Shaffer's Spatial Argument

"The fact that it makes no sense at all to speak of mental events as occuring at some point within the body has the result that the identity theory cannot be true. This is because the corresponding physical events do occur at some point within the body, and if those physical events are identical with mental events, then those mental events must occur at the same point within the body. But those mental events do not occur at any point within the body, because any statement to the effect that they occured here, or there, would be senseless. Hence the mental events cannot meet the condition of coexistence in space, and therefore cannot be identical with physical events." (IP3 276b, emphasis added)

1.If those physical events are identical with mental events, then those mental events must occur at some point within the body.
2.Those mental events do not occur at any point within the body.
3.Therefore, those physical events are not identical with mental events. (MT)

(2) is supported by:
4.Any statement to the effect that certain mental events occured here or there would be senseless.

(1) is supported by:
5.Physical events do occur at some point or other in the body.
6.If mental events are identical with physical events, then they must fulfil the conditions of coexistence in space (the "coexistence in space" condition, IP3 276a).


previous list next

Richard Lee, rlee@uark.edu, last modified: 29 November 2004