A (Partial) Map of Solutions to the Mind-Body Problem

There are a number of important questions we can raise about the relationship between the mind and the body:

Are Mind and Body distinct or identical?

They are distinct substances = Dualism

What then is the relationship between Mind and Body assuming Dualism?

Interactionism

Physical Events cause Mental Events, and vice versa. (Descartes)

Epiphenomenalism

Physical Events cause Mental Events, but not vice versa. (Huxley)

Parallelism

Physical Events and Mental Events track, but do not cause, one another. (Leibniz)

Identical = Monism

Are they, then, both mental, both physical, or neither?

Both are Mental = Mentalism

Idealism

The world is nothing but a mental phenomenon. (Berkeley)

Neither is mental nor physical

Attribute Dualism

The physical and the mental are both modes of a single substance. (Spinoza)

Neutral Monism

The physical and the mental are both composed of the same substance. (Hume)

Both are Physical = Materialism

Logical Behaviorism

Mental terms in psychological explanations refer to behavioral dispositions. (Ryle, Carnap)

Type-Physicalism

Mental Events of some type are Physical Events of some type. (Place, Smart)

Functionalism

Mental Events are either the functional states of physical objects or Physical Events that have a certain causal role or function. (Putnam, Lewis)

Eliminative Materialism

Mental terms in psychological explanations will be replaced by physical terms in a mature science of psychology. (Churchland)