Exam 5: René Descartes Mind and Body

According to Conway, "In every visible creature there is an opacity and an intuition, or a more active and more passive principle."

Those who claim that consciousness is a special kind of property that is itself non-physical, but which emerges from physical systems such as the brain once they attain a certain level of complexity, are called "physical monists."

According to Velmans, "Once a given reference for the term consciousness is fixed in its diametrics, the investigation of its nature can begin, and this may in time transmute the meaning (or sense) of the term."

Nagel says of consciousness, "No doubt it occurs in countless forms totally unimaginable to us, on other planets in other solar systems throughout the universe. But no matter how the form may vary, the fact that an organism has conscious experience at all means, basically, that there is something ..."

Velleman says, "According to ___________, objects have past- and future-tensed properties, but the objects themselves exist only in the present, and so they don't persist at all, much less endure."

According to Conway, _________ extension is that which matter, body, or substance has, as considered without all motion or action; and this extension is neither greater or lesser, because it would still remain the same.

Descartes claims that he has a clear and distinct idea of "mind" which he defines as ...

Locke says, "a thinking intelligent being, that has reason and reflection, and can consider itself as itself, the same thinking thing, in different times and places; which it does only by that consciousness which is inseparable from thinking, and, as it seems to me, essential to it." This is Locke's definition of spirit.

According to Conway, virtual extension is that which matter, body, or substance has, as considered without all motion or action; and this extension is neither greater or lesser, because it would still remain the same.

Cavendish distinguishes between "rational perception" and "sensitive perception." Do you agree with Cavendish's arguments? Explain your answer.

What point is Hume making when he says, "For my part, when I enter most intimately into what I call myself, I always stumble on some particular perception or other, of heat or cold, light or shade, love or hatred, pain or pleasure." Do you agree with Hume?

A no longer accepted theory that living organisms contained some special non-physical element or force that gave them life is called Vitalism.

Theories that attempt to reduce mental events to physical events are called ...

Explain Locke's meaning when he says, "we see the substance whereof personal self consisted at one time may be varied at another, without the change of personal identity; there being no question about the same person, though the limbs which but now were a part of it, be cut off."

According to Cavendish, the "natural mind and soul of man, not the supernatural or divine," cannot be ...

Locke says, "since consciousness always accompanies thinking, and it is that which makes every one to be what he calls self, and thereby distinguishes himself from all other thinking things, in this alone consists abstract entities, i.e. the sameness of a rational being."

Explain Locke's meaning when he says, "For should the soul of a prince, carrying with it the consciousness of the prince's past life, enter and inform the body of a cobbler, as soon as deserted by his own soul, every one sees he would be the same person with the prince, accountable only for the prince's actions: but who would say it was the same man." Do you agree with Locke?

Velleman says, "we should hope for a more intuitively satisfying solution to the problems of endurance and temporal passage. I think that the solution is to recognize that both phenomena are illusions, and that these illusions are transcendent."

Velleman says, "I want to suggest that the existence of an enduring self, if it is indeed an illusion, is one of two illusions that go hand-in-hand. A consequence of shedding the one illusion would be to shed the other as well. The other illusion of which I speak has to do with the nature of time."

Explain the difference between what an "eternalist" believes and what a "presentist" believes. Which position, if any, do you agree with? If you don't agree with either one, then state why.