Essay On Second Nature

1292 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The nature versus nurture controversy psychology

John McDowell’s concept of ‘second nature’ has been considered to be the most controversial and debatable element in his philosophy of mind. Discuss McDowell’s concept of ‘second nature’ and compare it a specific monist theory of mind which another philosopher has proposed.

For centuries, philosophers have debated on whether the person is made up of the mind, body or both. Dualistic philosophers see men as made up of both the body and the mind. The mind influences the body. On the other hand, monists reject that men is split into parts and view him as one whole person. Scientists tended to be dualists and theologians, monists.
The notion of second nature was introduced in McDowell’s book, ‘Mind and World’ by reference to Aristotle’s ethics. Aristotle argues that it takes habituation to evolve ethical virtue, for ethical virtue is not naturally given but is based upon natural tendencies that are realized through habituation. However, for Aristotle second nature does not develop from potentialities inherent in first nature but is a corruption of real human nature.

John McDowell, an African philosopher, speaks of second nature and he claims that it marks a considerable break with tradition. Second nature is an actualization of first nature potentialities. Second nature is not designed to help us see how to fit reason into a world understood naturalistically but it’s designed to help us see how to fit reason in a world understood as natural. However, there are familiar philisiophical puzzles about the relationship between the reason-involving states and episodes in our lives and the physical facts. For example, philosophers have argued that the fact that our bodies are composed of material governed by purely mechanical laws is in...

... middle of paper ...

...es that an object is nothing more than the sum of its qualities. The qualities of an objects are only the sensations one has when encountering an object. All these sensations are in the mind so the object itself has to be in the mind. For an object to be unperceived,there would have to be a set of ideas or experiences that are not in a mind and this is impossible.

Berkeley also argues that something is possible only if it can be imagined. He claimes that one cannot have a mental image of an unperceived object, so unperceived objects are impossible. He says that any mental image of an object would appear if one was to perceive it.

However, Berkeley’s idealism had its consequences. Objects did not persist for very long. Every time our perception of an object is interrupted, that object goes out of existence and is replaced by a duplicate when we observe it again.

Show More
Related

  • The All-Powerful Mind: An Overview of Subjective and Objective Idealism

    1983 Words  | 4 Pages

    This paper will examine the reliability of George Berkeley’s metaphysical theory of Idealism. Berkeley’s Idealism holds that reality is made real by what the mind perceives and that what we perceive to be material is really a collection of immaterial sensations. Idealism is defined as the view “that only mental entities exist, so physical things exist only in the sense that they are perceived” (“Idealism”). Berkeley’s argument of Subjective Idealism is the view that reality consists of one’s mind and its ideas, while Objective Idealism says in addition, a supreme mind produces ideas in the physical world that do not depend on human minds to exist (Velasquez 146). Without Objective Idealism, one can undergo solipsism which is the belief that only one’s self and experiences of the world are real and everything else does not exist (“Solipsism”). Opposing Idealism is the metaphysical view of Materialism which holds that only physical things exist (“Materialism”). This paper will start by examining George Berkeley’s views of Subjective and Objective Idealism and how they apply to reality. Then, the critiques made and supported by Aristotle and Thomas Hobbes against both views of Idealism will be argued. However, these arguments fail to properly examine Berkeley’s Idealism, thus causing the critiques to be based upon misinformation. Although the criticisms pose potential flaws, Berkeley’s Idealism continues to be a major discussion in the metaphysical debate.

    Read More

  • Responses to the Doctrine of Mind-Brain Identity

    2365 Words  | 5 Pages

    To the dualist, mind is immaterial and, furthermore, cannot in any conceivable circumstance be reduced to matter. This irreducibility, to make the point more explicit, is not contingent on the level of progress of scientific investigation; the thoroughgoing dualist denies the possibility, however remote, that neuroscience, however sophisticated in future millennia, might ever discover that states of mind are the same entities as states of the brain. Why is the dualist so confident in his assertion? He argues that the very nature of consciousness is alien to that of matter of which the brain is composed. Material objects can be broken down into their constituents, to molecules, to atoms, to sub-atomic particles; they have mass and volume; they have dimensions (what Descartes called extension) and location. In contrast, mental states have none of these properties: sensations, feelings, thoughts (or any instanc...

    Read More

  • The Cosmological Argument and the Mystical Argument

    1119 Words  | 3 Pages

    7- Downing, Lisa,. "George Berkeley." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford University, 10 Sept. 2004. Web. 28 Nov. 2013. .

    Read More

  • In Defense of Hylas and Support of Locke

    1229 Words  | 3 Pages

    To tackle Berkeley's argument, I will take Hylas and Philonous's Tree Argument. This is a nice variation on the common riddle of "If a tree falls in the middle of a forest, and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?" Philonous is trying to prove that everything that exists is perceived, and therefore exists only in the mind. If this is true, then nothing exists without the mind, and it is therefore pointless to distinguish between primary and secondary qualities as Locke does. Philonous challenges Hylas to conceive of any sensible object that exists without the mind. Hylas responds with the idea of a tree existing by itself, independent of, and unperceived by, any mind whatsoever. Philonous then points out that this is a contradiction - conceiving a thing that is unconceived. However, these two riddlers are failing to take into consideration one crucial element - time.

    Read More

  • Comparing John Locke and Thomas Hobbes

    1242 Words  | 3 Pages

    Many people have different views on the moral subject of good and evil or human nature. It is the contention of this paper that humans are born neutral, and if we are raised to be good, we will mature into good human beings. Once the element of evil is introduced into our minds, through socialization and the media, we then have the potential to do bad things. As a person grows up, they are ideally taught to be good and to do good things, but it is possible that the concept of evil can be presented to us. When this happens, we subconsciously choose whether or not to accept this evil. This where the theories of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke become interesting as both men differed in the way they believed human nature to be. Hobbes and Locke both picture a different scene when they express human nature.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Meditations By Rene Descartes

    1003 Words  | 3 Pages

    In conjunction with this theory, any matter is known through the mind. This reasoning was used as a basis toward the dualism of the mind and body. The mind is a thinking entity. It has the ability to imagine, dream, and ultimately encompass the aspects that are not fundamentally matter. The body exists outside the mind. It is the connection to the external world based on the scientific properties of mass, size, shape, and motion. Descartes argues that the mind is distinct from the body. The mind thinks and does not have scientific properties. One’s body is a non-thinking thing. This distinction leads Descartes to conclude that the mind is not the same as the body. There is no characteristic that is categorized as both mind and body; the body can be changed, the mind cannot. In continuation, the mind can exist without the body and the body can exist without the mind since each thing is distinct. Descartes later explains how the brain is not the same as the mind. The brain is the connection between the mind and body in a human being. Descartes argues that matter cannot be the same as anything mental. The mind is affected by the brain, providing one with insight into the external world. Also, the mind can influence the brain, hence one’s body being controlled by the mind. However, it is possible for the brain to cease functionally and the mind to still operate. Essentially, one can conclude that the

    Read More

  • Descrates Mind And Body Dualism Analysis

    826 Words  | 2 Pages

    Philosopher Descrates asked: “What am I?“ this was Descrates way of trying to determine what his being was made of. If Descrates were a person for example, when he died he would no longer be a person but, rather a corpse. Mind and body dualism is the distinct characteristic of both the body and the mind. Descrates believed that the mind could function without the body. The belief was that the body was possibly non-existent, something like an image of the imagination, which he argued was uncertain. Descrates draws out a difference between imagination and intellect. The imagination for instance: “1) Requires additional effort, 2) Is not a required part of the essence of my mind, and 3)depends on something distinct from me.” (South University

    Read More

  • Nature Vs Nurture In Plato's The Republic

    1435 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the humdrum and mundane events of human life, the question is often wondered if certain abstract characteristics are given to individuals via nature or nurture. This notion has been the core of debates for centuries. The nature notion suggests that individuals are innately gifted with their talent. Adverse to nature is the idea that a person’s talents or skills are acquired through a knowledge that has been taught to them i.e. nurture. Like any debate, nature and nurture have their respective followers. Philosophical greats, such as Plato even offered his perspective on the nature vs nurture debacle. In his work, The Republic, Plato vicariously speaks his thoughts through his character Socrates. Socrates defends his view of justice against his friends Glaucon and Adeimantus. Socrates asserts that justice, in itself, is a naturally good and is desired. To defend his view of justice, Socrates must first construct what he believes to be a

    Read More

  • Essay On The Meditations By Descartes

    1169 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... Theory is instrumental in explaining how the mind can be considered an entity that is separate from the body. We can come to this conclusion by first understanding that we are real, and we cannot logically doubt our own presence, because the act of doubting is thinking, which makes you a thinker. Next, we realize that the mind, and all of its experiences and thoughts, will remain the same no matter what changes or destruction that’s endured by the body. Then we can grasp that we are our minds and not our physical bodies. We can use a number of examples to illustrate that these concepts, including the movie The Matrix. Finally, we can disapprove John Locke’s objections to the Dualist Theory by identifying that the mind is capable of conscious and unconscious thought; therefore, it cannot be divisible like the body. Hence the mind is a separate entity from the body.

    Read More

  • Descartes Human Intelligence Analysis

    1492 Words  | 3 Pages

    One primary concern is our perceptions of physical objects, which according to Descartes, exist in the immaterial. He reasons that all knowledge or experience of the world exists first in the mind, and that all physical experiences prove the mind’s existence. While an experience may have been false, such as a dream, the experience of the mind did surely exist, further proving the existence of the mind, separate of the physical world. (Descartes, 1983, p. 7) Descartes reasons that all things other than one’s own mind can be doubted, even God, and that thinking is the only thing that can be known to

    Read More

  • Natural Man Lewis Thomas Analysis

    1053 Words  | 3 Pages

    Without perception, in our illusions and hallucinations, we lose “our sense of beings,” (Capra). Lost in “isolation,” (Capra) perhaps lost within our own illusion, our abstractions, we lose the ability to judge, to dichotomize, reality from illusions, right from wrong.

    Read More

  • The Argument of Dualism

    963 Words  | 2 Pages

    Dualism claims that the mind is a distinct nonphysical thing, a complete entity that is independent of any physical body to which it is temporarily attached. Any mental states and activities, as well as physical ones, originate from this unique entity. Dualism states that the real essence of a person has nothing to do with his physical body, but rather from the distinct nonphysical entity of the mind. The mind is in constant interaction with the body. The body's sense organs create experiences in the mind. The desires and decisions of the mind cause the body to act in certain ways. This is what makes each mind's body its own.

    Read More

  • Sensations And The Brain Essay

    1919 Words  | 4 Pages

    This paper aims to endorse physicalism over dualism by means of Smart’s concept of identity theory. Smart’s article Sensations and the Brain provides a strong argument for identity theory and accounts for many of it primary objections. Here I plan to first discuss the main arguments for physicalism over dualism, then more specific arguments for identity theory, and finish with further criticisms of identity theory.

    Read More

  • Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan

    1044 Words  | 3 Pages

    The second law of nature is derived directly from the first. It insists that man lay down his right to all things; and be contented with so much liberty against other men, as he would allow other men liberty against himself,” (Leviathan 1, 14). Essentially, in the state of nature, a man has a right to all things. By following this second law of nature, a man gives up certain rights in hopes that other men do the same in pursuit of peace with one another.

    Read More

  • George Berkeley

    574 Words  | 2 Pages

    Berkeley felt that all we really know about an object we learn from our perception of that object. He recognized that in the materialist’s view the real object is independent of any perceiver’s perception. The pen on my desk would exist, whether or not I was in the room to see it or have a sensory experience of it in some way. Berkeley rejected this idea. He realized that knowledge is limited to perception. In this realization, he postulated that everything we know we learned through some sort of sensory perception. He demonstrated that there was a veil of ignorance separating the materialist’s real object and the perceived object. For instance, if one could not ever perceive the pen, how could one ever know of its existence? He held that if an object is independent of one’s perception, then how could one know it to be real. He thought that you could not truly know something without first perceiving it in some way.

    Read More

More about Essay On Second Nature

Open Document