Some Possible Answers
to the Mind-Body Problem:

Substance Dualism:Mind and body are two different things. (Descartes, Moreland)
Idealism:Minds and their ideas are all that exist. "Bodies" are just certain ideas in minds. (Berkeley)
Physicalism:There is no mental substance. "Minds" are just physical things. (Churchland)
Identity Theory:"Mental states are physical states of the brain." (a version of physicalism)
Property Dualism:Mental states are non-physical properties of the brain.
Functionalism: A mental state is any state that plays a certain causal role (function) in behavior.

Idealism and physicalism are monist theories. They each claim that there is ultimately only one kind of thing in the universe. The idealist claims that everything is mental. The physicalist claims that everything is physical.


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Richard Lee, rlee@uark.edu, last modified: 19 November 2004