PHIL 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Mental Substance, Behaviorism, Occasionalism
Document Summary
Interactionism: the mind and the body are distinct but causally interact. Examples: longterm illness causes depression, stubbing toe and feeling pain. Nerves in brain produce changes in the mind. Substance dualism: we are comprised of two kinds of substance: mental substance: thoughts, feelings, beliefs, physical substance: weight, shape, density. Property dualism: we have two types of properties, mental and physical properties: a general worry. It is a mystery how the mind can causally interact with the body if they are as radically different as descartes" dualism implies. The causal interaction between the two realms would seem inexplicable. Interactionism seems to violate the law of conservation of energy (according to which, the total amount of energy in the physical universe remains constant). Physical causing mental = less energy in the physical universe. Mental causing physical = more energy in the physical universe.
