body/soul relationship Flashcards
dualism: plato’s views on body-soul relationship
- plato’s views on body-soul based on his dualistic understanding of soul
- physical body subject to corruption/change as imprisons soul & body is source of endless trouble in attempts to distract soul with its desires
- soul is seperate from body & eternal
- at death body perishes but soul leaves it to return to world of forms then most times reborn into another body
- soul therefore separate but gives life
dualism: descartes interactionism
- claimed a human being consists of material body & non-physical mind/soul
- located soul in pineal gland and regarded it as seat of imagination so formed link between body/soul
EVALUATION: - location of interaction in pineal gland now been discredited but function now known so at best can say where interaction takes place but doesn’t explain how
monism: physicalism
- mind inseparable from body, two inextricably linked to form one entity
- says everything can be formed in terms of matter
- reductionist as reduces to brain & consciousness no more than electro-chemical occurrences in brain
- no body-soul relationship as no soul
physicalism seems to give obvious explanation to common phenomena
- when people reach old age, tend to become forgetful, confused and may suffer from senile dementia and this can be shown in terms of brain activity
- if you have alcohol/drugs you may experience yourself & your surroundings in a way that doesn’t correspond to reality and after you accept that senses were impaired but at the time that’s how things seem
definitions:
functionalism
multiple realisability
functionalism: conceives mind as a function, mental states identified by their functional role by what they do rather than what they’re made of
multiple realisability: argument that minds/mental states can run out on a variety of different platforms including computers
how can we express what we mean by functionalism?
- example of physicalist theory of mind
- tend to talk of ‘mind’ rather ‘soul’ so body/soul problem is mind/body problem
- example: think of thermostat where function is to regulate temp as it puts air in room & function is if it’s below 75F heating turned on and output is warm air
- function of mind is what it does - processes data inputted through senses & generates appropriate outcome
how can we express what we mean by multiple realisability?
- think of a clock -> clocks work through number of diff systems for example, can be electric, mechanical, digital can be run by water, sand, light
- all states are diff platforms for telling time and you can choose which type of clock you prefer
does functionalism show cartesian dualism is false?
all physicalists theories (include functionalism) shows there’s problems with dualism presented by Descartes
- seems to be no doubt that drugs for example affect way mind thinks
- physicalist theories do make the fairly obvious point that mind is fundamentally linked to matter in sense of if there’s no physical bodies there’s no minds
does functionalism show cartesian dualism is false?
most dualists today think that dualism is obviously true
- dualists think it’s obvious matter doesn’t control mind but minds control our thoughts and bodies. if you tell yourself to raise your right hand you do so & if external physical pressure pushes against your right hand you can will it to be still as mental events cause physical events and we have free will act as we will
does functionalism show cartesian dualism is false?
dualism still most popular religious approach to mind
obviously compatible with conventional religious ideas:
- many Christians believe humans have souls & soul can survive death of body
- soul can be judge by God with heaven being reward for belief/moral obedience whilst hell is for disbelievers/disobedience
dual-aspect monism
- it is monist meaning there’s one kind of ontological entity but has 2 aspects & can see diff by looking at brain/mind
- brain is observable by science & purely physical
- mind consists of subjective consciousness & relates to qualia
- is not dualism since holds that there’s only one kind of substance
neither is physicalism which reduces mind to matter
dual-aspect monism
avoids one obvious problem with substance dualism
how separate mental & physical substances can interact as there’s no separate substances there’s only one substance with two aspect -> mental & physical
dual-aspect monism
idea of souls becomes redundant
souls are unnecessary entities as persons are bodies & brains but bodies/brains aren’t jsut physical systems they’re objects with both mental & physical aspects
