PHIL 250 Lecture 9: Descartes (Last)
10 Mar 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Classes 9-10: the nature of the mental; descartes"s legacy: we considered an objection to cartesian dualism: dualists cannot explain how mind and body interact. We read a passage from the passions of the. Descartes"s dualism is an attempt to respond to very real problems that beset the idea that minds are simply natural, material phenomena. Many philosophers today subscribe to some form of physicalism the view that mental phenomena are identical with physical phenomena (usually brain processes and events). Physicalism comes in many varieties, but no version is unproblematic. To see this we considered the nature of mental phenomena. I distinguished different kinds of mental states, marking the difference between such states as sensations, perceptions, and pains, on the one hand, and propositional attitudes , on the other. Propositional attitudes are such states as beliefs, desires, intentions, wishes, hopes, etc.
