c/w Materialism 08/02/2022

Key Word Test

1. A priori
2. A posteriori
3. Empirical knowledge
4. Materialism
5. Dualism
6. Forms
7. Cogito Ergo Sum
8. Plato’s Knowledge Argument
9. Plato’s Chariot Analogy
10. Aristotle’s Wax Analogy
Learning Objectives
To describe what is meant by materialism.
To explain Gilbert Ryle’s ‘Ghost in the Machine’
To assess the effectiveness of materialism as a response to the Mind-
Body Problem.
John Searle
John Searle has made notable contributions in the philosophy of
mind, including the Chinese Room Experiment against strong artificial
intelligence.
​
1. What are the problems that John Searle identifies with dualism?
What are the problems he identifies with hard materialism?
2. Is Searle a property dualist? Why or why not?
Objection to dualism: Ghost in the Machine
• People who make distinction between Objections to Ryle
mind and body are making a category
error because they think the mind is a
thing in the way the body is a thing. • However, some would argue the
‘whole is more than the sum of its
• He compares it to a Ghost in the parts’. Cf. cricket match there’s
Machine – I can explain the community spirit and village
functioning of a machine, purely by its
material parts – there is NO ghost in • It might be something intangible
the machine which is nevertheless real and
important cf. metaphor
• Cf. showing people the colleges and
faculties of Oxford and then asking
‘where is the university’
1. Reductive Materialism
• Identity Theory is a type of materialism
that argues that mental states can be
reduced to and are identical to brain
states.
• Mind is not distinct from the physical
brain but mental states (e.g. memories,
pain, desire) are identical to brain
states (chemical reaction).
• Boring: it is not the case that mental
state X causes brain state Y, but X and Y
are the same thing.
• No room for life after death
2. Eliminative Materialism

• Eliminative materialism is a type of

materialism that argues that there are no
mental states. As such functionalism and
identity theory are wrong to try to
reduce mental states to physical states.
• Listen to Patricia Churchland. What
elements of the mind can simply be
eliminated?
• How does she compare it to the
elements?
3. Functionalism

• Functionalism identifies mental states

with their functional role, in an
analogous way to software (mind) in a
computer (brain).
• Though functionalism is neutral
between materialism and dualism,
many functionalists are materialists, as
some argue it is overwhelmingly likely
that any states capable of playing the
roles in question will be physical states.
Richard Dawkins’ Selfish Gene
• Evolutionary biologist
• The Selfish Gene: Humans are vehicles of genes which are only interested in replicating
themselves in order to survive into the next generation.
• ‘survival machines – robot vehicles blindly programmed to preserve the selfish molecules
known as genes’.
• Dawkins rejects ‘soul one’ idea there is a distinctive spiritual supernatural part of a person.
• Dawkins accepts ‘soul two’ Aristotelian concept of soul as someone’s personality and
individuality
• Religious beliefs about the soul part of wish fulfilment for those who cannot face their own
mortality.
• Consciousness = electro-chemical events within the brain and so no person can survive
brain death.
Problems with Materialism
• Limitations of neuroscience: materialism cannot answer how an opinion or a logical chain of
reasoning or a strong emoticon can be no more than a physical chemical reaction.
• Hard Problem of Consciousness: How can subjective first-person experience (consciousness)
be explained by objective third-person explanation (chemical and electrical activity in the brain)
• Descartes: mind and body have different properties.
• Richard Swinburne and Keith Ward both defend the idea that humans have souls distinct from
bodies which are capable of surviving after death.
• Swinburne argues that aspects of our individuality cannot be reduced to purely physical terms.
Human soul is distinguished as alone capable of ordered and complex thought.
• Ward: if we abandon the idea of a soul, morality becomes simply a matter of personal choice.
We need the idea of the soul coming from God in order to progress and achieve that special
dignity of being human with a final purpose rather than simply an animal.
Objection to materialism: Mary’s room

Frank Jackson asks us to imagine a

scientist who knows everything about
colour but has never experienced
colour. Once she finally does experience
colour, Jackson asks, does she learn
anything new? His answer is yes. This
suggests the existence of qualia and that
physicalism is false and instead Jackson
puts forward epiphenomenalism, a type
of property dualism. 
Objection to materialism: Zombies!

A zombie is the exact physical

duplicate of a person without
experiential consciousness. Though
zombies are not possible in the real
world they are conceivable in a
different possible world. This shows
that the properties of consciousness
cannot be reduced to physical
properties and so physicalism is false
and some kind of dualism is true. 
Test
1. Outline three properties of the mind. [3]
2. Describe two of Descartes’ arguments for dualism. [4]
3. Describe Gilbert Ryle's Ghost in the Machine analogy. [4]
4. Explain the hard problem of consciousness. [4]
5. Create an essay plan for the following question: Critically assess the
view that the mind is just the brain. [40]