A-LEVEL PHILOSOPHY · AQA 7172 · PAPER 2Harlington School · Philosophy · Metaphysics of Mind

What do we mean by 'mind'? Mental states, their features and the mind–body problem

Known from the inside, hard to explain from the outside. Kind one: the feel. Kind two: the aboutness.

The
big
question

What is a mind — what does it contain, what marks its states out from everything else, and why is it so hard to fit into a scientific picture of the world?

How it is examined: five questions — 3 · 5 · 5 · 12 · 25 marks. The Year 12 December test is Q01–Q04; the 25-mark essay is the Year 13 stretch. This unit's ladder ↓
02

The inside–outside line

The unit's positions, lined up. Tap a position to see what it claims and where it is strong or weak. If you can order them, you understand them.

THE INSIDE · the mind is what I find by looking inwardsTHE OUTSIDE · the mind is what science finds by studying the brain

Tap a circle — or use Tab and Enter — to explore each position.

The thread that ties it together

This lesson draws the map: what a mind holds, the feel and the aboutness, and the mind–body problem. Every later lesson in the strand tries to answer that problem — and must explain both the feel and the aboutness.

◀ Refer back · Intuition and deduction: the cogito
Can Descartes prove, by thought alone, that he exists as a thinking thing?

In Year 12 the cogito proved Descartes exists as a 'thinking thing'. This strand asks: what is that thinking thing — and how does it fit a body?

Retrieve: Say the cogito in one sentence. Then ask: does 'I think, so I am' tell Descartes if he is a body, a brain, or neither?
The big idea

Going from left to right, the mind gets easier to see from the outside. The feel seems visible only from the inside. The hidden part of the mind may be open only to science. Place each theory on this line as you meet it.

Look ahead · Intentionality and qualia ▶
What are the two features that seem to make mental states special?

Next lesson looks closely at today's two kinds: how a thought can be ABOUT something, and why an experience FEELS like something.

Prime: Write three 'that' sentences about your own beliefs or hopes. Then try to describe the taste of coffee to someone who has never had it.
01

The lessons in this unit

3 lessons, taught in this order. The first is the map of the whole unit — this page mirrors it — and each lesson after it takes one part deeper. Timetabled for Track A · Autumn 1 (W1). See the whole year plan ↗

Lesson 1 · week 1

The map: what do we mean by 'mind'?

Introspection and the contents of a mind; intentionality and qualia previewed; conscious and unconscious states; why the mind resists third-person science.

Lesson deck ↗ Booklet ↗ Podcast ♪
Lesson 2 · week 1

Intentionality and qualia

Aboutness and propositional content; the 'what it is like' of experience; states with one feature, both or neither; the two tests every theory must pass.

Lesson deck ↗ Booklet ↗ Podcast ♪
Lesson 3 · week 1

The mind–body problem: the hard problem and the map of theories

Chalmers' hard problem and the explanatory gap; substance and property dualism; idealism and physicalism; reduction; the map of the strand.

Lesson deck ↗ Booklet ↗ Podcast ♪
03

Four ways into 'what is a mind?', side by side

The one thing you know from the inside But your mind seems different. You know your own pain or your own thought from the INSIDE, by looking inwards. No one else can look in. Some philosophers deny that science, working from the outside, can ever explain the whole mind. The trouble comes in two kinds. Kind one: the FEEL — what a pain is LIKE for you (qualia). Kind two: the ABOUTNESS — a thought points at something beyond itself (intentionality). Every theory in this strand has to explain both.

Kind one

The feel: qualia

What an experience is LIKE — the throb, the red — known from the inside, and not shown by any brain scan.
1Some mental states have a feel: there is something it is LIKE to have them — a headache, the colour red, the smell of petrol.
2These feels are private. You know them from the inside. You can only point and say 'it's like THIS!'
3Science works from the outside. A brain scan can show which cells fire when you are in pain — but not the throb itself.
4So there is a gap between brain activity and the feel. Chalmers calls it the 'hard problem'. That is kind one.
Strength It names something everyone knows from their own life: pain HURTS, red LOOKS red. A theory of mind that leaves out the feel leaves out the thing that matters most to us.
Weakness A gap in what we know now may not be a gap in the world. Science once could not explain life or lightning, and then it did. Physicalists say the same may happen with the feel.
Kind two

Aboutness: intentionality

A thought points at something beyond itself — the rain, a golden mountain — and can be true or false.
1Some mental states are ABOUT something: a belief that it will rain points at the rain, out in the world.
2Because they point at the world, they can be true or false — the rain may come, or it may not.
3You can say them with a 'that': I believe THAT it will rain, I hope THAT it stops, I regret THAT it is raining.
4A stone, a toaster or a heartbeat is not about anything. So how can brain activity be? That is kind two.
Strength It picks out something we use all the time: beliefs, hopes and fears are about things, so they can be right or wrong. And it shows the problem even where there is no feel at all.
Weakness Not every mental state seems to be about something. A low mood, or the pain in a stubbed toe, may point at nothing. So aboutness may not be the mark of ALL the mental.
The shape

Inside and outside: the mind–body problem

Known from the inside, studied from the outside: how do the two fit? Dualists and monists answer differently.
1Looking inwards (introspection) shows a crowd of states: feelings, moods, wishes, beliefs, memories, pictures and a sense of self.
2You know these from the inside. No one else can look in. Science works from the outside, where anyone can check.
3Both kinds of trouble — the feel and the aboutness — fall into the gap between the inside and the outside.
4Dualists say the gap is real: the mind is more than the body. Physicalists say there is one stuff, and science will close the gap.
Strength It puts every later theory to the same test. What does it say the mind is? And can it explain both the feel and the aboutness?
Weakness 'Two families' is too neat. Some dualists agree there is only one kind of STUFF — the brain — and still say some of its features are not physical.
The challenge

Is all of the mind conscious?

Descartes: every mental state is conscious. Freud and Churchland: much of the mind works out of sight.
1Descartes: the mind is a thinking thing. Everything in it is conscious, so you can find it all by looking inwards.
2Freud: some of what we do is caused by wishes and fears that we do not know we have.
3Churchland: when you speak, you know what you mean, but not how your brain picks the words or follows the grammar.
4If much of the mind is hidden, looking inwards cannot show it all — but science, from the outside, might.
Strength It fits a lot of evidence from psychology and brain science. And it explains things the conscious mind cannot — like the name that arrives an hour later.
Weakness What makes a hidden process part of the MIND, and not just the brain at work? Answering that takes us straight back to the mind–body problem.
04

Six mental states, examined from the inside

Every position in this unit is tested on cases. Read each one, decide what you would say, then tap for the question the examiners would ask.

05

Talk it through — four moves

Say it before you write it. Four moves, with the sentence stems the examiners are listening for in your essay — connect, challenge, weigh, reason from cases.

Connect
“This connects to … because …”
“That is the same move as … made in …”
This unit · Put the stubbed toe next to the umbrella thought. Both are known from the inside. Say what is DIFFERENT: which one has a feel, and which one is about something? Why do both trouble science?
Challenge
“The weakest step is … because …”
“That only follows if … — and it might not.”
This unit · Take the name on the tip of your tongue. Descartes says: if you did not notice it, it was not your mind. Do you agree? If not, what does that mean for looking inwards?
Weigh
“Even granting …, … — so on balance …”
“The cost of that reply is …”
This unit · Which is harder for science to explain: the FEEL of a pain, or the ABOUTNESS of a thought? Give one reason. Then give the best reply to it.
Reason from cases
“In case A …; in B …; so in general …”
“The case that breaks the pattern is …”
This unit · Go through the six cases. For each one say: is it conscious? Does it feel like something? Is it about something? Say the rule you found. Then find the case that is hardest to sort.
Protocol Pairs 2 min → fours 3 min → two speakers to the front. Roles: Proposer · Challenger · Judge · Reporter. Rule: every reply begins by restating what you heard. · 8 min
06

The exam ladder — this unit's mock

Five rungs, one per question type. Open a rung for the shape a full answer takes and this unit's plan, then write. Everyone climbs Q01–Q04; Q05 is the stretch.

Q013 marks · Define
What is meant by 'intentionality'?SHAPE One precise sentence a philosopher would accept
The shape of a full answer
  1. One precise sentence
  2. A contrast or example if it earns clarity
  3. No evaluation, no history — stop
Your plan — this unit
  1. The 'aboutness' of mental states: their capacity to represent something beyond themselves — e.g. a belief THAT it is raining.
Write it — about 2 lines
0 words · nothing here is saved — copy it into your book
Q025 marks · Outline
Outline what is meant by 'qualia', with an example.SHAPE Every part the specification names, in order
The shape of a full answer
  1. State the view or distinction in full
  2. Use the technical vocabulary exactly
  3. Order it: claim → the parts → what follows
Your plan — this unit
  1. The phenomenal, what-it-is-like character of experience
  2. Subjective, private, hard to describe
  3. E.g. the redness of red, the throb of a headache.
Write it — about 4 lines
0 words · nothing here is saved — copy it into your book
Q035 marks · Explain
Explain the difference between dualism and physicalism.SHAPE Set-up → premises → conclusion
The shape of a full answer
  1. Set-up: name the target — which view, which claim
  2. Premises: state them in order, numbered
  3. Conclusion: show it follows, and what it costs
Your plan — this unit
  1. Dualism: the mental cannot be reduced to the physical (as substance or property)
  2. Physicalism: everything, the mental included, is ultimately physical.
Write it — about 5 lines
0 words · nothing here is saved — copy it into your book
Q0412 marks · Explain
Explain the 'hard problem' of consciousness and why it is a problem for physicalism.SHAPE Two linked explanations, both full
The shape of a full answer
  1. Part A: the view or argument, in full
  2. Part B: the issue or reply, with its own premises and conclusion
  3. The link: one sentence on what B does to A
  4. Mostly AO1 — explain, do not judge; the verdict waits for the essay
Your plan — this unit
  1. Easy problems: explaining functions and mechanisms
  2. The hard problem: why is there experience at all?
  3. The explanatory gap
  4. Physicalism must close it.
Write it — about 8 lines
0 words · nothing here is saved — copy it into your book
Q0525 marks · Evaluate
Can the mind be explained in purely physical terms?SHAPE A sustained argument to a judgement
The shape of a full answer
  1. Introduction: define the term, state your thesis, name the positions you will test
  2. Each paragraph: state the argument · test it with the strongest objection · reply · WEIGH
  3. One shared case, run through every position
  4. Judgement: what survives, and what the losing views cannot explain
Your plan — this unit
  1. Thesis
  2. Intentionality and qualia defined
  3. The hard problem
  4. Dualist reasons for 'no'
  5. Physicalist replies previewed
  6. Judgement.
Write it — about 10 lines to plan, then the essay in your book
0 words · nothing here is saved — copy it into your book
Beyond the ladder: Every theory in this strand must explain both intentionality and qualia. Predict which feature will cause physicalism more trouble.
07

Your resources

Everything for the unit, in one place. The lesson, the booklet and the podcast belong to this unit; the Metaphysics of Mind booklets runs across the whole series.

Teacher setup: links aren't set yet. Open this file, find the LINKS list near the bottom, and paste each SharePoint share link once. Buttons with no link show as "Link not set".
✓Revise & mock — per lesson: the episode, three games, and every past-paper question with the shape of a full answer↗🎮The Arena — six games on the words, positions, arguments and verdicts of this unit: Bronze, Silver, Gold; objective and evaluative tracks↗✓Your Companion — tick what you understand, see what you have done in the Arena, place yourself and choose your next move; print it for your teacher↗▲Intervention — E–D to C, C to B, B to A*: the four moves for your tier, with drills, model answers at every level and Coach Owl↗ ▣Lesson deck — the slides, with the four positions, the cases and the ladder↗ ✎Completion booklet — greyscale, mirrors the lesson — fill it as you go↗ ♪Lesson podcast — a teacher and a student argue the unit through to a judgement↗ ≡Podcast transcript — read along, or read instead↗ 🦉Metaphysics of Mind booklets — checklist, key words, review workbook and the Q01–Q05 planner↗ ♪Overview podcast — the whole series as one argument (team teach)↗ ◎NotebookLM pack — make your own podcast from the unit's sources↗ ▤Printable flashcards — fold-over cards to cut out↗ ▶Revision playlist — the YouTube playlist for the course↗
08

How to revise this unit

Use the resources in this order. The Metaphysics of Mind booklets is where you learn to plan all five question types.

Listen to the podcast, then read the transcript

A teacher and a student argue every position through to a judgement. Pause at each position and say what it claims before they do.

Complete the booklet

Given text on the left, your words on the right. Decide the strength and the weakness YOU would give each position.

Flip the flashcards until every term is one sentence

Key terms first, then the positions. A term you cannot define in one sentence is a Q01 you cannot yet answer.

Climb the ladder: Q01 to Q04 from a plan

Precision questions. Open each rung, plan from the shape, write, then check every part the specification names is there.

Plan Q05 with one shared case

In the Companion: Part 4, the Q05 planning frame. Plan today's Q05 — thesis, the two features, the hard problem, dualist and physicalist answers, judgement.

Q01–Q04 · 3, 5, 5 and 12 marks · precision
Q01 Define — one precise sentence a philosopher would accept. No evaluation, no history.
Q02 Outline — every part the specification names, in order, in the technical vocabulary.
Q03 Explain — set-up, premises in order, conclusion — and what it costs the target.
Q04 Explain … and … — two full explanations and the one sentence that links them. Still AO1: explain, do not judge.
Q05 · 25 marks · AO2 is 20 of them
What it is — a sustained argument to a judgement. Every paragraph states an argument, tests it, replies, and WEIGHS.
Aim — AO1 is saying clearly what the feel and the aboutness are, with an example of each. AO2 is asking: can science explain them, and why or why not? Never just say 'science can't' — show where the gap is.
09

Watch

Where does your mind reside? — watch for the mind–body problem set up — CrashCourse, 9:07

▶Where does your mind reside? · 9 min
Watch for: the mind–body problem set up — CrashCourse, 9:07↗▶Dualism (A level) · 34 min
Watch for: dualism as the first family of answers — Fliggosophy, 34:44↗▶The course playlist (AQA)
Watch for: the whole course, episode by episode; use it when a lesson's own videos are not enough.↗
10

Flashcards — test yourself

Flip a card to check yourself. Switch between key terms (term → meaning) and positions (position → claim, strength & weakness).

Tap any card to flip ·
11

Exit ticket

Three things to recall, one to argue. Answer them in your book before you leave the unit.

Recall

  1. Say what qualia are, in your own words, with one example.
  2. Say what intentionality is, with one example.
  3. Give one reason to think some of the mind is unconscious.

Challenge

Argue: Which is harder for science to explain: that a thought is ABOUT something, or that a pain FEELS like something? Why?

AO1 vs AO2 AO1 is saying clearly what the feel and the aboutness are, with an example of each. AO2 is asking: can science explain them, and why or why not? Never just say 'science can't' — show where the gap is.