Philosophy of Mind and Death: A Comprehensive Analysis
The feeling is to detect anything through the senses, yet without having meaning, and uptake is merely a stimulus.
Perception is the processing of this sensory data to make sense; it is the recognition of a particular object that allows us to understand each other and perform actions.
The relationship between these two concepts has been studied from two theories:
- The relational theory: This theory posits that perception is nothing but a set of feelings and an element of partnership between them provided by the subject.
- Theory of form K: This theory states that perception is not a sum of sensations; we perceive wholes, objects, or complete things immediately. Through a process of abstraction, we can distinguish and separate different sensations that compose it.
Perspectives on Death
The philosophy of death can be seen as:
Death as a biological fact:
Death can be analyzed from biology and medicine. Its definition has evolved and changed according to these disciplines and their approaches. For example, heart palpitations used to be synonymous with death, but we now know that the brain’s activity is the crucial criterion.Death as a socio-cultural phenomenon:
Biological data are always covered with social and cultural interpretations. Death is interpreted according to our culture and society. For example, the biological echo of death will not be the same in a culture deeply rooted in immortality that refuses any other type of transcendence.Death as a personal event:
From this perspective, death is part of the life process. We may face it with eagerness, indifference, etc.
Philosophy of Death
The first thing to differentiate is the dying man from the dying animal. The animal dies, and a man dies. Death is not only ceasing to be but also being aware that one is going to cease to be. Three proposals:
Epicurus:
His ideal of life is that of a tranquil man. To achieve this, one must remove false fears, including the fear of death. His argument is: do not fear death when we are alive, because when death is present, we are not.Heidegger:
Death is a key theme in his philosophy. The fundamental feature of human life is to live in the face of death. It reveals human existence and allows us to realize our capabilities and the need to take ourselves seriously. This anticipation of death leads to our seriousness.Unamuno:
He rebelled against the idea of total annihilation. We cannot conceive of ourselves as nonexistent. The death of our individual self breaks all our schemes. If death awaits us all, what is the point?
Attitudes to the Question of Death
We can approach this topic in different ways:
- Gnostic attitude: Refusing to recognize the existence of such questions and avoiding the question of death.
- Dogmatic attitude: Believing to have found an answer and affirming that death is an echo of life, but a religion tells us that it is a transit.
- Tragic attitude: Giving up on finding answers. This defines Unamuno’s position: agony and anguish, questioning without certainty.
- Hopeful and exploratory attitude: An attitude of continuous search. One may have answers through beliefs, but that does not stop the questioning.
Introspection
Introspection is the process by which the subject can inspect their own psyche. In psychoanalysis, it is considered a method to access the human psyche. Behaviorists, however, argue that we can only observe behavior, never internal psychical elements.
Trying to know ourselves, we realize that we are aware of our existence, thoughts, and consciousness. To be means:
- To be aware: To be awake and able to receive stimuli. For example, when we are asleep, we are unaware.
- To realize: To collect information, process it, and give it direction. We can be awake but not attentive, so we overlook many things.
- To be conscious: To have power over one’s actions, to reflect, establish a plan, and foresee consequences. This is moral conscience and has to do with the idea of responsibility. For example, when someone is unconscious and does something with serious consequences, they cannot stop to think.
Mind-Brain Problem
This philosophical polemic asks about the possible relations between mental states (consciousness, psyche, soul) and physical states (the brain, the material, the body), and whether or not they are two different substances.
Turing Test: Proposed by Alan Turing in 1950 to establish the existence of intelligence in a machine. If a machine behaves intelligently, then it must be considered intelligent.
Dualism: The philosophical position that argues that the soul and the body are two completely different substances or entities. The nature of their relationship leads to different kinds of dualism.
Monism: The philosophical stance that defends the existence of a single substance, usually material. Most monisms are materialists.
The central nervous system, also called the somatic nervous system, consists of the encephalon and spinal cord. It is the main processing center of the entire nervous system and controls all voluntary body functions.
Encephalon: The superior part of the central nervous system, located inside the head. It consists of the brain, brainstem, and cerebellum.
Cortex: Also called the cerebral cortex, it is the layer of nervous tissue that covers the surface of the brain. It is responsible for reasoning ability and our sense of smell, as well as instinctive reactions and philosophical processes.
Neuron: The fundamental cell of the nervous system, responsible for conducting nerve impulses through connections called synapses. The brain contains about 100 billion of them.
Spinal cord: Part of the central nervous system housed inside the vertebral column, connecting the brain to the rest of the body.
Brain lobes: Areas in which the cortex is divided, each responsible for different functions. There are four: the frontal lobe, the parietal lobe, the temporal lobe, and the occipital lobe.
Cognitive Science: A multidisciplinary approach to understanding how a physical system (the brain) can receive, select, and process information to create a mental state. Specialties include cognitive psychology, philosophy of mind, anthropology, linguistics, neuroscience, and artificial intelligence.
Epicurus: A Greek philosopher who thought that human unhappiness has three sources: the fear of the gods, the fear of death, and the fear of the future. He believed that if something does not exist, it should not concern us, because before it appears, we do not live, and when it appears, we no longer exist.
Heidegger: A German philosopher, the father of existentialism. Humans live in fear of death, but death is the event that gives meaning to our lives and makes them serious.
Agnosticism: The philosophical position that considers all knowledge of the divine and what goes beyond the experienced or experimentable inaccessible to humans. For an agnostic, considering the matter of death is useless.
Sensation: The first phase of the cognitive process that involves the stimulation of different senses and the transmission of neural messages to the central nervous system, without giving any significance to these stimuli.
Perception: The second phase of the cognitive process that organizes, gives meaning to, and interprets sensations received in the central nervous system.
Absolute threshold: The minimum intensity of a stimulus to be consciously detected.
Difference threshold: The minimum difference between two stimuli required for them to be consciously detected as different.
Optical illusions: Illusions of vision that lead us to perceive reality erroneously. They may have philosophical or cognitive origins.
Introspection: The mind’s reflective capacity to refer to or be immediately aware of its own states.
Awareness: The knowledge a being has of itself and its environment, and the interpretation that enables interaction and partnership with external stimuli.
Rationalism: The philosophical position that argues that all knowledge comes from innate ideas that exist in the mind.
Empiricism: The philosophical position that argues that all knowledge comes from experience and denies the existence of innate ideas.
Copernican revolution: A radical change of perspective on how to tackle problems in any scientific or philosophical discipline.
Intelligence: The overall ability to assimilate and develop information and use it properly.
Emotional Intelligence: A term popularized by Daniel Goleman in 1995. It consists of the ability to recognize one’s own and others’ feelings and the knowledge to handle them.