Philosophy of mind

Philosophy of mind is the analysis of the nature of the mind, consciousness and its relationship to the physical body.

There are a number of different schools of thought generally addressing the philosophy of mind, including dualism, monism, behaviorism, identity theory, eliminative materialism, and functionalism.

Dualism

Dualism is thought to be the most common, natural view of the mind-body relationship. Dualists argue that the world is made up of at least two distinct substances: the material and whatever makes up the mind (generally, but not always, called the spirit). Nobel Prize winner John Eccles is a proponent of dualism.

Monism

Monism refers to the philosophical view that there is only one type of material. While this could be physical (see: eliminative materialism), monism is generally used to refer to the school of thought where only the spiritual substance exists. These monists are often philosophical skeptics: because they think, they know the mind exists, but everything else could be illusory.

Behaviorism

Behaviorism is the philosophical school (closely related to the psychological school) that holds that there is no such thing as a mind. Instead, they replace what we call minds with descriptions of behavior.

Identity Theory

Identity theorists argue that mental states (such as the feeling of love) are identical with physical states (such as brain activity in the parietal lobe).

See also

• Metaphysics
• Mind and Brain