• The Subject of Mental States: What is Dualism?

    adminDualism

    I say things like “I am hungry” or “I am thinking”.  It seems that when I speak this way I am attributing mental states, such as being hungry and thinking, to me – a person. But what is the nature of this thing called a person? Is a person just a certain physical body, or some physical part of it, such as a brain, as some philosophers believe? Or, is a person something other than his or her physical body, a view held by philosophers called “dualists“?

    Dualism says that a person is not to be identified with his or her physical body, or any part of it. But dualists are divided about whether a person has physical properties, such as shape and location in space. Let us say that a “soul” is a non-physical thing – which some people believe exists, and think is crucial to my being a person and having mental states. Then our three versions of dualism disagree on what role (if any) a soul plays in what makes me a person. Here are three versions of dualism.

    Soul Dualism = A person is simply a soul, that is related in some way to a certain physical body. The body is not part of the person.

    Hybrid-Soul Dualism = A person is a combination of a non-physical soul and a certain physical body.

    Non-Soul Dualism = A person has no soul, and has physical properties, but is not identical to a certain physical body or any part of it.

    Each of these three versions of dualism agree that a person is the subject of mental states. Each of these three versions of dualism deny that a person is just a certain physical body, or some physical part of it, such as the brain.

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  • Objective vs. Subjective Statements

    adminStatements

    Some statements are true. For example, the statement “The Sun is larger than the Earth” is true. And some statements are false. For example, the statement “The Moon is larger than the Earth” is false. Truth and falsity are properties of statements. If you believe a true statement, then your belief is true. If you believe a false statement, then your belief is false. But what makes a true statement true and what makes a false statement false? The answer to this question depends on whether the statement under consideration is subjective or objective.

    A statement is subjective if its truth depends on a belief of any person making the judgment about it. If a person believes that the statement is true, then it’s true. If a person believes the statement is false, then it’s false. This implies that subjective statements are abbreviated statements of personal beliefs.  For example, “Cats make the best pets” is an example of a subjective statement. It’s an abbreviated statement of that could be expressed as follows: “I believe that cats make the best pets.” Note the words “I believe”. If a person believes this statement, then the statement is true, because the statement is describing something about the person’s belief. If a person denies this statement,  then it’s false, because the statement is not describing something about the person’s belief.

    In contrast, a statement is objective if it’s not subjective – that is, if what makes it true (or false) has to do with something independent of any person’s belief. The statements “The Sun is larger than the Earth” and “The Moon is larger than the Earth” are both objective. The truth and falsity of these statements do not depend on anyone’s belief. The truth of these objective statements depend on certain mind-independent facts.

    Let’s consider some more examples.

    S1: “The current President of the United States has a living aunt.”

    This statement is an objective statement. It’s truth depends on whether the current President of the United States has a living aunt. It does not depend on anyone’s believing it’s true. The statement may be true even if the current President does not believe that it’s true.

    Suppose Jack and Jill disagree about this statement. Jack believes this statement is true. Jill believes this statement is false. Can their beliefs both be correct at the same time? Since this statement is objective, they cannot both have correct beliefs at the same time. One of them must have a mistaken or false belief. (more…)

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