The argument from neural dependency

1
The argument from neural dependency

• A natural consequence of dualism should be that
  the mind itself is not damaged whenever the brain
  is damaged.
• A natural consequence of materialism is that when
  the brain is changed, the mind of the person is
  also changed
• Empirical neuroscience supports the belief that
  changes in the physical brain affects also the
  mind.

2
Dualistic response

• Dualism does not imply that mental states are not
  dependent on brain states. It only says they are
  distinct from those states.
• Mental states can causally depend on physical
  states (states of the brain) while still being
  distinct from those brain states.

3
What is it like to be a Bat?

• Suppose you knew everything there was to know
  about bat physiology
• Would this knowledge give you also knowledge of
  what it is like for the bat to be a bat (E.G.
  would it tell you what is like to perceive the
  world through echolocation.

4
Intentionality

• A common feature of mental states is that they
  are about something other than themselves. If I
  am thinking, I am thinking of somethinga horse,
  a dog, the moon..
• But physical states do not exhibit this
  aboutness or intentionality.
• Therefore, materialism is false (b/c it fails to
  explain the intentional character of mental
  states.

5

• Nagle no it would not
• But if materialism is true, then complete
  knowledge of bat physiology should give us also
  complete knowledge of everything about a
  batincluding the bats conscious states
• Therefore, a materialistic theory of the universe
  leaves out a crucial feature of the universe,
  subjective experiences.

6
Another knowledge argument

• Suppose that Mary is a brilliant physiologist who
  has studied color perception extensively. She
  knows all that can be known about the physiology
  of color perception.
• But she has also lived her entire life in a
  completely black and white room.
• When she leaves the room and experiences color
  for the first time, does she experience something
  new?

7

• If she does, then there is something left out of
  the material description of the human organism
  (what she learns in her black and white room)the
  qualitative character of the experience, what it
  is like to see something blue or purple.