Philosophy of the mind

Author: Gao Xinmin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-07-01
Features: To understand the new developments in Western philosophy of mind and advance the study of philosophy of mind in China, we have compiled this collection. Due to space limitations, this selection focuses on nine major issues that have been extensively researched recently and are at the forefront and center of attention in the field. They are:
1. Mind-body problem, which concerns the nature of mental phenomena and the relationship between mind and body. Current debates primarily focus on reductionism, functionalism, the dilemma of realization, and physicalism.
2. Qualia, which refers to the subjective features or phenomenological properties experienced when a person undergoes mental states such as sensations. Non-physicalists argue that physicalism can assimilate various "counterexamples" but cannot account for qualia. Qualia are the "new continent" of the mental world, representing the non-physical aspects that physicalism cannot explain. In contrast, physicalists counter these arguments, pushing physicalism forward despite the challenges.
3. Supervenience. This is a new problem and paradigm in the philosophy of mind, referring to the features of mental phenomena that are determined or dependent on physical phenomena. It can also be generalized to other relationships and attributes, making it a philosophical category with universal significance. This research stems from efforts to further grasp the essence, characteristics, and position of mental phenomena in the cosmic structure, seeking a middle ground between reductionism and dualism. It involves major issues in the philosophy of mind and cosmology, such as determination, reduction, necessity, and the laws of mind-body interaction.
4. Consciousness. Here, consciousness refers to the narrow sense of the common "awareness" or "cognition" feature that permeates various conscious mental phenomena. Around the issue of consciousness, a specialized and independent field of study has emerged, with some even proposing the concept of "consciousnessology." The issue of consciousness is vast, and some now distinguish it into two categories: the "hard problem" and the "easy problem," with the former referring to the "experience" problem and being a topic of intense focus.
5. The language of thought and mental representation. The former refers to the "machine language" distinct from natural language, which is the true medium of human brain thinking, as many believe that natural language, with its tangible and auditory characteristics, cannot be processed by the brain. The latter refers to the form of storage and processing of information acquired through our understanding of the world and ourselves. These studies truly delve into the internal structure, operation, and mechanisms of the mental world.
6. Intentionality and content theory. This is both an ancient and a novel problem, where the philosophy of language and the philosophy of mind intersect. Many argue that the meaning of natural language is related to the intentionality of mental states, which in turn originates from the semantics of the language of thought and mental representation. However, what is the semantics of the language of thought, and how does it relate to the functional role of mental states? What is its relationship to the syntax of mental statements, and what determines its semantics? These are the focal points of current debates.
7. Other minds problem, which asks whether there are minds other than my own. If so, how can they be known or proven? What is the basis, foundation, and process of recognizing other minds? What are the criteria for judging whether objects like robots possess minds or intelligence? The debate primarily centers on other minds skepticism and analogical arguments.
8. Action philosophy. This is a specialized field of study that derives from the traditional free will problem, focusing on actions. Current research primarily addresses issues such as the characteristics, markers, structure, explanation, and evaluation of actions, touching on fundamental philosophical questions like the relationship between reasons and causes, whether there are laws encompassing mind-body relations, and whether mental states have causal efficacy.
9. The status of psychological explanation and folk psychology. This is also a new area of research. Folk psychology is a common-sense psychological theory about the causes of actions that lies hidden in our daily psychological lives and interpretive activities. The psychological views, mind-body views, and resulting cosmological views held by most people, including many philosophers, are actually folk psychological perspectives. This research not only involves how to explain psychology and the study of psychology but also raises fundamental questions about the status and fate of mental phenomena, whether psychology has autonomy, and whether it will be reduced or eliminated.