M I N D & M AT T E R
Thoughts produced from the mind have an intimate relation with brain
activity, thus thoughts created by the mind that affect the body are
essentially material or matter
 DUALISM
Supports dualism in the sense that the mind is
distinct from the body (brain) but could influence
matter. The mind can exist without one’s body,
being that it is a different entity from one’s body.
Does the mind depend on the brain or does the
brain depend on the mind? One’s mind is not
confined to one’s own brain or even body, so
furthermore a body cannot be considered
meaningfully alive without a [conscious] mind
MONISM
Rejects monism in the sense that even when using
reductionism, we find that everything relevant to
us as humans and a society is made up of atoms,
which are composed of protons, neutrons, and
electrons of different variations. We cannot have
an atom that stably exists with only one of these
components, so therefore we cannot reduce the
universe down to one, sole thing.
 R E P R E S E N TAT I O N A L

THEORIES OF CONSCIOUSNESS
R E D U C E C O N S C I O U S N E S S T O “ M E N TA L
R E P R E S E N TAT I O N S ” R AT H E R T H A N D I R E C T LY T O
N E U R A L S TAT E S . T H E P R I M A RY F O C U S O F T H I S E N T RY
I S O N H O R A N D E S P E C I A L LY H I G H E R - O R D E R T H O U G H T
( H O T ) T H E O RY.
 R E P R E S E N TAT I O N A L I S M
When our awareness as human beings become high
enough, we become closer to our mind and we can
see more clearly that thought is what is creating our
reality, which can be defined as representationalism
(realism, epistemological dualism, or representative
theory of perception)
 P R O G R E S S I O N O F TO P I C
F R O M S TA RT T O F I N I S H

MIND- DUALISM HIGHER REPRESENT INTENTION

BODY VS MONISM ORDER - S &
PRelationship
ROBLEM Relationship THEORIES AT I O
What is N ALIS
real[ism]? DUAL
Personal I S Mon
theory
between thought, between mind, Regarding HO M this
How does how mind-body
consciousness, and body, and psyche thoughts, drive dualism & HO
brain within the (mental vs perceptions, and intentionality? theory relates to
body physical) experiences conscious
(Gennaro, 2004) intentions
(Block, 2011)
 THANK YOU!
I HOPE YOU ENJOYED LISTENING TO MY
TOPIC!