Philosophy of the Mind
Unit 6: Philosophy of the Mind
KMF 1014 Introduction to Cognitive Science
The Philosophical Approach
The oldest of all disciplines in CS
Formulating & answering questions about the universe Address the issues such as:
the nature of knowing (epistemology) the mind-body distinction the mind-brain distinction
The Philosophical Approach: Reasoning
Deductive – application of rules of logic to statements about the world
UNIMAS students sleep three hours every night
Ali is a UNIMAS student
Ali sleeps three hours every night
Inductive – drawing conclusions based on commonalities observed in specific instances
Maxi, the Persian cat, has four legs.
Lola, the Siamese cat, has four legs.
All cats have four legs.
Philosophy?
Greek origin - love of wisdom
Phil (philos) = love
Soph (sophia) = wise
The Love of Wisdom
Combines the cognitive and the emotional dimensions of our mind – seeking answers to
BIG questions, ones that often have more than one possible answer, or no clear answer at all
Sample questions
What makes a human? Is it our minds, our bodies? Or a combination of the two?
How do we gain knowledge & understanding?
Is it with our senses, our minds, or something else? Search for wisdom
Philosophy?
Ancient Greeks believed:
wisdom did not come naturally to the human beings
wisdom was inaccessible to all but the determined and intellectually-capable Philosophy is not possession of wisdom but a search for it
In some sense, we are all philosophers, we all think and reflect in our own critical way about the question that matter most to us
Everyone asks the important questions and tries, however feebly, to formulate meaningful answers.
That is, everyone participates, more or less, in the philosophical enterprise
Philosophy?
Philosophy is regarded as the conceptual inquiry dealing with
KMF 1014 Introduction to Cognitive Science
The Philosophical Approach
The oldest of all disciplines in CS
Formulating & answering questions about the universe Address the issues such as:
the nature of knowing (epistemology) the mind-body distinction the mind-brain distinction
The Philosophical Approach: Reasoning
Deductive – application of rules of logic to statements about the world
UNIMAS students sleep three hours every night
Ali is a UNIMAS student
Ali sleeps three hours every night
Inductive – drawing conclusions based on commonalities observed in specific instances
Maxi, the Persian cat, has four legs.
Lola, the Siamese cat, has four legs.
All cats have four legs.
Philosophy?
Greek origin - love of wisdom
Phil (philos) = love
Soph (sophia) = wise
The Love of Wisdom
Combines the cognitive and the emotional dimensions of our mind – seeking answers to
BIG questions, ones that often have more than one possible answer, or no clear answer at all
Sample questions
What makes a human? Is it our minds, our bodies? Or a combination of the two?
How do we gain knowledge & understanding?
Is it with our senses, our minds, or something else? Search for wisdom
Philosophy?
Ancient Greeks believed:
wisdom did not come naturally to the human beings
wisdom was inaccessible to all but the determined and intellectually-capable Philosophy is not possession of wisdom but a search for it
In some sense, we are all philosophers, we all think and reflect in our own critical way about the question that matter most to us
Everyone asks the important questions and tries, however feebly, to formulate meaningful answers.
That is, everyone participates, more or less, in the philosophical enterprise
Philosophy?
Philosophy is regarded as the conceptual inquiry dealing with