Describe the major positions toward the mind-body question (materialism, idealism, dualism, interactionism, and emergentism).

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Materialists believe that matter is the only reality, therefore everything, even mental
events, must be explained in terms of matter. Materialists believe that mental events
are ultimately just physics and chemistry. On the opposite side of the continuum are
the idealists, who believe that even physical reality results from perceived ideas;
idealists explain everything in terms of consciousness. In the middle are the dualists,
who believe that there are both physical and mental events. Two popular forms of
dualism are interactionism, which claims that the mind influences the body and the
body influences the mind, and emergentism, which argues that mental states emerge
from physical brain states.