the subjects point of view oct 2008

[...]... who has the kind of mind we have Here lies the significance of the Cartesian conception of the mind: it offers us a list of mental phenomena that is put together on a principled basis; and it is the possession of more or less this list of mental attributes that provides the criteria for someone to be regarded as a person 3.5 The Person and the Human Animal It is explained why the suggestion of the previous... 3.1 The Importance of the Cartesian List Our list of what belongs to the mind is the same as the Cartesian list of mental features, and rather different from, say, the Aristotelian list of psychological powers Discarding the Cartesian conception may, therefore, be more difficult than some critics suggest, because it would require a fundamental change in our conception of the mental 3.2 Citizen of Two... result of some deficiency in a subject’s cognitive abilities, even if the experiences are subjectively quite different 5.4 The Importance of Presentations Twin experiences cannot be compared directly, that is, by having both of them at the same time If the subject is having one of the Twin experiences, we have to find an adequate way of presenting the other experience, so that the other experience fits the. .. externalist views either 6.10 The ‘Transparency’ of Content The claim that a subject should always know, by reflection, whether two of her concepts or thought contents are the same, is defended Subjects are not infallible about these matters, but, if they make a mistake, they should be able to recover through reflection, and, if they do not, they breach a norm of rationality 6.11 External Feature Outside the. .. neglects the question of being, and so on Once the historical influence on the formulation of a problem is shown, its contingent nature is revealed, thereby offering us encouragement to get rid of it In favour of what, we might ask: are we finally in the position to correct the mistakes of the past, so that philosophical problems, once the sediment of tradition is scraped off, can shine in their true light?... faculties, they must have the appetitive ones too (e.g DA II.3.414b ) Certain kinds of animals also have the power of locomotion, and the ability to move also belongs to the sensory part The next, third order of animate beings, human beings, has all the faculties listed so far, and also the power of thinking Thinking includes the capacity of knowing, and of understanding, as well as that of theoretical and practical... We followed the argument in the Second Mediation to the point where Descartes introduces the demon hypothesis, finds certainty in his own existence, reviews his formerly held views about what he was, and, out of the Aristotelian list of the faculties of the soul—nutrition, movement, sense perception, thinking—retains only thought as truly belonging to him Descartes now turns to the question of what a... various theories of personhood and personal identity; for example, with a Lockean theory or with an animalist theory 3.6 Conclusion of Part One Descartes’s theory of the mind has received severe criticism in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries This first part of this book has attempted to restore somewhat the reputation of the analytical table of contents xvii Cartesian conception, even though the conception... not Only the last psychological faculty survives scrutiny after the introduction of the demon hypothesis: even assuming that I am deceived by the demon, by entertaining this very hypothesis, I find myself thinking, and in this I also find the guarantee of my existence From the Aristotelian list of nutritive, sensory, locomotive, and intellectual faculties of the soul, only the last is kept as the essential... esoteric conception confined to the realm of abstract philosophy, it is, I believe, fundamental to our understanding of ourselves as the kind of creatures we are Tracing the origins of a tradition may well promise another benefit For, whenever the tradition started, someone must have privileged access and the mark of the mental  the author after he has set out in the First Meditation the need to suspend judgement . both of them at the same time. If the subject is having one of the Twin experiences, we have to find an adequate way of presenting the other experience, so that the other experience fits the subject’s. has the kind of mind we have. Here lies the significance of the Cartesian conception of the mind: it offers us a list of mental phenomena that is put together on a principled basis; and it is the. be formulated as the view that the way things seem to a subject the way things are from the subject’s point of view determine all her mental features. Externalism is the denial of this claim. In