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. Metaphysics . What is reality?. Why is there something and not nothing?. What is it to exist?. What is a being?. What is a person?. Am I Free?. Is there a supreme being?. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. (c) Michael Lacewing. Omniscience. Omni-: ‘all’; . scient. : ‘knowing’. Is it possible to know . everything. ?. God is the most perfect . possible . being. So omniscience is ‘. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. (c) Michael Lacewing. Cognitivism. . and moral realism. What are we doing when we. make moral judgments?. Cognitivism: moral judgments, e.g. ‘Murder is wrong’. 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. (c) Michael Lacewing. God and time. God is self-. sufficient.. Therefore, God is dependent . on nothing else for . existence.. Therefore, nothing can end God’s existence.. 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. :. 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. (c) Michael Lacewing. Cognitivism v. non-cognitivism. What are we doing when we. make moral judgments?. Cognitivism: moral judgments, e.g. ‘Murder is wrong’. Aim to describe how the world is. Argument. Michael Lacewing. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. Anselm’s argument. God is a being ‘greater . than which cannot be conceived. ’. If you could think of something that is greater than God, surely this something would . 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. 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. Is pleasure good?. Aristotle: . pleasure is good, and. . eudaimonia . involves pleasure. Obj. : . The temperate person avoids pleasure.. Not . true..