Soul Mind and Body

Question 1

Spiritualism

Answer 1

There is more to the world than what we see
Most religions are spiritualist, as they believe in powers beyond natural laws, such as a soul
Accepts scientific ideas but believes that they were caused by a higher power e.g. God

Question 2

Naturalism

Answer 2

The only world is the physical one, matter and energy is all there is
They have a focus on science, reject all supernatural ideas

Question 3

The body

Answer 3

the physicality of the person, consisting of their organs and flesh

Question 4

The mind

Answer 4

the conscious part of a person that is aware of sensations, can think and feel, etc

Question 5

Materialism

Answer 5

naturalist view, there is nothing beyond the physical, emotions are chemicals, consciousness is just your brain activity

Question 6

Dualism

Answer 6

spiritualist view, the mind is separate from the body

Question 7

What are different interpretations of the soul?

Answer 7

Interchangeable with the mind
Deeper part of you than your mind
Your self, the ‘I’ in communication
The ‘anima,’ animating force that makes you move
‘Psyche’ in Greek is the mind and the soul

Question 8

Plato’s tripartite view

Answer 8

Reason: knowledgeable, philosopher, it tries to understand the forms and guides us morally
Passion: strong feelings, soldier, motivates strength and competition, has to be guided by reason
Desire: cravings for food, sex, etc, materialistic, craftsmen, harnessed by reason and passion
He uses an analogy of a chariot

Question 9

Plato, Argument from knowledge

Answer 9

learning is recollection of the forms, that we knew before birth

Question 10

Plato, Argument from opposites

Answer 10

everything comes from an opposite: day-night-day, life-death-life

Question 11

Plato, Argument from affinity

Answer 11

simple things are less liable to destruction, bodies are complex, and break down, souls are simple and therefore eternal

Question 12

Aristotle: Substance

Answer 12

our combination of matter, form and purpose

Question 13

Aristotle: Essence

Answer 13

what is distinctive about a substance

Question 14

Aristotle: Accidental qualities

Answer 14

change without much being impacted

Question 15

Aristotle: Essential qualities

Answer 15

have to remain the same for your essence to remain

Question 16

What is the soul for Aristotle?

Answer 16

Your essence

Question 17

Rational soul

Answer 17

language, intelligence, morals, etc, only humans have this

Question 18

Sensitive soul

Answer 18

sense awareness, appetites/aversions, pleasure, animals and humans

Question 19

Vegetative soul

Answer 19

basic life functions, plants, animals and humans

Question 20

Wax analogy

Answer 20

Our souls to our bodies is like an imprint to wax, the design cannot exist without the wax

Question 21

Plato eval: Brian Davis

Answer 21

Not everything has an opposite: there is no opposite to certain colours/shapes

Question 22

Plato eval: Peter Geach

Answer 22

How could our souls see the forms before birth? Seeing is a physical idea

Question 23

Plato eval: modern psychology

Answer 23

Backs up the idea of a tripartite view with different parts of the brain

Question 24

Aristotle eval: Aquinas

Answer 24

Agreed with Aristotle but saw the rational mind as immortal and eternal

Question 25

Aristotle eval: Anthony Kenny

Answer 25

Aristotle is unclear about whether the soul can be separate from the body or not

Question 26

Descartes substance dualism

Answer 26

Theory that there are two distinct substances: the mental and the physical, all information empirically gained can be doubted

Question 27

Descartes: Argument from doubt

Answer 27

It is possible to doubt the body exists but not the mind – Cogito ergo sum
If two things are identical we should be able to say the same thing about them
We can’t say the same things about the mind as the body, they aren’t identical
Anything from senses could be made up
You can imagine the body being separate from the self, but can’t imagine that you aren’t thinking
The mind and body are two separable things.

Question 28

Descartes: Indivisibility argument

Answer 28

There are two different kinds of things:
Res Extensa: physical things. These have a size, shape, and weight, and can be divided
Res Cogitans: thinking things like the mind. They have no shape. They can’t be divided.
Descartes says the ‘self’ is indivisible, it is metaphysically ‘simple.’
You may have several ideas at once but it is the one ‘self’ that thinks/feels these things

Question 29

Hume’s criticism of Descartes

Answer 29

Descartes was wrong to think of the mind as indivisible, the mind is a procession of thoughts, perceptions, and emotions. There is no static ‘self’ only lots of shifting thoughts.

Question 30

Brain activity criticism of Descartes

Answer 30

Different parts of the brain are activated for different thoughts and emotions

Question 31

Knowledge criticism of Descartes

Answer 31

Descartes is relying on the idea that if X and Y are the same we should be able to talk about them the same way. This is not always true, as our knowledge can be limited

Question 32

Divisibility criticism of Descartes

Answer 32

There is evidence that you can divide consciousness: split brain patients: the left-brain and the right-brain act independently, two separate consciousnesses.

Question 33

Localisation of function argument for Materialism

Answer 33

There are moral centres in the brain, when they have limited activity, we are more selfish and apathetic - psychopaths have limited activity in moral centres
Prefrontal cortex is involved in reasoning, and doesn’t develop until we are 23, shows why teenagers are impulsive and irrational

Question 34

Interaction argument for materialism

Answer 34

Non physical things cannot interact with physical things, why can our mind interact with our physical arm, if it can’t interact with other physical things without using our bodies
This argument uses the argument from ignorance fallacy, ‘I don’t understand x so x is false’

Question 35

Dependency argument for materialism

Answer 35

Changes to the brain - brain damage - changes our personality and consciousness
Case study of Phineas Gage: his entire personality changed
A physical drug like alcohol can alter your perceptions, behaviours can be changed by drugs
When our brain activity is reduced - anesthesia - our minds do not stay awake separately

Question 36

Origin of the soul argument for materialism

Answer 36

Bodies come from birth and pregnancy, but where do our minds come from?
Religious people argue God puts the soul in your body: ensoulment

Question 37

Division of consciousness argument for materialism

Answer 37

Descartes argued that the mind is single and indivisible
Sufferers of epilepsy who had their corpus callosum severed ended up with two entirely separate streams of consciousness, their left and right brain could not communicate
The mind can be divided into two parts, by dividing the brain

Question 38

Gilbert Ryle: category error

Answer 38

Dualism came about from a language mistake
University analogy: a guest is shown seminar rooms, sports halls, student halls, and then asks ‘where is the university?’
The university is all of these things put together. The self is not a separate thing to our bodies, it is the combination of the many parts of our bodies
We don’t have emotions, thoughts, arms, legs and a self. All of these things contribute to our self

Question 39

Reductive materialism

Answer 39

There is nothing more to the consciousness than brain activity, chemicals do not cause emotions, they are emotions