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| Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936) |
While many
philosophers regard human being as a complex creature with an unexplored mental
inside, others believe, however, that all your mental states are merely physical processes which take place inside
your brain. This theory is known as epiphenomenalism.
According to the epiphenomenalism definition these are not your thoughts which
make you feel angry and turn red. These are only symptoms of the same external
situation. Therefore thoughts are no more than a simple illusion caused by
external conditions. Also there is no such thing as free will.
You’ve probably
heard many times of Ivan Pavlov, Russian physiologist. He’s famous for his
research on conditioning and reflex actions. He proved that animal’s behaviour
may be altered by rewarding an animal for “good” actions and punishing for
those which are considered to be “wrong”. Imagine that you’ve got a dog and you
punish it for biting furniture and reward for obeying you; soon he will obey you
even if there is no reward afterwards. This shows how much the behaviour has to do with upbringing. In philosophy of psychology
there’s even a theory called behaviourism
(which shares many similarities with epiphenomenalism) that all what people
(and animals) do are in fact behaviours (including thoughts).
