Self, Death and the afterlife Flashcards
What was Plato’s argument about the Realm of Forms?
-What we experience is not reality, but a reflection of the metaphysical reality called the Realm of Forms that exists beyond our experiences
- Allegory of the cave- the prisoners are chained and only see shadows of objects walking past the fire on the wall. This is our experience of the physical world compared to the real nature of objects
- rationalist
How does Plato apply the realm of forms to the body/soul distinction?
The soul is related to the Realm of Forms, the body is related to the physical realm, means the soul is maintained after death
What is substance dualism?
The body and mind are 2 different substances, therefore the mind or soul is distinct from the body
e.g. mental (characterised by thinking) and physical (characterised by extension)
What is cartesian dualism and Descartes first proof for the soul?
Descartes was a substance dualist, meaning the body and soul are distinct substances with different essential properties
1) The argument of doubt: he could doubt the existence of his body in a metaphysical sense, the ability to doubt meant he could not doubt his existence as a thinking being ‘I think therefore I am’. Therefore, as a thinking being, he was not identical to his body
What is Descartes second proof for the soul?
The argument of divisibility and non-divisibility: all bodies take up space so are divisible, mental states do not take up space and are not divisible. Therefore, they are distinct
What is Descartes third proof the soul?
The argument of clear and distinct perception: he had a clear and distinct perception of his mind and body being separate things, therefore are distinct.
Relates to religion- the body decays but the mind/ soul lives on and is immortal
-argument is based on believing God created the body/ soul as different things
What is Descartes interactionalism?
The body and mind/soul interact in the pineal gland (gland in the brain)- while this answers where they interact, it does not answer how
What is physicalism?
There is no soul. Neuroscience suggests that thoughts, emotions and other intangible experiences are based on physical processes in the brain, e.g. Persingers ‘God helmets’ successfully bought about religious experiences
Physicalists- There is no mind/body or soul/body distinction because consciousness is purely electrical and chemical processes in the brain
What happened to Phineas Gage and what does this suggest about the mind/body relationship?
Phineas Gage was injured when a metal pole went through his skull and dislodged parts of his brain. This led to a change in his personality, suggesting that the mind is based on physical processes
What is Functionalism as a physicalist theory of mind?
Functionalism means that the body serves its function in a way- data is inputted and the body responds with outputs. Theoretically, if the mind is only data inputted due to physical anatomy, then this data can be ‘uploaded’ to different platforms (e.g a hard drive) this is called multiple realisability
What are the criticism of Descartes?
There is no empirical evidence for a soul in this argument- Descartes arguments are based on the assumption of a dualist theory of mind, but neuroscience does not support this (e.g Phineas Gage)
His interactionism suggests that the mind and body interacted in the pineal gland- modern science suggests this is not the case, as we know the pineal gland is involved in regulating sleep.
What was Ryle referring to when he described The Ghost in the machine as a criticism of Descartes?
There is no evidence that there is a mind distinct from the body- the idea that the mind and body are distinct are ‘dogma’ means it is a religious idea that cannot be questioned. He uses the example of someone asking for Oxford university, a category mistake as they do not understand all of the different buildings are the university.
Therefore, Descartes assumes that the mind is non-physical category, when it is really a physical category.
What does it mean to say the idea of ‘soul substance’ solves nothing?
It is a circular argument to say that ‘we need to explain the thinking part of the body because the soul exists as a substance that thinks’, according to Hume.
What are Hume’s criticisms of soul substance?
We cannot prove that thought is not material substance (or at least based on material substance, e.g from the brain). If souls are invisible/ exist in space, there is no evidence that there is one body per one soul as Christianity teaches
What is the problem with physicalism?
It cannot account for subjective experiences- e.g the quality of redness, enjoying the smell of coffee, etc. John Locke raised the scenario of someone walking up and finding colours had been swapped on the colour wheel with no other obvious physical changes. This would suggest physicalism does not explain everything,
