Study sheet for Phil 202 final exam

DUALIST THEORIES

Descartes
Descartes' Substance Dualism (What is the essence of mind? Of body?)
The "perfectly transparent mind" vs. the "epistemological iceberg" view of mind
Descartes' version of the properties argument
The problem of mind/body interaction
Armstrong's arguments against introspective infallibility

Hume
Hume's "bundle of perceptions" view of mind
Hume's version of the properties argument
The problem of unifying the bundle: synchronic unity and diachronic unity

Epiphenomenalism
According to the epiphenomenalist, what is the nature of mind/body interaction?

PHYSICALIST THEORIES

Behaviorism
Ryle:
What are mental states?
Dispositions (realist vs. phenomenalist)
Why can't the will be a cause of action?
Category mistakes
The problem of other minds

Wittgenstein:
The "beetle-in-the-box" thought experiment

Brain identity theory
What kind of property do our mental concepts pick out?
Mind/brain identities are synthetic, a posteriori and contingent

Kripke:
Rigid designators
Why can't "pain" be a topic-neutral concept?

The Causal Theory
Topic neutral mental concepts
Causal roles
Two-step contingent identification of mental states with brain states.

David Lewis:
Mad pain and Martian pain…What are they and why are they both cases of pain?

Functionalism
What are mental states?
Multiple realizeability
Functionalism and non-reductive physicalism
Objections to Functionalism: Inverted spectrum, absent qualia, problem of inputs and outputs, Searle's Chinese room

Eliminativism
Why does Rorty think that there are no such things as mental states (e.g. beliefs)? Why do the Churchland's think the same thing?
The "theory-laden" nature of introspection
Is Eliminativism based on a semantic mistake?

CHALLENGES TO PHYSICALISM

Consciousness
Three kinds of consciousness…what is introspective consciousness?
What is the purpose of introspective consciousness? (See both Armstrong and Flanagan.)

Sensible Qualities
Where are the colors we see located (according to Armstrong)? How about the pain we feel? When we hallucinate a pink elephant, where's the pinkness?
The "What Mary Didn't Know" thought experiment and Churchland's replies

Intentionality
What is Armstrong's account of how mental states have intentionality? What's proto-intentionality?

Dennett's "Intentional Systems"
What is Dennett's account of beliefs and desires? Describe the differences between the intentional stance, the design stance, and the physical stance.

Fodor's "Methodological Solipsism"
What is the "formality constraint"?
According to Fodor, is there a place in cognitive psychology for "belief" and other intentional states? Why or why not?

Kim's "The Mind-Body Problem"
Supervenience
What is the connection, according to Kim, between Functionalism and Reductionism?
Describe Kim's model of reduction

Visual deficits (Describe the four kinds of apperceptive agnosias.)

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