PPT-The metaphysics of mind Michael Lacewing

enquiriesalevelphilosophycouk Metaphysics What is the fundamental nature of reality Ontology What exists What is the nature of what exists What is the mind or mental properties Start with substance and properties. Michael Lacewing. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. © Michael Lacewing . Out of doubt. The purpose of the . Meditations. is to find the truth. To do this, Descartes needs to solve his . sceptical. doubts. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. © Michael Lacewing. Am I a brain in a vat?. Knowledge is not belief (even true belief). Are my reasons for my beliefs sufficient for knowledge?. Maybe all my experiences are fed to me by a supercomputer. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. © Michael Lacewing. The good. ‘What is the good for human beings?’. . What . is it that we are aiming . at?. What. . would provide a successful, fulfilling, good life. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. © Michael Lacewing. Stealing. Steal: . to take someone else’s property with no intention of returning it and without their permission (or without the legal right to do so. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. (c) Michael Lacewing. Hedonist act utilitarianism. Actions . are morally right or wrong depending on their consequences and nothing else. An act is right if it maximises what is good.. :. two objections. Michael Lacewing. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. (c) Michael Lacewing. Philosophical behaviourism. A . family of theories that claim that we can analyse mental concepts in terms of concepts that relate to the body, and in particular, the concept of ‘behaviour. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. © Michael Lacewing. Utilitarianism. A. ct . utilitarianism:. . an action is right if it . maximises. happiness, and wrong if it does not. . I. f . telling a lie creates more happiness than telling the truth (or keeping silent), then telling a lie is morally right. Michael Lacewing. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. © Michael Lacewing . ‘Innatism’ about knowledge. The claim that there is some innate knowledge. The debate is about propositional knowledge not ability knowledge. Michael Lacewing. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. © Michael Lacewing. The problem. How can we know that other minds exist?. We experience . our own . minds directly, but it seems that we can only know of other people’s behaviour. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. © Michael Lacewing. Metaethics. What is morality, philosophical speaking?. Can ethical claims be objectively true or false?. Are moral properties part of reality?. Cognitivism: moral judgments, e.g. ‘Murder is wrong’. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. © Michael Lacewing. Idealism. Idealism: everything that exists is a mind or dependent on a . mind. Berkeley: . to . be is to be perceived (or to perceive): . esse est percipi . enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. © Michael Lacewing . What do we perceive?. Direct realism: we perceive physical objects, which exist independent of our experience. Physical objects existed before minds. Michael Lacewing. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. (c) Michael Lacewing. Descartes’ question. Cosmological arguments usually ask ‘why does anything exist’?. Descartes doubts the existence of everything, and offers his cosmological argument after showing only that he exists. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. © Michael Lacewing. Simulated killing. The dramatisation, i.e. enactment, . of killing within a fictional context, e.g. in video games, films and . plays. Playing the killer.