The Nature of Persons — Mind-Body Dualism vs. Physicalism
Shelly Kagan · 41:38
Inference to the Best Explanation & Arguments for Immaterial Mind
Shelly Kagan · 45:48
Introduction to Human Behavioral Biology
Robert Sapolsky · 57:14
Justice: The Moral Side of Murder & Cannibalism
Michael Sandel · 54:56
This Land Is My Land — John Locke on Natural Rights, Labor & Consent
Michael Sandel · 54:58
The Nature of Persons — Mind-Body Dualism vs. Physicalism
Precise conceptual dissection of Cartesian substance dualism vs. functionalist physicalism—separating what a person is made of from whether consciousness reduces to brain states.
Professor Kagan discusses the two main positions with regard to the question, "What is a person?" On the one hand, there is the dualist view, according to which a person is a body and a soul. On the other hand, the physicalist view argues that a person is just a body. The body, however, has a certain set of abilities and is capable of a large range of activities.
This course was recorded in Spring 2007.
