If my mental processes are determined wholly by the motion of atoms in my brain, I have no reason to suppose..

Question

If my mental processes are determined wholly by the motion of atoms in my brain, I have no reason to suppose my beliefs are ture, and hence I haveno reason for supposing my brain to be composed of atoms.

Discuss.

Thank you for all the interesting answers;some of them so confusing I just don't have a clue what they mean.

I didn't write this statement myself, I found it from someone who answered one of my previous questions.

Answer 1

" I think therefore i am" ....Screw That!!!
I Am Therefore I Am!!!!

Believe your brain to be composed of whatever you desire it to be.....It is, after all, Your Brain.
Choose Your Illusion. Embrace it. Live it.
Isn't that essentially what we all do anyway?

Answer 2

In logic, if an argument leads to a contradiction something is fishy. It appears you are attempting to construct a paradox based on the axiom (assumption, premise) that mental processes are instantiated fully by physical components.

To make this into a slightly more formal argument, here is what your paradox would look like:

1. My mental processes are fully instantiated by the physical processes that take place inside my brain.

2. There is no reason to suppose that physical processes embody a notion of truth or falsity.

3. This argument is a product of my mental processes.

Conclusion: There is no reason to suppose that this argument is true (or just: This argument is false).

An argument is Valid if the conclusion follows from the premises and it is Sound if the premises are true. I believe the argument I have constructed based on your question is Valid, but I don't think it will strike very many people as sound.

I am one who is of the opinion that mental processes are indeed wholly physical, however many would deny premise #2. It doesn't seem to be the case that simply because a belief is made of atoms, there is no reason to suppose that belief is true.

Let me explain one way a materialist could handle the question of beliefs. A belief is a "brain-state", meaning a physical arrangement of atoms inside the larger pattern of neuronal connections within the system. This arrangement of atoms has meaning because it can be correctly interpreted by anyone with the ability to read the "mentalese" or language of thought. If a physical arrangement of atoms can have meaning, then that meaning can be considered true or false based on whether or not it corresponds to facts in the external world.

So by denying the sub-argument behind premise #2 (that physical atoms cannot under any circumstances represent something true) the paradox is averted, and we are not forced to doubt that the mind is made of atoms.

Answer 3

Lets do this piece by piece...

"if my mental processes are determined wholly by the motion of atoms in my brain, I have no reason to suppose my beliefs are true"

OK, we have here a Hasty Generalization Fallacy and Argument From Ignorance Fallacy and we haven't even hit the period yet....

"...and hence I have no reason for supposing my brain to be composed of atoms"

Ah, and we finish up with a Non Sequitur.

The merits of your arguement can't be discussed because the whole thing is fallacious.

Answer 4

In that context you have no reason to suppose that the atoms of your brain have a mind of its own and thus your beliefs are never real having no reason to suppose that the very existence of a bran is because of atoms? Interesting enough, why is the question in this day & age that we not find reason for reason? Mainly because we did not find the “reason to suppose” maybe?

Answer 5

A classic example of the computer denying the electron.
If your mental process cannot fathom the depth of your functioning, take it as a dogma.
Otherwise understand your brain functions by interactions on a.o.. neurons which function as electrochemical reactions of cells composed of huge molecules whose building blocks are atoms and swirling electrons. Atom cores consist of a.o. positively charged protons and neutrally charged neutrons. The number and ratio of these determine the elements that compose the molecules that bind together in huge clusters to form a cell, for example a braincell, neuron and together with a mass of other material essential for it's functioning deliver the physical possibility that you can think.
Now your believes are formed by ancestry, multiple trillions and more of thoughts during thousands of years finally filtering down to you a very little bit in your present time and space. What your brain thinks it has accepted. Whether they are true depends on whether they are considered true and by whom and by how many and also by you and how much and why. That's your free will but you can be wrong.

Answer 6

You need to stop and consider that you are the one who actually controlls the motion of the atoms in your brain. In that case, your beliefs are indeed true. Try living for a week or two believing that everything you see is not as it seems and you'll quickly not care at all how your beliefs are formed, stored, or composed. Either that, you would drive yourself insane.

Answer 7

No, no longer almost as progressed as immediately. we are conscious that all and sundry sturdy rely in the international is composed of atoms, and that includes the concepts. concepts function is via electrochemical interest, no longer basically "action of atoms". there is not any rationalization why atomic functioning of the concepts won't be able to convey approximately hassle-free ideals, yet it is a case of the concepts development precise fashions of actuality in keeping with perceived data. we are in a position to get issues incorrect or impressive, reckoning on how we pick to pass approximately it. as long as we base our concepts on testable data, then we are in a position to have a severe self belief as being as impressive because of the fact the data enables. The atomic nature of the concepts makes certainly no distinction to that. So mutually as I understand the place he's coming from, i think of his loss of understand-how approximately atomic and quantum physics has delivered approximately a incorrect opinion there.

Answer 8

Your mental processes are determined by the motion of atoms in your brain to the same extent that an episode is funny because of the electrons going through the television.

There's a difference between an idea (or thought, or concept) and the physical storage and communication medium it is tied to.

Answer 9

If you assume or conclude that your reasoning is incapable of functioning in a proper manner, then your reasoning can only end there. Once you have abandoned reason, you are completely helpless... your actions are either random or determined but outside of any systematic control on your part.

Even if this is true, it is an unproductive line. Nothing can come of it. It is therefore not worth seriously considering. No different than nihilism and solipsism.

Answer 10

The motion of atoms is random and randomness follows no rules...thought processes are logical and creative and follow patterns or rules. It's the disguised version of "If no one is alive, when the tree falls, is there the sound of a falling tree?"

Answer 11

hahahaha very true. there are no such things as atoms, atoms are just ideas we created to explain the interactions of things smaller than our perception. we test these things according to an aproximation procedure and we believe we are right because with our expirements yeild finite and consistant results to all orders of aproximation.