The Identity Theory

514 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Theory of identity essay

The Identity Theory

Mental processes are physical is equivalent to what is coined The Identity Theory.

Smart's theses is that mental events are identical to brain processes. The definition of

neurophysiological is to say the science of neurons dealing with living matter such as the

brain. Smart discounts Cartesian Dualism that depicts the mind as a separate entity than

the physical body. In addition, Smart's theory is a posteriori claim, which is to say that

through an observation or senses we can come to a factual conclusion. The Identity

Theory makes a prediction concerning science and that is that in the future man will be

able to know by fact that the mind is no more than a physically charged form of matter.

In human speech and language we are accustomed to using different terms that have

the same meaning. The classic example is the sensation of pain. A person upon feeling

pain declares, "I am in pain;" however, the fact that there exists in the body

neurotransmitters that fire through synapses to the mass of the brain that cause the brain

ma...

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of Sor Juana And The Acquisition Of Knowledge

    1040 Words  | 3 Pages

    Regarding the second part are the description and definition of pain in earlier modern society, it has shown that the pain included physical

    Read More

  • Certainty is Decartes' Discourse of Method

    947 Words  | 2 Pages

    he comes to term with three certainties: the existence of the mind as the thing that thinks,

    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

  • Property Dualism: The Main Issue Of The Mind-Body Problem

    1110 Words  | 3 Pages

    The mind-body problem can be a difficult issue to discuss due to the many opinions and issues that linger. The main issue behind the mind-body problem is the question regarding if us humans are only made up of matter, or a combination of both matter and mind. If we consist of both, how can we justify the interaction between the two? A significant philosophical issue that has been depicted by many, there are many prominent stances on the mind-body problem. I believe property dualism is a strong philosophical position on the mind-body issue, which can be defended through the knowledge argument against physicalism, also refuted through the problems of interaction.

    Read More

  • The Skeletal System In The Human Body

    1204 Words  | 3 Pages

    Neurons dispatch signals to other cells through thin fibers called axons, that cause chemicals acknowledged as neurotransmitters to be released at junctions identified as synapses. A synapse gives a command to the cell and the entire communication process typically takes only a fraction of a millisecond.

    Read More

  • Brain Recovery After Injury Or Trauma Essay

    1434 Words  | 3 Pages

    The brain is part of the central nervous system, which consists of neurons and glia. Neurons which are the excitable nerve cells of the nervous system that conduct electrical impulses, or signals, that serve as communication between the brain, sensory receptors, muscles, and spinal cord. In order to achieve rapid communication over a long distance, neurons have developed a special ability for sending electrical signals, called action potentials, along axons. The way in which the cell body of a neuron communicates with its own terminals via the axon is called conduction. In order for conduction to occur, an action potential which is an electrical signal that occurs in a neuron due to ions moving across the neuronal membrane which results in depolarization of a neuron, is to be generated near the cell body area of the axon. Wh...

    Read More

  • The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism

    775 Words  | 2 Pages

    idea of dependence. The human is completely dependent on all that is around him and all that is

    Read More

  • Understanding Brain Chemistry

    1216 Words  | 3 Pages

    Neurons are the cells that create brain activity, passing chemical and electric signals from on...

    Read More

  • Identity Theory Essay

    775 Words  | 2 Pages

    Pain according to identity theorist is psychological states that can be reduced to a brain state or physical state. When a human says he or she is experiencing pain according to identity theorist they are experiencing c fibers in their body. If pain is experiencing c fibers in your body then according to Identity theorist an Octopus and a Martian can not experience pain because the make up of their brains are different from a human brain, but that can not be true. Just because your brain is different from my brain does not mean you can not feel the same stuff that I feel. Thus when we think about the human mind in relation to the body we should think about what is the relationship between psychological state and physical state that realizes it. Alien and Octopus pains are identical with the brain state too a brain state that is totally different than the human brain state. When we say this we have to qualify the type of identity we are using, we are saying that pain and other psychological states are identical with particular state of the body, but the state of the body that they identical with can vary from species to species such as human to a Martian, Mar...

    Read More

  • The Human Nervous System

    1990 Words  | 4 Pages

    Once the signal is sent, the ion balances out and becomes at rest. The electrical impulse that runs down the axon releases a chemical called acetylcholine, only one of many chemicals that transmits signals across the synapse. These substances are called neurotransmitters because they transmit data from one ...

    Read More

  • Taking a Look at Physicalism

    1461 Words  | 3 Pages

    Physicalism, or the idea that everything, including the mind, is physical is one of the major groups of theories about how the nature of the mind, alongside dualism and monism. This viewpoint strongly influences many ways in which we interact with our surrounding world, but it is not universally supported. Many objections have been raised to various aspects of the physicalist viewpoint with regards to the mind, due to apparent gaps in its explanatory power. One of these objections is Frank Jackson’s Knowledge Argument. This argument claims to show that even if one has all of the physical information about a situation, they can still lack knowledge about what it’s like to be in that situation. This is a problem for physicalism because physicalism claims that if a person knows everything physical about a situation they should know everything about a situation. There are, however, responses to the Knowledge Argument that patch up physicalism to where the Knowledge Argument no longer holds.

    Read More

  • Identity Theory Essay

    941 Words  | 2 Pages

    1. The identity theory (reductive materialism) states that mental states are brain states. Basically each mental state/process is the same as the physical state or process(es) within the brain. What they say about the mind is that the mind is just the brain and mental states are brain states.

    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

  • Identity

    1453 Words  | 3 Pages

    Identity is a state of mind in which someone recognizes/identifies their character traits that leads to finding out who they are and what they do and not that of someone else. In other words it's basically who you are and what you define yourself as being. The theme of identity is often expressed in books/novels or basically any other piece of literature so that the reader can intrigue themselves and relate to the characters and their emotions. It's useful in helping readers understand that a person's state of mind is full of arduous thoughts about who they are and what they want to be. People can try to modify their identity as much as they want but that can never change. The theme of identity is a very strenuous topic to understand but yet very interesting if understood. How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez and Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki are two remarkable books that depict the identity theme. They both have to deal with people that have an identity that they've tried to alter in order to become more at ease in the society they belong to. The families in these books are from a certain country from which they're forced to immigrate into the United States due to certain circumstances. This causes young people in the family trauma and they must try to sometimes change in order to maintain a comfortable life. Both authors: Alvarez and Houston have written their novels Is such an exemplifying matter that identity can be clearly depicted within characters as a way in adjusting to their new lives.

    Read More

  • Essay On Second Nature

    1292 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...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.

    Read More

More about The Identity Theory

Open Document