Soul, Mind and Body Flashcards
‘Descartes offers a coherent solution to the mind/soul and body problem’ Discuss
-outline Descartes view on the soul
-Descartes substance dualism is founded on his belief that it is possible to doubt all things, and that his body could be an illusion and may not exist.
-However, he concluded that there is a thinking part of himself that does exist. Which he believed to be the ‘mind’ which was entirely separate from his body.
-His ability to think lead to his decision that he must exist. Which was demonstrated through his phrase ‘cogit ergo sum’ - I think therefore I am .
-Descartes argues that the mind is an immaterial substance whereas the body is a material substance. He believed that the body can be divided into separate parts, but the mind cannot. Therefore he is a substance dualist as he understands the mind to be a different, and entirely separate, substance from the body.
-He also believed that the link between the mind and body is in the pineal gland, in the centre of the brain.
‘Descartes offers a coherent solution to the mind/soul and body problem’. Discuss
-Evaluate Descartes view
(-) Descartes view of the mind is outdated - science has since shown that the function of the pineal gland is to secrete hormones and help regulate sleeping patterns. unlikely to be the point of contact for the mind and body
(-)Category error - to suggest that there is a separate mind: the body and mind are different ways of thinking about the same thing
-‘ghost in a machine’
-He uses examples to show why this was the wrong way to talk about consciousness:
A stranger tours the Oxford colleges, the library and the sports grounds, then asks where the university is. This is a category error as they are assuming there is something extra to what they have seen.
(-)Physical damage to the body can lead to a mental affect (e.g. loose a limb or trauma…) Suggesting the two are more closely linked that Descartes thinks.
(-)Dawkins, a materialist, uses the word ‘soul’ to explain why he disagrees with it. For Dawkins, mental processes give an evolutionary advantage that help us survive and reproduce. Physical existence is all there is. There is no immaterial or spiritual substance that could survive the death of the body. Mythical ideas do not stand up to scientific scrutiny.
Platos view on the soul
-The impermanence of the the body must mean that there is something more permanent. For Plato, the soul is the unchanging, essential part of us that can reason and access the true, unchanging reality of the World of the Forms.
-demonstrates the view of struggle between the body and soul with a man driving a chariot. Reason is the charioteer, who controls the two horses of spirit and physical appetite. When reason is in control, the soul is in harmony, but this isn’t often the case.
-For Plato, the soul is real and trapped in the body; it longs to escape and return to the world of the forms
-Uses the argument from recollection and knowledge to support his view of the soul. Remembering is called ‘amnesis’
Evaluation of Platos view of the soul.
(+) we do often have times when we listen to our desire rather than being rational and using reason e.g. we are being lazy
(-)Inner conflict can just be explained as emotion.
(-)Ryles argument of a category error
(-)Outdated theory - advancement in science such a scans.
