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What is a thing which thinks? It is a thing which doubts, understands, conceives,

affirms, denies, wills, refuses, which also imagines and feels. These are the words of Rene
Descartes mind, body problem. According to substance dualism, it stated that our mind which is
our brain and our bodies are two different aspects that are capable of existing without each other.
Descartes believed that our mind is the essence of thought and our body is the essence of
extensions. He also believed that a substance is something that does not need any other creature
to exist. It can only exist with the help of God. Basically, Descartes demonstrated that the mind
and body are really distinct from each other meaning they can exist by themselves without any
other creature if God chose to do so.
What are the cons of Rene Descartes dualism mind, body, and problem? If we, as
humans, are capable of living without our brain, how would we obtain knowledge? How would
we be able function in our daily lives? How would we be able, to think, feel, and create logic
reasoning? From my perspective, this idea does not make any sense because without our brain
we wouldnt be alive. For instance, people who are in comas they do not know whats going in
the real world anymore because they brain are not functioning. The idea of dualism does not fit
in very well in the modern scientific view of the universe. We do not yet know enough to
understand how the universe works in order to understand this interaction between our minds and
bodies.
The advantages of Rene Descartes dualism body mind problem. Since, the mind is not
physical meaning no one have access to it. No one else is aware of your mental states. Only you
have access to your thoughts and feelings. This is one of the privileges that we have with our
mind. The mind is completely different from the physical body and the mind is something that is
hidden inside in your conscious. For instance, if you have a desire for something in your mind, it

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is set to be in private unless you express that desire verbally or in a non-verbal behavior. Anyone
can observe your body such as your face expression or your bodily movement. They can make
predictions or assume what you are thinking or feeling. The real answer will not be revealed
unless you tell someone about that feeling. Dualism is not practical; it cannot be demonstrated;
and it cannot be shown when it come to an inner feelings or thoughts.
Behaviorism is a form of materialism about mental processes. It says every mental
process is some physical process. Your mental processes are certain physical process that takes
place in your body. Behaviorism has to be observable. Unlike dualism, behaviorism claims that
your anger is the action that causes you to react the way you did. Behaviorism believes that you
cannot keep mentality hidden because it is clearly shown through your actions. Behaviorism
stated that your own mind is not private because everyone can read them through your behavior.
Behaviorism does not believe in mental substances.
The advantage of behaviorism is that it can be proven; it can be demonstrated; and it is
practical. Behaviorism is compatible with scientific knowledge of humans and brains. It is not
difficult to recognized someone behavior by carefully observing their actions and behavior.
Behaviorism is intuitive. For instance, how would you know how someone else is in pain? You
can quickly observe their physical behavior and you automatically conclude that they are in pain.
The cons about behaviorism are that it focuses too much on behavior through actions.
Sometimes a person behavior can be very deceptive. For instance, you can have a belief about
something and not tell anyone about it. The belief does not manifest through your behavior.
People are very good at behaving in a certain way that does match with their mental state.

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Someone might appear to be excited but it is totally the opposite of being happy. Therefore,
observing someone behavior is not enough to conclude how they are feeling or thinking.
Functionalism is the theory that explains that what makes something thought, desires,
pain or any other types of mental state depends not on its internal constitutions, but solely on its
functions, or the role it plays in the cognitive system of which it is a part. Basically, this
functional layer of your mind receives signal form the bodys senses and from other mental states
within itself, and then prepares and executes output by means of behavior. Functionalism is the
view that mental states are connected with behaviors.
The advantages of functionalism are that it is neither physicals nor dualist perspective,
since it does not describe the mind and body as separate substances. Functionalism stated that the
mind is not tangible the mind does not refer to a substance. Functionalism is able to explain
mental causations because a functionalism does not identify mental states as behaviors. For
instance, a functionalism will say when you hungry the hypothalamus send signals to your brain
to let your stomach knows that you need to go eat. Basically, the hormones in your body send
signals to your brain and thats how your body reacts to that signal. Functionalism allows for the
possibility of multiple realizations of emotions such as human and puppies are capable of having
the same mental states like fear, thirst, or calm.
Functionalist theory compared the human brain with a computer; the human brain is
completely different from the brain. The computer has been programed to do what it can do; the
computer is limited it is not able to do certain aspects that it was not programmed of doing. The
brain function differently it is much more powerful. Without the brain we wouldnt be who we
are as human being. The brain is responsible for mostly everything that the body does such as

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breathing, eating, thoughts, desires to have sexual drives, the fight or flight response when we
sense a fear of something, functionalism is a very powerful theory but it is not really explanatory.
The theory of eliminativism is the radical claim that our ordinary, common-sense
understanding of the mind is deeply wrong and that some or all of the mental states posited by
common-sense do not actually exist. In other words, the theory of eliminative believes that our
feeling, beliefs, and desires are myths. This theory claims rather that there is no truth there to be
known, in terms which we currently think. For instance, eliminativists would require
abandoning this whole idea of consciousness, theological knowledge, and mind.
The pros about this theory is that if we, as, humans, did not have to worry about our
feelings being hurt all the time; we wouldnt have to be frustrated or have to worry about
anything. When it comes to theological knowledge, we wouldnt have to believe in anything
good or evil. We also would not have to worry about who created us or how did we become who
we are today. We wouldnt have to gain knowledge or have any memory because our brain would
have been useless to us. We would have had such freedom in world where we are allowed to be
stress free.
The disadvantages of this theory are that without our mind what would we do as humans?
How would we gain knowledge? How would we become who we are today? For instance,
without our brain we would not be able to function as a human being. We need our mind in place
to care of our daily duties. Without our feelings how would we use the word empathy? It is our
feelings that give us this compassion to care and love others as ourselves. In addition, without
our feelings how would we able to love, to care for our family, and our significant other. When it
comes to theological knowledge we need to be aware of there is someone out there that created

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us which is God. We did not just evolve on our own. We need to believe in something that can
help us with our trouble and tribulations.
The Identity Theory of mind holds that states and processes of the mind are identical to
states and processes of the brain. Basically Identity theory is saying that the mind is identical to
the brain. People usually say She has a good mind and she has a good brain interchangeably
but we would hardly say Her mind weighs fifty ounces. In other words a mental sates is really
just a certain type of electro-chemical signal in the brain.
The pros about Identity Theory are that truly the brain is related to the mind because the
brain controls what we experience, our memories, and our feelings. For instance, remembering
your first high school sweetheart is just a certain signal that is being passed through a certain
neuronal passage of the brain. The brain is interrelated to our mental states because everything
that we are able to remember such as the past and our profound memories is because of the brain
and our mental sates.
The problems that seems to be related to identity theory is that it claims that pain is Cfibers firing does this mean in order for you to know that you are in pain you need to know that
c-fibers are firing? Of course, you could be in pain and not even be aware of c-fibers. Basically
identity theory is saying that pain is always c-fibers that are firing. This means that any other
creature that does not have c-fibers cannot be in pain. From my perspective, I personally think
that Functionalism is the best solution for the mind body problem because it clearly explains that
how the brain functions but not what it is. Functionalism gives a more accurate overview on how
the brain functions. Unlike the other theory, Functionalism move beyond behaviorism and
identity theory by providing a better understanding of how the brain actually works.

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Works Cited

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/mind-identity/