Soul Mind and Body Flashcards
Spiritualism
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
Naturalism
The only world is the physical one, matter and energy is all there is
They have a focus on science, reject all supernatural ideas
The body
the physicality of the person, consisting of their organs and flesh
The mind
the conscious part of a person that is aware of sensations, can think and feel, etc
Materialism
naturalist view, there is nothing beyond the physical, emotions are chemicals, consciousness is just your brain activity
Dualism
spiritualist view, the mind is separate from the body
What are different interpretations of the soul?
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
Plato’s tripartite view
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
Plato, Argument from knowledge
learning is recollection of the forms, that we knew before birth
Plato, Argument from opposites
everything comes from an opposite: day-night-day, life-death-life
Plato, Argument from affinity
simple things are less liable to destruction, bodies are complex, and break down, souls are simple and therefore eternal
Aristotle: Substance
our combination of matter, form and purpose
Aristotle: Essence
what is distinctive about a substance
Aristotle: Accidental qualities
change without much being impacted
Aristotle: Essential qualities
have to remain the same for your essence to remain
What is the soul for Aristotle?
Your essence
Rational soul
language, intelligence, morals, etc, only humans have this
Sensitive soul
sense awareness, appetites/aversions, pleasure, animals and humans
Vegetative soul
basic life functions, plants, animals and humans
Wax analogy
Our souls to our bodies is like an imprint to wax, the design cannot exist without the wax
Plato eval: Brian Davis
Not everything has an opposite: there is no opposite to certain colours/shapes
Plato eval: Peter Geach
How could our souls see the forms before birth? Seeing is a physical idea
Plato eval: modern psychology
Backs up the idea of a tripartite view with different parts of the brain
Aristotle eval: Aquinas
Agreed with Aristotle but saw the rational mind as immortal and eternal
Aristotle eval: Anthony Kenny
Aristotle is unclear about whether the soul can be separate from the body or not
Descartes substance dualism
Theory that there are two distinct substances: the mental and the physical, all information empirically gained can be doubted
Descartes: Argument from doubt
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.
Descartes: Indivisibility argument
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
Hume’s criticism of Descartes
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.
Brain activity criticism of Descartes
Different parts of the brain are activated for different thoughts and emotions
Knowledge criticism of Descartes
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
Divisibility criticism of Descartes
There is evidence that you can divide consciousness: split brain patients: the left-brain and the right-brain act independently, two separate consciousnesses.
Localisation of function argument for Materialism
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
Interaction argument for materialism
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’
Dependency argument for materialism
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
Origin of the soul argument for materialism
Bodies come from birth and pregnancy, but where do our minds come from?
Religious people argue God puts the soul in your body: ensoulment
Division of consciousness argument for materialism
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
Gilbert Ryle: category error
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
Reductive materialism
There is nothing more to the consciousness than brain activity, chemicals do not cause emotions, they are emotions
