Mind, Body, and Soul Flashcards
What are the issues in the topic?
- Am I someone who is a body?
- Am I someone who has a body?
- Am I someone who is a complex-integrated psycho-physical whole?
- Are we two natures (dualist) or one (monist)?
- What makes us the same over time? (issues of continuity)
What category did Plato fall into?
A dualist
What are the strengths/ weaknesses of Plato’s dualism??
+ life after death so is hopeful
- Doesn’t address how body and soul interact
- Peter Geach - how does an immaterial soul see forms?
- assumes life after death and that body and soul are opposites
- not everything has an opposite
- Just because we can think of a perfect circle doesn’t mean it exists
- Learning seems to be more than just remembering
What is Plato’s theory on body and soul?
We have an immaterial soul from the world of the forms that is perfect and immortal but is trapped inside our body.
He said that the soul is simple with three parts - reason, emotions, and desires. He gave the example of the charioteer guiding 2 horses to show when reason is in charge the soul can be in harmony.
He has two arguments: the argument from knowledge and the argument from opposites.
What are the strengths and weaknesses of Aristotle’s theory on body and soul?
+ based on observation
- senses can be deceived
- no personal survival
- doesn’t explain de ju vu
+ shows how body and soul interacts
+ personal identity solved - both body and soul needed
+ GEM Anscome supports with the intention behind pointing
What is Aristotle’s theory on body and soul?
The body and soul are distinct but the soul forms the body and is the animating principle which dies when the body does.
The soul is not a substance but forms and gives characteristics.
The body and soul cannot be separated just as wax cannot be separated from an imprint. Aristotle also gives the examples of the eye (with a soul to see) and an axe (with a soul to chop).
The soul has three facilities: the vegetative, the appetite, and the intellect. Only humans have all three.
What is monism?
The idea that we are only one nature.
What is dualism?
The idea that we are two natures - a physical body and an immaterial soul.
What is materialism?
The idea that we are only one nature which is completely physical.
What is substance dualism?
The idea that we are two wholly separate substances.
What is Descartes’ theory on body and soul?
He based his ideas on “I think therefore I am” and his complete mistrust of the senses which led him to the belief that the body and soul are completely separate. He said the body was completely physical and unconscious whereas the mind is completely immaterial and conscious. He also saw that whilst the body is divisible the mind isn’t for example if you amputate a leg nothing is taken away from the mind. He believed the point of interaction is the pineal gland which he calls the seat of the imagination and common sense.
What are the strengths/weaknesses of Descartes theory?
+ Based on rationalism
- Ryle criticized him for saying his theory was like the ghost in the machine as how does an immaterial soul interact with an material body?
- Ryle also criticizes him for making a category error by classing this as either material or immaterial he gave three examples - team spirit in a cricket game, Oxford University, and divisions in a parade.
- Peter Geach criticizes by saying that “man is a sort of body not a body plus an immaterial somewhat”
- GEM Anscome sees the body as one using the example of the intention behind pointing which requires body and mind
+ Continuity after death
- How does the pineal gland link body and mind?
What is Aquinas theory of body and soul?
He is a monist and believes that the soul is the “first principle of life” which is necessary for life and is immaterial but not separate from the body
What is identity theory?
A hard materialist theory that supports Dawkins argues that all mental activity is centered in the brain as drugs can alter behavior which cannot be linked to an immaterial soul. In this view when life ends so metal activity
What are the strengths and weaknesses of hard materialism?
+ NASA did an experiment where they but sensors on people’s throats and detected words they said to themselves which suggests thoughts are physical thoughts in the brain
- No life after death
- Still leaves the problem of intentionality as nerve functions have no desires
- GUT theory is an assumption
- physically determined actions means freewill is an illusion
- Swinburne argues personality, conscience, and morality can’t be explained without a soul
- Ward says the soul gives humanity it’s special dignity and purpose
