more from this thinker     |     more from this text


Single Idea 2537

[filed under theme 15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 1. Mind / e. Questions about mind ]

Full Idea

The question is whether mental and physical types (which are properties) are distinct, and whether mental and physical tokens (which are events) are distinct.

Gist of Idea

Types are properties, and tokens are events. Are they split between mental and physical, or not?

Source

Scott Sturgeon (Matters of Mind [2000], Intro)

Book Ref

Sturgeon,Scott: 'Matters of Mind' [Routledge 2000], p.5


A Reaction

Helpful. While the first one gives us the rather dodgy notion of 'property dualism', the second one seems to imply Cartesian dualism, if the events really are distinct. It seems to me that thought is an aspect of brain events, not a distinct event.


The 10 ideas with the same theme [questions to be decided about the mind]:

Is the function of the mind management, authority and planning - or is it one's whole way of life? [Plato]
Minds are hard-wired, or trial-and-error, or experimental, or full self-aware [Dennett, by Heil]
I say psychology is intentional, semantics is informational, and thinking is computation [Fodor]
In CRTT thought may be represented, content must be [Fodor]
The only serious mind-brain theories now are identity, token identity, realization and supervenience [Papineau]
The three theories are reduction, dualism, eliminativism [Rey]
Different generations focus on either the quality of mind, or its scientific standing, or the content of thought [Heil]
Types are properties, and tokens are events. Are they split between mental and physical, or not? [Sturgeon]
Mindless bodies are zombies, bodiless minds are ghosts [Sturgeon]
The main questions are: is mind distinct from body, and does it have unique properties? [Lowe]