Animal consciousness is analyzed by the philosophy of mind.
Philosophy of mind is a philosophical area focused on the study of thoughts, emotions, perception, and other mental processes. This is a branch that is part of the so-called analytical philosophy .
The ontology of mental phenomena and the epistemology of the knowable are examined by this discipline that aims to know the nature of the states of the mind and their link with the physical world . The mind-body relationship, consciousness and intentionality are also issues that the philosophy of mind analyzes.
The dualisms
Philosophy of mind often develops approaches based on dualisms . This view arises from the search for links or bridges between mental states and physical states (or between the soul and the body).
The reflections usually revolve around the possible existence of two different substances (the psychic vs. the material) or two different properties of a single substance . For dualism, the mental and the physical imply two different entities; Monism , on the other hand, maintains that all phenomena and beings come from a single substance.
The prevailing view, however, is dualistic. Plato already stated that, if the soul persists after death, it is not the same as the body.
In his "Metaphysical Meditations" , the Frenchman René Descartes provided a widespread argument in favor of dualism. For Descartes , the mind can clearly be imagined to have an existence without matter; therefore, that condition is possible. If it is possible for mind to exist beyond matter, therefore, mind and matter are different entities.
Epiphenomenalism , occasionalism and parallelism are other doctrines that resort to dualism to analyze mind-body identity. In monism, on the other hand, currents such as behaviorism , functionalism , physicalism and materialism defend that there is a single substance, with the physical and the mental being properties of it.
Imagination is part of the object of study of the philosophy of mind.
Importance of philosophy of mind
The philosophy of mind is an interdisciplinary specialization that addresses various approaches to identity, decision-making,
decisions, sensations and intentionality, among others
issues. The development of artificial intelligence and
Neurosciences make these topics increasingly relevant in society.
The contributions of the philosophy of knowledge are important in many aspects. For example, they can help understand how emotions impact the body .
From medicine and biology, research is used that shows how stress and anxiety produce physical effects. At the same time, it is known that there are injuries and diseases that alter cognition , memory and sensory perception. Therefore, it can be said that the direct link between mind and body is a certainty.
As we already indicated, dualism predominates in the philosophy of mind. It is argued that, if there is a link between body and mind, both are separate entities that interact in a bidirectional way (modifying each other dynamically).
The philosophy of mind reflects on the zombie argument, which presents a subject with the appearance and behavior of a human being but without consciousness.
The qualia
Among the concepts that the philosophy of mind analyzes is the idea of qualia . This is what the subjective and singular quality of a conscious experience is called.
Science is in a position to make an objective description of the physical properties of an element. However, providing an explanation of how a physical experience acquires a particular trait for the person is complex. The perception of flavors and colors is often mentioned as an example: a sweet taste, to mention one case, is not perceived the same nor does it generate the same sensations in two individuals given subjectivity.
That is why it is said that stimuli generate physical experiences but also unique sensations . The latter are the qualia. It is understood that qualia transcend the precepts of physics to encompass aspects that have to do with emotions, memories and other factors.
Just as neuroscience explains the processing of colors in the brain and physics details the wavelength of each hue, there are no scientific parameters to quantify what a given hue (such as the red that appears in the sky at sunset) causes in a certain subject. The same can be said about how pain or pleasure are experienced.
This difficulty of description has its correlation in the impossibility of comparison. Qualia are given by consciousness , an entity that, as we saw, has been the object of study in the philosophy of mind since its origins.
Training in philosophy of mind
The philosophy of mind is one of the branches of philosophy: therefore, its contents are part of the degree in Philosophy . However, its inclusion in the race can occur in different ways. Let's see how it is integrated particularly in Argentina.
At the University of Buenos Aires ( UBA ), Philosophy of Mind is a subject or subject of the Philosophy degree. In the degree in Philosophy at the University of Business and Social Sciences ( UCES ), in the fourth year the subject Philosophy of Mind and Subjectivity is studied.
The Master's and Doctorate in Philosophy with Orientation in Fundamentals of Natural and Cognitive Sciences at the Austral University , meanwhile, Philosophy of Mind is the name of a seminar.
Finally, if we focus on the National University of Distance Education ( UNED ), Philosophy of Mind is a subject of the Master's Degree in Theoretical and Practical Philosophy .