Bilkent ACM SIGART (Special Interest Group on Artificial Intelligence)

DOUBTS ABOUT THE
BRAIN-MIND IDENTITY THEORY

Erdinc Sayan
METU Dept. of Philosophy

The Brain-Mind Identity Theory claims that mind is nothing but (a portion of) the brain, and that states of the mind (or "mental states") like pains, pleasures, sensations of colors, thoughts, beliefs, expectations, angers, and so forth are nothing but certain kinds of neurophysiological states and processes of the brain. This view has great appeal initially to those of us who are materialistically inclined--but have not been initiated to the subtleties of the philosophy of mind. We shall discuss the nature of the "identity" that is claimed to hold between the mind and the brain, and then talk about the problems that make such an identification highly doubtful even to most materialists. But if mind is not the same kind of thing as the brain/nervous system, what might it be?

Tuesday 27th November, 2001
at 17:40 in EA502 (Engineering Building)

Everyone Welcome