Reference no: EM132308031

Introduction to Philosophy Paper: Mind & Identity

The questions "what is a mind?" and "what is the self?" are closely related. What we take as most important to our identity are features of our minds: our beliefs, desires, feelings, personality, etc. So understanding the mind is a means to understanding our identity as persons, our selves.

For your paper, you will defend one theory of mind that we discussed in class. Your defense should do the following:

1. Explain briefly the four theories and identify the one you are going to defend. Say briefly why you favor this theory.*An especially good paper will identify these theories as definitions of mind, i.e. criteria that count as necessary and sufficient for having a mind.

2. Consider at least one thought experiment we studied that either (a) challenges the theory you want to defend OR (b) challenges all the other theories, thus leaving your theory as the only plausible option. Explain how the experiment works and how it affects your theory. If it shows that something is missing or unexplained by a theory, say what exactly that is.*An especially good paper will explain this in terms of whether the experiment shows that some criterion is not sufficient for defining the mind.

3. Most of the experiments we studied identify problems for one or more theories of mind, but they also offer a way around that problem. Explain how your chosen experiment offers two sides to the argument. Which side supports your theory? For example, if it shows that something is left unexplained by a theory, is there a way the theory can explain it after all?*How might you use what you learned from the experiment to revise the definition of mind in your chosen theory?

4. Finally, what does the theory of mind you defend reveal about the self? Is it reasonable to think that the self can be identified with the mind, as your theory defines it? Say why or why not.

Structure and Formatting:

1. Structure:

A paper of this sort has three basic parts:

Introduction: where you give the reader an outline of what to expect in the paper. Say what theory you are defending, what experiment you are discussing, and what your ultimate conclusion will be. This is where your thesis statement should be made clear. Avoid any unnecessary opening statements (e.g. "since the beginning of time...")

Body: where you do what you say you will do in the introduction.

Conclusion: where you sum up what you have done in the paper.

Thesis Statement: This is a crucial part of your paper, for it outlines what you will argue in the body of your paper. The thesis unifies all the detailed work you do in the body of the paper in that everything you discuss in your paper should aim, ultimately, at proving your thesis.

Example of an introduction and thesis (do not copy this word for word; see note on plagiarism below):

Theories of mind come in two basic types, those that argue the mind is fully explained in objective, physical, and scientific terms and those that say it is not. I will defend one of the former theories, specifically functionalism, which says that a mind or mental states are present if and only if something does everything a mind does. One strong challenge to this theory is a thought experiment called "The Chinese Room."

This experiment suggests that machines that function like minds cannot be minds because they lack understanding. In other words, simply doing what a mind does is not sufficient for having a mind. I will show, however, that if functionalism cannot account for understanding, then we are left with a mysterious, unexplainable feature of mind. The better strategy is to think that functionalism can account for understanding.

2. Formatting:

• Font should be Times New Roman, size 12.

• Paper should be double spaced

• Length: 600-900 words (there are roughly 300 words per page in this format).

• Be sure to include a word count at the end of your paper.

• No need for a bibliography, since you should only use The Pig that Wants to Be Eaten.

• When you quote or cite a passage from the text, reference the page number in parentheses.

A Note About Plagiarism: Plagiarism means presenting someone else's work as though it were your own, without giving them credit. Even if you change a few words in the original, it is still plagiarism. Even if you do this unintentionally, it is still plagiarism.

When you submit your paper on Blackboard, you will be able to see a "SafeAssign" report. This tells you whether anything in your paper matches other sources (e.g. internet sources, other students' papers, etc.) If you have any questions about this, please let me know.