20th Century Views on Mind and Body

1
20th Century Views on Mind and Body

• Logical Behaviorism (Gilbert Ryle) mind refers
  simply to a way of speaking about behaviors

(1900-76)

• Mind-Brain (Identity) Theory states of
  consciousness thoughts are simply brain states
  (reductive materialism)
• Problem consciousness brain states have
  different properties (e.g., consciousness is not
  spatial)

J. J. C. Smart (1920- )
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More 20th Century Theories of Mind

• Eliminative Materialism we should replace terms
  like thought with purely material expressions

Paul Churchland (1942 - )

• Functionalism mental states are patterned
  associations of sensory stimuli and behaviors
  these associations are not tied to any particular
  anatomical mechanism

Jerry Fodor (1935 - )
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Minds and Machines

• Epiphenomenalism conscious activity is simply
  the result of physical (automatic) organization

Thomas Huxley (1825-95)

• Objection to say that a being thinks or feels
  pain is not to describe anything it is to reveal
  how we speak (which is linked to a network of
  other beliefs)

Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951)