the mind-body problem or the question of machine intelligence

Unit Two Workshop and Essay

Intro to Philosophy

 

Instructions

In the second unit in this class, we have focused on two things; we’ve looked at various texts in which the authors argue for a specific view on the mind-body problem and we have attempted to identify and report arguments. This assignment will bring these together. 

You are asked to consider the following question: how is the mind related to the body or brain?

Ok, now that you’ve sorted that out, consider the passages below the instructions, from several of our our authors, namely, Descartes, Papineau, or Jackson. For this essay, you must consider one of these authors. Re-read the passage I have provided, in which he or she answers one of the above two questions. You might find that the author really answers both questions at the same time, or not. 

Having re-read the passage, you must next try to find not only the author's answer(s) to the above question(s), but the reasons offered in support of his view. 

 

What you must write in your Blue Book:

Now - and only now! — is it time to write. Here is what your paper must contain: 

 

1. First, identify which author you’ll be considering. 

2. You must next state, clearly, simply, and accurately, what your chosen author would say in response to the above questions. This should not be more than a single paragraph — get to the point! This might even be called your thesis or controlling idea. It’s the idea you’ll be exploring in the rest of the paper. 

3. Next provide the reasons why the author believes what you have just claimed he does. Consider no more than one reason per paragraph. So, if you find three reasons, then write at least three paragraphs for this part. 

4. In each paragraph, explain each reason simply, clearly, and accurately. Then elaborate a bit on what that means and try to show why or how it supports the main claim, How does this reason help him or her? 

5. You must also provide evidence! That is, you must provide textual evidence supporting your claim that the authors in question really has this reason you’re discussing. The best and easiest way to do this is to quote, briefly and accurately, the sentence in which the author actually says the reason, from the passage I provided. Then restate it in your own words, explaining the passage as I described in number 4, just above. Remember, though, the evidence does not speak for itself. You must interpret and explain it. But you also must remain true to the text you’re discussing and the textual evidence will make that happen. 

6. Ideally, the reasons you present will indeed be relevant to the main claim you presented (i.e., the answer you claim your author would give to the question(s) above). Don’t provide reasons that are irrelevant or even contrary to the main claim! You are trying to support it, remember.  Also note that all of this is reporting what the author said, not what you think. 

7. Finally, evaluate what you have just said. The author said it, but is it right? Do you buy it? Why or why not? Write a single paragraph evaluating the argument you’ve just presented. Ideally, if you disagree, you’ll identify the reason or reasons you think are weak and why.

8. And please do all of the above with good written English, readable, clear, etc…

 

Once you have finished, you must take it home, revise it, and type it up in a Word document and upload it to Canvas, under the assignment for Essay Two. You have just a few days to do this. Many sentences, you’ll find, are less clear than you thought, or need reworking, etc... If you want to be a good writer, plan on revising at least once.

You’ll note that I have described four to six paragraphs (one to present your thinker’s view, one to three for the reasons in support of the view, one to summarize the whole argument, and one to evaluate it). So how long should the paper be? At least thee double-spaced, 12 pt font pages, with one inch margins, etc... and no more than five or so. Recognize that you are likely to lose points if you turn a paper that is noticeably shorter than this — and I am talking about three pages of actual essay, not including cover page or bibliography. 

Finally, because I am asking you to provide evidence form the text for your claims about the text, you must cite your chosen passage properly. What counts as proper? Well, I’ll be discussing this at length, in class, but let me say this. Everything you take verbatim (i.e, word for word quote) must be cited in some obvious way so that I know it is not your own words. But listen: you need to do exactly the same thing even if you are merely paraphrasing the text. If the ideas aren’t yours, you need to cite it too, in just the same way. This even means you might have to cite a friend who told you something, or whatever. If in doubt, cite. 

Finally, you can use ONLY ONE SOURCE: ONE OF THE PASSAGES I PROVIDE BELOW. Do NOT quote my handouts; do NOT go on the internet to find answers. This assignment evaluates your ability to read a text, not your ability to use Google. Using web sources thus constitutes failing to do this assignment; if I determine that you have done so, I will give you an F.

After all of that, please upload to Canvas linked on our course webpage before our next class, according to the deadline listed on the syllabus. If at any time you have trouble, or questions, or if you think you might not make the deadline, EMAIL ME! 

 

Passages for Essay Two

Descartes Passage

“First, I know that if I have a vivid and clear thought of something, God could have created it in a way that exactly corresponds to my thought. So the fact that I can vividly and clearly think of one thing apart from another assures me that the two things are distinct from one another -- that is, that they are two -- since they can be separated by God. Never mind how they could be separated; that does not affect the judgment that they are distinct. So my mind is a distinct thing from my body. Furthermore, my mind is me, for the following reason. I know that I exist and that nothing else belongs to my nature or essence except that I am a thinking thing; from this it follows that my essence consists solely in my being a thinking thing, even though there may be a body that is very closely joined to me. I have a vivid and clear idea of myself as something that thinks and isn't extended, and one of body as something that is extended and does not think. So it is certain that I am really distinct from my body and can exist without it.” (René Descartes, Meditations, Sixth Meditation, p. 29,  http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/assets/pdfs/descartes1641.pdf (Links to an external site.)  )

 

Papineau Passage

“Let me now outline what I take to be the canonical argument for materialism. Setting to one side all complications, which can be discussed later, it can be put as follows. 

Many effects that we attribute to conscious causes have full physical causes. But it would be absurd to suppose that these effects are caused twice over. So the conscious causes must ·be identical to some part of those physical causes. 

To appreciate the force of this argument, consider some bodily behaviour which we would standardly attribute to conscious causes. For example, I walk to the fridge to get a beer, because I consciously feel thirsty. Now combine this example with the thought that, according to modern physical science, such bodily movements are fully caused by prior physical processes in brains and nerves. The obvious conclusion is that the conscious thirst must be identical with some part of those physical processes.” (David Papineau, “The Case for Materialism”, Thinking About Consciousness, Oxford U Press, 2002, p. 17)

 

Jackson Passage

MARY is confined to a black-and-white room, is educated  through black-and-white books and through lectures relayed through black-and-white books and through lectures on black-and-white television. In this way she learns everything there is to know about the physical nature of the world. She knows all the physical facts about us and our environment, in a wide sense of 'physical' which includes everything in completed physics, chemistry, and neurophysiology, and all there is to know about the causal and relational facts consequent upon all this, including of course functional roles. If physicalism is true, she knows all there is to know. For to suppose otherwise is to suppose that there is more to know than every physical fact, and that is just what physicalism denies.

Physicalism is not the noncontroversial thesis that the actual world is largely physical, but the challenging thesis that it is entirely physical. This is why physicalists must hold that complete physical knowledge is complete knowledge simpliciter…

It seems, however, that Mary does not know all there is to know. For when she is let out of the black-and-white room or given a color television, she will learn what it is like to see something red, say. This is rightly described as learning-she will not say "ho, hum." Hence, physicalism is false.” (Frank Jackson, “What Mary Didn’t Know,” The Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 83, No. 5 (May, 1986), p. 291)