PSYC1001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Monism, Qualia, The Smell
12 Jun 2018
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COURSE OVERVIEW
Hard to define
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Need a working definition --> building on the definitions
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Sometimes it can be very general e.g. awake vs asleep
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What is consciousness?
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Cannot understand personality if we don't understand consciousness
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Consciousness - underlines everything we do and who we are
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The application of psychology is broad
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Might know how to fix it when it goes wrong
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Answer fundamental questions like: what is the nature of reality? Who am i?
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If we understand consciousness in terms of the brain, mind and mechanism then:
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During general anesthesia
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Monitoring Consciousness
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The pain of stubbing your toe
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The smell of rain on cement
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Texture of stone
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Flavour of good coffee
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Vista of a crimson sunset
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Does this all emerge from neurons
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How can we recognise
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MONISM AND DUALISM
who you are no more than the collective activity of nerve cells
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You are your brain (monism)
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Most people don't accept this because they are uncomfortable
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Book: The Astonishing Hypothesis
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What can be doubted?
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What was he sure of?
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I believe there is a god…
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I believe I have friends…
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What if this is all a trick? Not real? Simulation?
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Asks questions of:
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Can't answer these questions
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Breaking apart something into two different things (physical and imaginative)
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At the end of the day, something has to exist for the physical
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Descartes supports the idea that bodies and minds are different (dualism)
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Most people find this idea easy to imagine --> majority believe in dualism
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DUALISM
Unscientific - we want to know about mental phenomena
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Dualists say it's all just out there, part of the ether (body here --> mind over there)
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How can the non-physical control the physical?
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Problem with dualism:
Physical objects cannot do certain things e.g. play chess
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If machines can do complex things like play chess, then what if we are like complex machines (brains)
However, we know that computer can play chess
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Descartes says:
Course Overview
Monism and Dualism
The Brain
QUALIA (LATIN)
6B - Consciousness (Pearson)
Wednesday, April 11, 2018
2:03 PM
PSYCH 1001 Page 1
Document Summary
Need a working definition --> building on the definitions. Sometimes it can be very general e. g. awake vs asleep. Cannot understand personality if we don"t understand consciousness. Might know how to fix it when it goes wrong. Consciousness - underlines everything we do and who we are. If we understand consciousness in terms of the brain, mind and mechanism then: Monism and dualism who you are no more than the collective activity of nerve cells. Most people don"t accept this because they are uncomfortable. Breaking apart something into two different things (physical and imaginative) At the end of the day, something has to exist for the physical. Descartes supports the idea that bodies and minds are different (dualism) Most people find this idea easy to imagine --> majority believe in dualism. Unscientific - we want to know about mental phenomena. Dualists say it"s all just out there, part of the ether (body here --> mind over there)
