Metaphysics

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Metaphysics
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After or next to Physics

• Created by Aristotle (because it was written
  after his physics!)

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What is Metaphysics?

• To reach beyond nature (physis) as we perceive
  it, and to discover the "true nature" of things,
  their ultimate essence and the reason for being.
• Metaphysics is the study of the basic structures
  and categories of what exists, or of reality.
• The big question how to work out a logical
  account of everything that we know or believe
  about existence
• Concerned not only with the nature of things that
  exist in space and time, but also with the nature
  of things that might not.

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Also known as

• Ontology

• a branch of metaphysics relating to the nature
  and relations of being
• a particular theory about the nature of being or
  the kinds of existence

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Bell Ringer Review

• Define Metaphysics and Ontology

• Agenda and Objectives
• Though notes and discussion students with
  identify metaphysical theories and its critics

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Permanence and Change(Answer Questions below)

• Are you the same person now as you were when you
  were born? Why/why not?
• Are you the same person now as you were
  yesterday? Why/why not?
• If you had been to a different school, would you
  be the same person?
• If you had your limbs amputated and replaced with
  synthetic ones, would you still be you?
• If you lost your fingerprints would you still be
  you?
• If you changed brains would you still be you?
• What are the essential factors that make up you?

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Permanence and Change

• questions to think about
• What makes something the same thing over a period
  of time?
• What kinds of changes in a thing would make it a
  different thing?

• So, If everything changes, is anything permanent?
• And, If something is permanent, how can it be
  part of a system that changes?

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Identity over time

• We tend to consider ourselves and other people to
  be single identities who exist through time.
• Even though many of our characteristics may
  change, we are known personally and legally as
  the same person at different points in time.
• Many theories out there to support this.

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First theorySame Body Theory

• Justification The importance to be able to trace
  the existence of one body through a continuous
  spatio-temporal path.
• continuous path through space and time will
  connect your current body to the body you will
  have in forty years time.
• also point to the factor of causal continuity,
  (that what happens to the earlier body will have
  effects on the later body. )

• someones personality can change radically,
  depending on their experiences and circumstances,
  but they remain the same person because they
  inhabit the same physical self.
• But, how can we say that the body of a baby is
  the same body as that of a teenager, and then of
  a 60-year old?

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Challenges to this theory

• Cosmetic surgery
• Organ transplants
• Facial Transplants
• Brain Transplants???
• Multiple Personality theories
• Am I the same person if I carry the kidney,
  liver or heart that used to belong to someone
  else?
• Would you still be you with a totally different
  face?

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Isabelle Dinoire
Before
2006
After
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Left to right Isabelle Dinoire before the dog
attack, one year after the transplantation with
makeup and 18 months after the transplant
without makeup.
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Second Theory Same Brain Theory

• Critics- Are you nothing more than the
  electrical impulses and chemical activity of your
  brain?
• Do you think that there is some kind of soul, or
  essence of you, that could not be captured and
  transplanted physically?

• being the same person over time is a matter of
  having the same brain.
• argues that if the brain in one body were
  switched with the brain in another body (i.e. a
  double transplant), the person or identity would
  follow the brain.

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Third Theory Same Mind/Soul Theory

• Critics Neuroscientists are producing more
  evidence all the time that everything we
  associate with the mind has a physical
  explanation - i.e. can be located and accounted
  for within the brain.
• Ex. brain damage can radically alter someones
  personality, removing some traits and capacities
  and adding others

• What gives someone identity over time is their
  possession of the same mind.
• Believe that the mind or soul is a different
  substance to any material thing i.e. it is not
  physical like the brain and the body.
• Basis for the theory of reincarnation.
• seems no logical reason why the death of the body
  should harm the person i.e. their mind in any
  way.

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Phineas Gage (1848)Phineas Gage Information
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Fourth Theory Mental Connections Theory (memory
Theory)

• Critic Unable to remember something-are we not
  that person who had those experiences of which we
  have no recollection?
• Would you still be you if you had your memories
  erased?

• argues that personal identity over time is a
  matter of being able to trace coherent
  connections and psychological characteristics
  over time (memories and experiences aka casual
  connections)

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Some questions to think about

• Decide if you have direct or indirect memories of
  the following events in your life.

• Your 16th B-day
• Name of your best friend when you were 8.
• The name of the lead singer of your favorite band
• Title of the first book you ever read
• Name of your favorite elementary school teacher

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Podcast

• As you listen

• What illness caused Clive to have amnesia?
• What seemed to help can some of his memory back?
• Is Clive the same person before his amnesia?

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Review!

• What are the four theories dealing with identity
  over time?

• Same body
• Same brain
• Same mind/soul
• Memory theory

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Phrenology

• once considered a science, by which the
  personality traits of a person were determined by
  "reading" bumps and fissures in the skull.
• based on the concept that the brain is the organ
  of the mind.
• believed that the mind has a set of different
  mental faculties, with each particular faculty
  represented in a different area of the brain.

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Question

• What makes a human being the same person over
  time, given after only a few months your body
  changes most of its cells?

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• The Problem of the Ship of Theseus

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• The Ship of Theseus is a grand, old, wooden
  battle ship. After sailing out to war, she
  returns damaged. Various small parts of the ship
  are replaced. This happens after all her
  ventures, and eventually large beams and other
  major structural features are replaced.
  Ultimately, over a period of many years, every
  part of the Ship of Theseus has been replaced.
• Is it the same ship after all of this?

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• And now here is a twist. At the port where the
  ship was repaired, there is a shed in which an
  old man has been storing all the screws, nails,
  planks, beams and other parts that were removed
  from the ship and replaced over many years. One
  day, the old man decides that he will put all the
  parts back together to make a ship. And this is
  the result we now have a very battered worn
  ship, just built, docked at the same port.
  Interestingly, although it has been newly put
  together, it looks much older than the other, and
  in fact every one of its parts is older.
• So which ship should be called the original ship?
  Which shall we call the Ship of Theseus?  
• Can you make a case for both?  
• Now, what if one of them was destroyed - would
  that make any difference?

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• With your group try to categorize the following
  items (Body, Mind, or Both)

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• Lust,
• Anticipation
• Mind
• Body
• Eyes
• Sight
• Hearing
• Taste
• Memories
• Illusions
• Bravery
• Central Nervous System
• Anxiety
• Anger

• Dreams
• Beliefs
• Pains
• Thoughts
• Feelings
• Adrenalin Rush
• Ears
• Tongue
• Heart
• Touch
• Heart ache
• Wishes
• Desires
• Heart burn
• Anxiety

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Mind/Body Problem

• Philosophy of mind is branch of philosophy that
  studies the concept of the mind, mental events,
  functions, properties and consciousness.

• Mind-Body Problem concerns the relationship of
  the mind to the body.
• Two major schools of thought that attempt to
  resolve this mind-body problem is Dualism and
  Monism.

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Monism

• belief that ultimate reality is entirely of one
  substance
• Two types

• To describe the view that only matter, or the
  physical body, exist. (materialism)
• To describe the view that only mind, or spirit,
  exist. (idealism)

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Dualism

• Dualism claims that mind and matter are two
  separate categories.
• The mind is a nonphysical substance.
• Substance (Cartesian) Dualism-view that the
  universe contains two fundamental types of
  entity mental and physical

• Led by Descartes who was the first to identify
  the mind with consciousness and self-awareness
  and to distinguish this from the brain, which was
  the basis of intelligence. (minds and bodies are
  different kinds of entities.)
• the mental is private, that though each of us has
  access to our own mind through introspection, no
  one can directly observe anyone elses mind

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Part II

• The Mind/Body Problem
• And are we truly free?
• Are we always responsible for what we do?

Agenda and Objectives Through questionnaire and
notes students will identify the differences
between Free Will and Determinism
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The Mind/Body Problem

• The mind allows us to engage in a wide range of
  activities.

• To have self-awareness
• To have dreams and hopes
• To reason about the world
• To communicate
• To feel emotions
• To perceive, smell, and touch the world.

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Free will vs. Determinism

• (Am I really Free?)

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True or False?

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• All events are caused.
• We are responsible for all our actions.
• In some situations people perform actions, but
  they are not responsible for what they do.
• In each and every situation in my life, I could
  have acted otherwise than I in fact acted.
• If we were to roll back time to the year 1950,
  history would unfold in the same way as it
  actually did (i.e., JFK would be shot in 1963,
  Obama would be elected in 2008, etc.).
• God knows what will happen in the future. He
  knows especially what will happen in my life
  later on that is, he knows when I will die and
  what I will have for dinner tomorrow night, etc.
• Nobody (not even God) can know what will happen
  in the future because the future has not yet
  happened.

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True or False?

• If I had experienced a different childhood, then
  I would make different decisions right now.
• Even if one has a terrible childhood, one still
  can pull oneself together and make free and
  responsible choices about ones life.
• Some people have no choice when it comes to
  drinking alcohol. They are bound to become
  alcoholics.
• We sometimes act on desires that are not our own,
  but which are implanted in us by advertising or
  peer pressure.

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Bell Ringer Responsible or Not?

• A very drunk person decided that he can still
  drive home.
• A student who has been told by everybody that he
  is bad at Math fails another math exam.
• A person who had a back injury is told to take
  painkillers, then he becomes addicted.
• A 15 yr old girl who has been told all her life
  by her mother that she is too fat becomes
  anorexic
• A 15 yr old boy who grows up in a violent
  neighborhood drops out of school and starts
  selling drugs.
• A person who is chronically depressed and with
  out health insurance, and therefore without
  medical treatment for the depression, commits
  suicide.
• A 55 yr old man takes his first Viagra pill. The
  pill has a very strong effect. He subsequently
  decides to spend about 1000 on a sex hotline.

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A question to ask

• What is Freedom?

• surface freedom
• Being able to do what you want
• Being free to act, and choose, as you will
• BUT what if what you will is not under your
  control?

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Another question

• Why is freedom important?

• We feel that we are free that we are the
  originators of our own actions
• We need to be free in order to be responsible for
  our actions

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Welcome Back

• Bell ringer.What is free will?

• Agenda and objectives Through notes/discussion
  students will identify the various theories of
  Free Will

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Free Will

• The freedom of personal choice
• Being an agent capable of influencing the world
• Source of ones own actions
• Actions and choices are up-to-us

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• The main Philosophical problem is to explain how
  the past is connected with the future and what
  impact this connection has on our ability to make
  free choices.

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Against free will-Determinism(Freedom is an
illusion!)

• The assertion that every event in the universe
  has a cause, and, since human acts are events,
  they also have causes.
• Furthermore, if every event/action has a cause,
  then every event/action is predictable.
• Theory that the future is fixed by the past.

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Argument against Free Will(for Determinism)

• 1 All events have causes.
• 2 Our actions are events.
• 3 All caused events are determined by the past.
• C1 Therefore, our actions are determined
  by the past.
• 4 If our actions are determined by the past,
  then we have no power to act other than we do
  indeed act.
• 5 If we have no power to act other than how we
  do act, then we have no free will.
• C2 Therefore, we have no free will.

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Could we be mistaken aboutfeeling free?
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Let us imagine a man who, while standing on the
street, would say to himself It is six oclock
in the evening, the working day is over. Now I
can go for a walk, or I can go to the club I can
also climb up the tower to see the sun set I can
go to the theatre I can visit this friend or
that one indeed, I also can run out of the gate,
into the wide world and never return. All this
is strictly up to me in this I have complete
freedom. But still, I shall do none of these
things now, but with just as free a will I shall
go home to my wife. This is exactly as if water
spoke to itself I can make high waves (yes! in
the sea during a storm), I can rush down hill
(yes! in the river bed), I can plunge down
foaming and gushing (yes! in the fountain) I can,
finally, boil away and disappear (yes! at certain
temperature) but I am doing none of these things
now, and am voluntarily remaining quiet and clear
in the reflecting pond. 19th Century, Arthur
Schopenhauer
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The point of Schopenhauer?

• is that we do not lose our sense of freedom even
  if our future is already determined.
• You have the ability to think about all your
  choices, but given your past, you will choose the
  one most logical.

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Limitations to Free Will

• Constraints- one is constrained from acting as he
  or she would normally act given a choice.

• Obstacles- prevents an action

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Going Further-Hard Determinism

• The past completely determines the future
• The belief that free will is an illusion
• People are not morally responsible for their
  actions

• The key is Causality, that the past causes the
  future. Causality is the link which determines
  how the future will look like (relationship
  between events.)

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Objections

• cannot predict how people will choose or act when
  they have had a chance to think through their
  decision. 
• Furthermore, it cannot account for our ability to
  challenge and change the attitudes and desires
  that we have learned.
• Determinism assumes that there is only one way to
  explain behavior (causes), when in fact there is
  another way of explaining behavior (reasons)
  which is just as good.

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Argument against Determinism

• 1 If hard determinism is true, then we have no
  free will.
• 2 If we have no free will, then we are not
  responsible for our actions.
• 3 We are responsible for our actions!
• C1 Therefore, hard determinism is false.

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Indeterminism

• Some events are not caused by anything
• they are pure chance events they simply happen,
  having nothing to do with the person doing it.
• Example Tourettes syndrome.

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Problems

• If choices and actions are not determined even by
  one's personality or character, then a so-called
  "free" act would be one that occurs spontaneously
  and unpredictably thus no one could justifiably
  be held responsible for doing an action which not
  even he/she could have predicted would occur!

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Soft Determinism (aka Compatibilism)

• Combining Causality and free will
• We ourselves are the causes of actions, therefore
  our actions are free. 
• What we want (as expressed by personality or
  character) is determined by external events (i.e.
  genetics, culture, upbringing), but as long as we
  are able to act consistent with our choices, we
  are free

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Welcome Back

• Bell ringer.What are limitations to free will?

• Agenda and objectives Through notes/discussion
  students will identify the various theories of
  Free Will

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Libertarianism(Free will exists!)

• Doctrine that human beings are causal agents
  they can initiate (cause) events on their own
  account and thus are free to shape the future.
• Most intuitive theory of free will
• Argues that determinism applies to physical
  events (event causation), but not to causal
  agents (humans).
• When humans act, they cause something to happen
  (agent causation).
•  

• Problem-external casual factors play a role in
  limiting are freedom.
• theory fails to explain why a person makes the
  choice he or she does - any explanation of the
  choice (beyond the probabilistic one) would seem
  to make it determined

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My Lai Massacre
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Free Will, Determinism and Crime

• On March 16 1968, C Company under the command of
  Lt. William Calley assaulted the Vietnamese
  Village of My Lai. 300-500 civilians were
  massacred. The ensuing investigation took a year
  and half. In the end, charges of war crimes were
  prepared against 14 US soldiers four were
  actually tried. On March 29, 1971 Lt. Calley was
  found guilty of murdering 22 Vietnamese citizens.
  He was sentence to prison for 20 years his
  sentence was later reduced to 10 yrs. On Novemebr
  9, 1974. William Calley was released in parole
  and is currently living in Georgia.

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Match them up!- How would each theory view the My
Lai Massacre and Lt. Calleys responsibility?(So
ft Determinism, Liberalism, Hard determinism)

• 1. He must assume total responsibility!
• 2. He is not responsible for the crime because
  there was no other possible outcome.
• 3. It depends! If outside influences or
  constraints would force him to act, then is he
  not responsible. If his actions were a result of
  his own internal will, then he is to blame.

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Answers

• 1. Libertarianism
• 2. Hard determinism
• 3. Soft determinism

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Welcome Back!

• Bell Ringer
• Agenda and Objective Through notes/discussion
  students will understand the difference between
  Monism and Dualism as well as the definitions of
  free will and determinism

• Review sheet!

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Welcome Back!

• What is the definition of Free Will?
• What is the definition of Determinism?
• Agenda and Objective Finish notes. Quiz on
  Tuesday