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Sunday, 31 May 2015

Dualism/Physicalism...

It is hard to explain if what we see is physical or mental, there is a little problem when we talk about actions, if there are physical or mental; if a decision is made because of a mental or physical cause.
But there is the Physicalism and Dualism to classify our mind-body perceptions.
Here there's a test to know if you think Dualistically or in a Physicalistic way.


My answers were:
1. Disagree
2. Agree
3. Disagree
4. Agree
5. Disagree
6. Disagree
7. Disagree
8. Agree
9. Disagree
10. Agree
A1-A2: 1
B: 9
This means that I am Dualistic.
Also we interviewed 2 people to know how did they think, their answers were:
#1
1. Disagree
2. Agree
3. Agree
4. Agree
5. Agree
6. Agree
7. Disagree
8. Agree
9. Disagree
10. Agree
A1-A2: 2
B: 8
This means that it's a Dualistic person.
#2
1. Disagree
2. Disagree
3. Agree
4. Agree
5. Agree
6. Disagree
7. Disagree
8. Disagree
9. Disagree
10. Agree
A1-A2: 4
B: 6
This means that it's a Dualistic person too.
The Dualism holds that the mind, or soul (not the theological one), is immaterial or made of an immaterial substance.
The Physicalist in turn holds that the mind is not an immaterial substance but is rather physical. 

Knowing this, we can analyse each question:

1. The physical world is the only kind of reality there is.
P= Yes, because if we can touch it and see it, then is real.
D= No, because there is also the mental world, things that we can't see but happen
2. The mind is something non-physical yet real.
P= No, because the only reality is what is tangible.
D= Yes, because it exists
3. The mind is nothing more than a word that refers to the sum of those cognitive activities produced by the brain.
P= Yes, because the mind and brain is the same
D= No, because they are different parts, entities.
4. The mind and the brain interact even though they are different entities.
P= No, because they are the same, so they don't interact
D= Yes, because they need each other, they are their own complement to function.
5. When I make a decision, the immediate cause of this event is the physical events occurring in my brain. 
P= Yes, because everything is caused by something physical
D= No, because it can be made for a mental cause
6. The act of making a mental decision is not a physical event, nor does it have a physical cause.
P= No, because everything has a physical "root"
D= Yes, because it may come from something mental.
7. A physical event can be caused only by another physical event.
P= Yes, because everything is physical and it can only have a physical origin
D= No, because a mental decision, act, etc. can cause a physical reaction 
8. An act of my will is not a physical event, but it can cause my body to perform some physical action.
P= No, because your will is something physical. 
D= Yes, because something mental can cause something physical and vice versa 
9. Even if we cannot accomplish this as yet, everything that a person does or thinks or feels is capable of a scientific explanation.
P= Yes, because if it is physical, it has explanation, logic, sense
D= No, because sometimes something doesn't have a rational sense or explanation, but it is still real
10. The mind and its activities will never be completely explained by the science or the brain.
P= No, because the brain and mind are the same thing, so it can be explained
D= Yes, because sometimes brain and mind do not share rationality or logical sense.
The majority of us, think and know that there is "more" than only what we see, the different aspects that happen in our brain and mind.

Saturday, 9 May 2015

Mind?...Physical?...

The differences between column A2 and B2 are: A is physical and B is emotional, A is visual while B don't and that A is global when B is relative.
And the differences between A3 and B3 are: the column A are physical actions while B are mental ones, A are visual and B don't, with the column A you don't progress meanwhile with the column B you do.

Combination A2-B1-A3
  • Wet sadness between us
  • Rotten memories running
  • Red goals in front of me
  • Circular believes under the desk
  • Hot goals on top of  the car


Combination B2-B3-A1
  1. Positive learning table
  2. Cute thinking owl
  3. Happy analysing eraser
  4. Selfish believing wolf
  5. Hideous concluding desk

-Are there two completely different type of realities?
Yes, because the first phrases are in a metaphorical way, we tried to describe feelings, thoughts; something that doesn't have shape and specific description. The second ones, we tried to give a quality to a complete real thing, like the eraser, its something that exists, it has shape, volume, etc. 
-Why is the language of physical events so different from that mental events?
Because both are completely different things, we could say they are the opposite of each other. Something physical has touchable, exact and global descriptions, whereas something mental has a relative description.

Friday, 1 May 2015

Real?...

Reality is something hard to describe and define, it is relative, sometimes a real thought for somebody is not for somebody else. Also people classify things, believes, feelings, etc. in different levels of reality.
We did an activity in which we discussed what do we consider real and what not, how do we knew that something was real, which were their characteristics.
First, we talk with somebody we knew, a friend; then we  switched partners, and we talked with somebody we not used to talk. It was easy to discuss with a friend, because we knew his way of thinking, but it was interesting when we had to talk with other fellow, because we learned other way of thinking, other opinions.  
We couldn't define exactly what are the characteristics to consider something real, more less real, or not real. Because when we started to mentions some characteristics, these were relative too, so it was not easy to define them.
But, despite this, we could say that something becomes real, since the moment you think about it. So something unreal is anything that hasn't been thought.