Soul Mind and Body

Question 1

What is the mind body problem?

Answer 1

The question of how the mind, a non physical property can interact with the body a physical property.

Question 2

What is monism?

Answer 2

The view that humans are made up of only a single material substance

Question 3

What is idealistic monism?

Answer 3

The idea that only the mind exists and consequently the external physical world is an illusion created by the mind

Question 4

What is materialistic monism?

Answer 4

The single reality is matter, made up of either only atoms or of some world forming substance. The essential view is that all states may be reduced to the physical. Emotion is a physical state that does not exist outside of physical reactions

Question 5

What is behaviourism?

Answer 5

The idea that all mental states are simply descriptions of behaviour that can be observed. Its a type of materialism.

Question 6

What is another world for monism?

Answer 6

Materialism

Question 7

What philsophers support idealistic monism?

Answer 7

Lebniz and George Berkeley

Question 8

What two philosophers support materialistic monism?

Answer 8

Thomas Hobbes and Bertrand Russell

Question 9

What does Churchland argue?

Answer 9

There is no convincing evidence to refute the contention that human beings are aware of anything more than the physical matter that they are made up of.

Question 10

What is dualism?

Answer 10

The view that humans consist of two substances - body and mind soul.

Question 11

What 4 scholars support dualism?

Answer 11

Descartes, Plato, Aquinas and Aristotle.

Question 12

What is the main problem with dualism?

Answer 12

The issue of how the mind and body interact. For example, how can a physical body relate too or be influenced by a non physical soul.

Question 13

Why, in Platios writings was Socrates happy about his death?

Answer 13

He told people that the soul is trapped in the body. It is like a prisoner and restricted in what it can do. It can contemplate the truths of the universe but only imperfectly. Therefore, he did not fear death as when he would die his soul would be free from the prison of the body and be able to experience the perfect forms.

Question 14

What are Platos 3 arguments for the existence of the soul?

Answer 14

1. The argument from opposites 2. The argument from recollection. 3. The argument from affinity,

Question 15

What was the argument from opposites?

Answer 15

Plato says that everything comes into existence from its opposite. For example, an educated person is someone who was previously uneducated. Therefore, someone who is alive was previously dead. For Plato, this implies an infinite cycle of birth death and rebirth.

Question 16

What is the argument from recollection?

Answer 16

The idea that we recognise concepts such as beauty and justice because our souls have previously experienced them in the world of the forms.

Question 17

What is the argument from affinity?

Answer 17

We know that the soul is immortal because if you look at all the things which can not die then the soul shares the same features so the soul also cannot die. This is in contrast to the material body.

Question 18

What is a cricism of Plato’s argument from opposites?

Answer 18

When he makes his arguments, he goes from making comparative opposites such as smaller and larger to absolute opposites such as dead and alive. These aren’t comparative opposites such as smaller or deader therefore they cant be compared.

Question 19

How does one of the characters critise Socrates argument in Plato’s dialogue?

Answer 19

Despite agreeing with Socrates’ argument, he critisised the argument from recollection as it only seems to prove that should existed before death but not after. Socrates did not have a solution to this.

Question 20

What is a critism of the argument from affinity?

Answer 20

Plato argues that there are a fixed number of souls, however, with the population so drastically increasing since his time, this would be impossible.

Question 21

How did Aristotle’s belief on the soul differ from Platos?

Answer 21

Plato believed that the soul was immortal and moved from body to body, whereas Aristotle believed that the soul was possessed by all living things. The soul is the essence of each existing thing, it makes the difference between something being alive or dead.

Question 22

What did Aristotle believe are the 3 types of substance?

Answer 22

1. Matter (that has potentiality.) 2. Form (that has actuality.) 3. A compound of matter and form.

Question 23

How did Aristotle believe that something becomes living?

Answer 23

Anything that is both matter and form. To be able to be this it also needs a soul.

Question 24

What did Aristotle believe that the 3 different types of souls are?

Answer 24

1. Nutritive soul 2. Sensitive soul 3. Rational soul.

Question 25

What is the nutritive soul?

Answer 25

This is in plants, it has the ability to take in nutrition so they can grow and reproduce.

Question 26

What is the sensitive soul?

Answer 26

This is in animals, it has the capacity of the nutritive soul plus being able to move and perceive the world around them and react to stimuli.

Question 27

What is the rational soul?

Answer 27

This is in humans. It has the capacity of the two other types of soul plus the ability to think and make qualative moral judgemements.

Question 28

What did Arsitole believe happened to the soul after you die?

Answer 28

In contrast to Plato, he said that although the soul is not a material substance it cannot be separated from the body.

Question 29

How did Aristotle come up with his argument?

Answer 29

Using a posteriori sense experience.

Question 30

Why can the way Aristotle came up with his argument be critised?

Answer 30

He ignores things which some people argue are more important than experience. For example, religious believers that there approach is better which includes relying on religious experience, faith, Gods revelations to humans and the knowledge found in the Bible on the world and God.

Question 31

Why can Aristotle’s reliance on causality be critisised?

Answer 31

Scientists would disagree with him as many would say the purpose of the universe is to simply exist. He also contradicts himself when he says that the unmoved mover doesn’t have a cause and his whole argument is based around the unmoved mover.