Discuss at least two theories which hold that a mental state is Essay

Discuss at least two theories which hold that a mental state is nothing more than some sort of physical state - Essay Example There are two important movements that provide an answer to these questions, i.e. behaviorism and identity theory. It is in my contention that despite the enigma of the human mind, behaviorism and the identity theory, both attempt to offer a rational explanation for the nature and identity of mental phenomena. Behaviorism Behaviorism is generally regarded as the view that reduces mental states to the physical states of the body, specifically to that of the body’s behaviors. Thus, â€Å"behaviorists have argued that mental states and processes are really nothing more than behavior or dispositions† (Heil, 1993, p.174). A behavior is understood here as an external physical movement of the body, and thus includes verbal behavior, but excludes brain activities. Moreover, behavior is either actual or dispositional. Accordingly, all mental states are believed to be behavioral dispositions, which may or may not be actualized. As such, even if there is no actual behavior that co rresponds to a mental expression, the claim of behaviorism holds because it necessarily has a corresponding behavioral disposition. So to have a mental state is thus to behave or to be disposed to behave in a certain way. For instance, to be in pain is to exhibit behaviors such as crying, wincing, saying â€Å"ouch,† etc. ... Expressions containing mental terms such as â€Å"I desire to finish school†, â€Å"I am in pain†, and â€Å"I believe that it is going to rain,† are accordingly, logically equivalent to, or reducible to some expressions containing only behavioral terms such as â€Å"I will attend my classes regularly,† â€Å"I am inclined to cry,† and â€Å"I will bring my umbrella when I get out of the house.† In short, in this view, mental terms are defined in terms of behaviors. It is this notion of behaviorism that will be of concern to us. Logical behaviorism is often attributed to the view of the mind that Gilbert Ryle (1965) advanced as an alternative to Cartesian dualism, which he refers to as the ghost-in-the machine doctrine. Ryle argues that this doctrine commits a fallacy called the category mistake, i.e. when one wrongly takes something as belonging to a certain category that it does not belong to. The famous example given by Ryle is when someon e understands the word â€Å"university† as referring to a particular entity in the very same way that the words â€Å"buildings†, â€Å"members of the faculty†, â€Å"students†, and the like, refer to particular entities. In the same way, so argues Ryle, Descartes mistakes the word â€Å"mind† as belonging to the same category as the word â€Å"body†, and hence believes that the word â€Å"mind† refers to an entity of some kind in the same way that the word â€Å"body† does. Though â€Å"mind† and â€Å"body† refer to different kinds of entities, the fact that they do refer to entities puts them in the same category. Logical behaviorism, as noted above, is the view that mental states are nothing but behaviors. This view lends itself to two