An understanding of various concepts applied in the relationship between the physical and mental and the implications these theories have on religion. Philosophy of mind is a branch of philosophy that studies the nature of the mind, mental events, mental functions, mental properties, consciousness and their relationship to the physical body, particularly the brain. The mind–body problem, i.e. the relationship of the mind to the body, is commonly seen as one key issue in philosophy of mind, although there are other issues concerning the nature of the mind that do not involve its relation to the physical body, such as how consciousness is possible and the nature of particular mental states

2. An Introductory Course
On Perspectives Of
Western
And Islamic Philosophy

3. Agenda
•Initiate session10:25
•About the lectures10:25 – 10:40
•Western perspectives10:40 – 11:25
•Break11:25 – 11:40
•Islamic perspectives11:40 – 12:25
•Questions and answers12:25 – 13:00

4. Lecture Series
A total of nine lectures are anticipated to
be delivered on a monthly basis over a
period of nine consecutive months
Each of the lectures shall provide a
rudimentary understanding of various
philosophical concepts
Please refer to the provided handbook
for further details and supplementary
readings

5. Sessions Date and Time Subject Matter
Western
Perspectives
Islamic
Perspectives
1 of 9
24th August 2014
10:15am - 1.00pm
JKN
Introduction to philosophy
What is philosophy?
Why study philosophy?
Meaning and definition
2 of 9
21st September 2014
10:15am - 1.00pm
JKN
What can we know?
Knowledge
[Epistemology 1/2]
What is knowing?
What is knowledge?
Belief, truth and evidence
The sources and concepts of knowledge,
reason and experience
3 of 9
19th October 2014
10:15am - 1.00pm
JKN
What is the world like?
Perceiving the World
[Epistemology 2/2]
Realism
Idealism
Our knowledge of the physical world
4 of 9
23rd November 2014
10:15am - 1.00pm
JKN
The way the world works
Scientific Knowledge
[Philosophy of Science]
Laws of nature
Explanation
Theories
Possibility
The problem of induction
5 of 9
21st December 2014
10:15am - 1.00pm
JKN
What is and what must be?
Freedom and Necessity
[Metaphysics]
Causality
Determinism and freedom
6 of 9
18th January 2015
10:15am - 1.00pm
JKN
What am I?
Mind and Body
[Philosophy of Mind]
The physical and the mental,
The relationship between the physical and the mental,
Materialism
7 of 9
15th February 2015
10:15am - 1.00pm
JKN
What else is there?
[Philosophy of Religion 1/2]
Ontological, cosmological and teleological arguments for the existence
of God
8 of 9
22th March 2015
10:15am - 1.00pm
JKN
What else is there?
[Philosophy of Religion 2/2]
The concept of God
The problem of evil
Religious concepts
9 of 9
19th April 2015
10:15am - 1.00pm
JKN
The is and the ought
[Problems in Ethics]
Meta-ethics
Theories of goodness
Theories of conduct

6. The primary aim and overall
objective, among other subsidiary
benefits, is to assist in familiarising
and acquainting its recipients with
the conceptual [and intellectual]
perils, predominantly encountered
by religion in todays society, which
are propelled by [or in the name of]
philosophy.

7. Philosophy of Mind

8. What is ‘Philosophy of
Mind’?
The philosophical
study of the mind and
the mental
functioning.

9. Why study the
Philosophy of Mind?
Curiosity.
Mental phenomena
seems to different from
everything else.
How we know about
mental states differs from
how we know everything
else.
Mental states play a
central role in providing
meaning to our lives.
Interests us
because . . .

10. What are the problems it’s
concerned with?
Problems that constitute this field
concern mentality and mental problems
[1]
Clarifying out
conception of
mentality
itself.
[2]
Metal
properties
and mental
states.
[3]
The mind-
body
problem.

11. The Mind-Body Problem
The philosophical problem of
how the mind is related to the
body, and of what properties,
functions, and occurrences
should be regarded as,
respectively, mental or physical.

12. Why should we think
there is a problem here?
Mental
Physical
The mental states
are so utterly
different from the
physical and yet the
two seem
intimately related
to each other.

13. What do we mean by the
term ‘mind’?
Soul
Psychological
states
Nothing but the
brain
Different
understandings
of the mind,
quite evidently,
lead to different
understandings
of the mind-
body problem.

14. Mental Causation
The term "mental causation" applies
to causal transactions involving
mental events or states, such as
beliefs, desires, feelings, and
perceptions. Typically, the term is
used to refer to cases where a mental
state causes a physical reaction

15. Dualism and Materialism
Cartesian
Dualism
Extended substance or matter
Mind or soul
Materialism
Matter alone exists, implying
a denial of the existence of
minds, spirits, divine beings,
etc.
Whatever exists is either
matter, or entirely dependent
on matter for its existence.

16. Cartesian Dualism
Physical
Substance
Mental
Property
Physical
Property
I N T E R A C T
I N T E R A C T

17. Central-State Materialism
Body
Brain
(Mind)

18. Models of Mind-Body
Interaction
Interactionism
the view that the mind and
the body directly cause things
to happen in each other
Parallelism
the view that the mind and
the body act "in parallel," but
never casually interact
directly
Epiphenomenalism
the view that only the body
has causal powers, but the
mind is causally inert
Reductionism
the view that the mind just is
the body, and so whatever
causal efficacy the physical
has, the mental also has
Four basic models
of mind-body
interaction

19. Religious Implications of
Philosophy of Mind
Dualistic View
Allows room for
specific religious
doctrines
Materialistic View
No room for
anything other than
a reductionist
explanation

20. How likely is it that
we solve the
problem of
interaction between
mind and body?

21. Break
15 Minutes

22. Islamic
Perspective

23. Motivation in Pursuing
Knowledge of the Soul
In opposition to the
Occasionalist views of the
Mutakallimûn.
Philosophers wished to
anchor their knowledge of
the world in a stable and
predictable physical
reality.
This entailed naturalizing
the soul (nafs in Arabic)
itself, charting the relation
between its external and
internal senses and
between its imaginative
and rational faculties.
The ultimate goal of this
subject, conjunction of the
intellect with universal
truth, had a decidedly
metaphysical and spiritual
aspect.

24. Aristotle’s Concept of the
Soul
Soul
Form of a
Body
Actuality
of a Body
Potentially
Alive

25. Aristotle’s Division of
Parts & Powers of Soul
Intellective and rational soul
[Humans]
Sensitive Soul
[Animals and Humans]
Nutritive or Vegetative
[Common to all living bodies
– plants, animals and humans
alike]
Most Arab
Philosophers accepted
Aristotle’s division of
the parts and powers
of the soul according
to which “soul” is an
ordered genus
divided into three
species,
corresponding to the
division of living
things to plants,
animals, and humans.

26. The Peripatetics
Identified four development stages of
the intellect
[1]
Potential
or
Material
Intellect
[2]
Habitual
Intellect
[3]
Actual
Intellect
[4]
Acquired
Intellect

27. Ibn-Sīnā Conception of
the Soul
Rejected
Aristotle’s
concept of the
soul
Upholds a form
of soul-body
dualism
The soul is a
subsistent being
in its own right
Independent of any
relation to the body
Holds the personal
immortality of the
individual human soul

28. The Eternity of the Soul
Most Philosophers
viewed the intellect alone
as immaterial and
incorruptible and, thus
eternal.
They also typically
conceived of
eschatological notions
such as Paradise and Hell
in purely spiritual terms.
They rejected the Qur’anic doctrine of
bodily resurrection as a crude but
necessary figurative sop thrown to the
uncomprehending vulgar multitude.

29. Imām Al-Ghazālī’s
Rejection
Possibility that the soul is to
some extent dependent on
the body
That which is
unascertainable affords
no ground for the
judgement
Destruction may be
caused by God

30. Occasionalism

31. Occasionalism and the
Mind-Body Problem
Occasionalism is often
thought of primarily as a
rather desperate solution to
the problem of mind-body
interaction.
Mind and body, it maintains,
do not in fact causally affect
each other at all; rather, it is
God who causes bodily
movements to occur 'on the
occasion of' appropriate
mental states (for example,
volitions), and who causes
mental states, such as
sensations, on the occasion of
the corresponding bodily
states (for example, sensory
stimulation).

32. Occasionalism and the
Mind-Body Problem

33. NEXT LECTURE
PHILOSOPHY OF
RELIGION
15th February 2015 10:15am – 13:00
JKN