Week 4 Seminar 2

Philosophy Of Mind

Jeremy Bentham born in 1748 - died in 1832 was an english jurist, philosopher, and legal and social reformer. Benthams Principles of Morals and Legislation written in 1789 was a theory that actions are insofar as they produce pleasure or prevent pain. It is also an explanation of a political theory that the purpose of civil or criminal laws is to maximise the amount of pleasure or happiness which may be enjoyed by society. Bentham also argues that if utility is defined as the ability to produce happiness , then the rightness of an action is determined by its utility. Bentham also states if happiness is viewed as the only thing which is intrinsically good, then the principle of utility is the only right principle of human action.

Bentham maintains that the principle of utility is the only sufficient ground of deciding whether an action is morally right or wrong. The principle of sympathy and antipathy for example the feeling of approval or disapproval for the expected consequences of an action is not a sufficient ground for judging the moral rightness or wrongness of an action. This is in a way relates to Freud as he believes in the ID, Ego and Superego, where the Ego is causing pain, horror and ID says let it out but the Super Ego says 'hold it in' and control whatever the problem is.

The Freudian Unconscious

Freud believed that we dreamed in codes. He claimed, dreams are almost always the fulfilment, in a fantasy, of a repressed wish. True, few dreams are obvious representations of a satisfaction, and some dreams such as nightmares seem to be just the opposite. This relates to the unconscious mind in a way that is defined as that part of the mind which gives rise to a collection of mental phenomena that manifest in a person's mind but which the person is not aware of at the time of occurrence. These phenomena include unconscious feelings, unconscious or automatic skills, unnoticed perceptions, unconscious thoughts, unconscious habits and automatic reactions, complexes and hidden phobias and concealed desires.