The Philosophical Journey, 2/e

William Lawhead, The University of Mississippi

The Search for Ultimate Reality

Overview: The Mind-Body Problem

Essay Quiz


1		Explain which one of the following four commonsense beliefs about mind and body you would be most likely to reject and why: 1. The body is a physical thing. 2. The mind is a nonphysical thing. 3. The mind and body interact and causally affect one another. 4. Nonphysical things cannot causally interact with physical things.



2		Describe the interactionist version of mind-body dualism.



3		Distinguish between the varieties of physicalism known as identity theory (or reductionism) and eliminativism.



4		Give a brief description of how functionalists question the very way the mind-body issue has been formulated by dualists, idealists, and physicalists alike.



5		Indicate which of the following positions on the mind-body problem seems most attractive at this point: dualist interactionism; idealism; identity theory (reductionism); or eliminativism. Give brief reasons for your view. (When you finish this segment of the chapter be sure to go back and note which position then seems most plausible.)

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