Thomas Nagel: The Mind-Body Problem

Structuralism is the study of the parts and elements that make up the mind while; the key difference between structuralisms and functionalism was in the fundamentally different questions that they asked. Structuralisms asked, what are the elementary contents, the structures, of the human mind? Functional psychology was concerned with mind in use, what the mind does for us. Nevertheless; functionalists asked – what do people do; and also why do they do it? Just as the structuralisms were concerned with the structure of mental life, the functionalisms were concerned with the functions of mental processes and structures.

“The test of a first rate of intelligence is to have two opposed ideas at the same time and still retain the ability to function,” as claimed by Fitzgerald, the author of The Great Gatsby. Being the opposite of each other, certainty is to be absolute in one idea or belief, while doubt is to be uncertain. As history shows, it is preferable to coexist with these two opposed ideas since certainty gives one confidence, and doubt gives the contemporary laws, structure, or society a chance to improve. Certainty produces confidence, which encourages the minority to insist its ideas under the pressure from the majority. Inspired by his certainty of the wrongness of the Roman Catholic Church, Martin Luther nailed the 95 Theses to the gate of the Wittenberg

This means, you can rediscover things you perceive as unknown through inquiry and logic. This disarms the second horn of the dilemma. In addition, since you can inquire about what you already know in your soul, which is everything, disarms the first horn of the dilemma. This theory alongside disarming both horns of Meno’s dilemma, also encourages the pursuit of knowledge. Contrary to Meno’s dilemma, the theory of recollection acknowledges the existence of objective truth and points us towards the direction of finding it through the method of

Phenomenology does not give scientific facts about the world around us, but tries to explain how the world appears through the individual’s perception. Phenomenologists do not accept the separation between the subject and the object, which is highlighted in Positivism. Positivism focuses on the separation between the real world and how it is viewed. They argue that is essential to think that the subject has a great relationship with the object, because according to them, it is through the object of the real world that we make sense of our own experiences. The subject refers to the individual world, while the object refers to the real world.

In other words two terms cannot differ in extension and have the same intention. This perspective on meaning has not gone without criticism though as Putnam describes frege and carnap’s “rebellion” against the traditional

While the former highlights such elements as argument analysis, synthesis, and evaluation, the latter refute ego-centrism in favor of fair-mindedness. In other words, the weak-sense critical thinker is a pseudo-intellectual in that although he is highly skilled, yet egoistically motivated to achieve his selfish goals without taking into account the moral consequences. On the other hand, strong-sense critical thinker employs logic to solve the problems. He does not include his selfish intentions in the way he sees problems. In fact, he fair-mindedly unravels the stumbling blocks in a reflective and systematic

After applying the aforementioned method, Descartes relies on reasonable doubt as a foundation for true knowledge, keeping in mind that there is one thing that reason forbids him to doubt and that is his own activity, the activity of thinking. It is important to note that, for Descartes, wishing, hoping, believing, and questioning are considered as modes or aspects of

After comprehending the skills from nonviolent communication, we may then use and apply it for resolving a conflict. Yet, it is definitely easier said than done. However, we should not be cut short because of the challenges

The humanist school of believed leans towards the progress of methods that stop defensiveness, and growing belief, agreement, lack of judgement and crafting a freedom of expression. There is not far antagonism to this theory. This could be because it is extensively consented that we cannot be creative if we are distracted by supplementary

In the same pedestal, the book makes it profound that sense is possessed by a name, and this is not contingent on its reference. However, he argues that two or more signs can be used to refer to one thing, but its identity remains. He combines the three important items such as sign, sense, and object, which all have important roles to play in regards to sense and reference. Frege is not much interested in the truth of the used proposition but is more focused on what people do when making utterances in certain ways. More importantly, he argues that the reference to a sentence would not prove its truth-value.