Searle's View Of Biological Naturalism,a New Approach To Solve The Mind-body Problem

Human beings have a natural concern for fundamental and controversial issues that affect their own development.In the development of philosophy,the mind-body problem has been lasts for thousands years.Although many philosophers have intentionally or unintentionally avoided such big problems in the current era,these problems still exist.Occasionally people lament that : there is still no "solution" to the problem of mind-body,is this the inability of philosophers or the sadness of philosophy? But from another perspective,just in the process of solving this problems that human beings are constantly correcting the mistakes of their predecessors,putting forward their own opinions,accepting the suggestions and criticisms of others to make themselves closer to the "exit".The problem of mind and body can actually be traced back to the ancient Greek period,but at that time they were more willing to use the terms "soul and body" to express this problem.The different answers of thinkers from different schools to this original problem can also be reflected their basic attitude towards the mind-body problem---attach more importance to the soul rather than the body;Until modern times,Descartes first formulated this problem professionally in Meditations on First Philosophy and proposed a solution of substance dualism.Scholars after Descartes either developed their theory on Descartes' s basis or innovated their own solutions,but unfortunately this question has not been well answered.In modern times,the substance dualism is close to extinction,Physicalism has occupied the mainstream status.Once someone advocates the irreducibility of consciousness,they will be labeled as "residual cartesian intuition".In this context,John Searle was dissatisfied that people had to make a choice between monism and dualism when solving the mind-brain problem,so he proposed a new solution---biological naturalism.It holds that mental phenomena are caused by neurophysiological effects in the brain,which are themselves characteristics of the brain.The innovation of this view is to first clear up the vocabulary that was proposed by Descartes and has been used ever since,and then based on this,a new way is found,which not only insists on naturalism,but also retains the ontological characteristics of consciousness.Of course,the key point lies in Searle's discussion of the "mind".If he wants to solve this eternal problem,he must answer the questions of incompatibility and interaction between mind and body.After his solution was proposed,some people questioned it as a form of property dualism,but Searle explicitly denied it,thinking that people can naturally dispel doubts as long as they think on the foundations he has clarified.This thought of Searle provides a new way for us to solve the mind-body problem in the modern context,which enables us to solve the problem without falling into the dilemma,is of great significance to both theory and practice.Here is the brief formation of this article blow.The main content of the first and second chapters is mainly about Searle's liquidation of the traditional dualism and the modern materialist reductionism toreveal their mistakes.Both the views of substance dualism and property dualism have a fundamental limitation---they all presuppose the opposition of "mind" and "body",and explain in this concept and frame system,therefore,in order to completely solve this problem,we must break the framework and build a system based on the "default point" advocated by Searle.Various schools of physicalism,such as the eliminative materialism represented by Churchland,the strong artificial intelligence theory represented by Putnam,and the behaviorist theory,and so on.After discussing these theories,I will reveal the basis and origin of them and point out Searle's criticism of them respectively.The third and fourth chapters of this thesis will focus on Searle's new ideas for solving mind-body problem.His theory lies in the core problem of "mind",which not only acknowledges the biological characteristics of consciousness but also maintains its irreducibility.Searle advocating a biological naturalism view,trying to make a new interpretation of naturalistic tendencies without violating common sense: internal psychological phenomenon is a part of our natural biological life history,and this intentional phenomenon is caused by neurophysiological processes.So there is no external source of mind.In the conclusion of this thesis,I will evaluate this new method of Searle and explain its research significance.His biological naturalism view provided a new idea and inspiration for solving the problem of mind-body in the contemporary context.But it is necessary to thoroughly decipher the psychosomatic relationship.Philosophers still have a long way to go before they can fully decipher this Sphinx mystery.