Soul, Mind And Body Flashcards
What does the term ‘Dualist’ mean?
The belief that humans have composite natures, made up of material body and non-material soul.
What did Plato think?
Plato is described as a dualist because he talks about a soul being separate from the body. Plato argues that our bodies are controlled by the unreliable senses, which deceive us. The body is constantly changing, aging, decaying and eventually will cease to exist. This impermanence of the body means there must be something more permanent (i.e found in World of the Forms.) For Plato, the soul is the real, essential part of us that can reason and, therefore, can access the truth and the unchanging reality of the WoF. For Plato, the soul is trapped in the body waiting to escape and return to World of Forms.
What example does Plato give to explain the struggle between body and soul?
He illustrates his view of the struggle between body and soul with a man driving a chariot. Reason is like the charioteer who controls the two wayward horses of emotions and the physical desires. When reason is in charge, the soul and body are in harmony. However, often bodily emotions and desires take over and we are driven by greed and anger.
What is Plato’s argument for anamnesis?
Plato uses the argument from recollection and knowledge to support his view of the soul. He asks how we gain knowledge if it is only found in the World of the Forms, not in this world. Plato’s answer is that our soul has previously witnessed the Forms before it was incarnated into our body. For example, recognising beauty of objects in the WoA and the example of Socrates’ asking an uneducated slave to answer the Pythagoras theory by asking him a series of questions. For Plato, this knowledge is recollected from the soul, not learned, and this innate knowledge is proof that the body and soul are separate.
Plato is right, there is a separate soul:
- Plato’s argument from opposites: We recognise opposites such as large and small, light and dark, life and death. The body and soul are also opposites. Since life is something, death must also be something- the moving of the soul into the WoF.
- Plato does seem to describe the human experience of inner-conflict which could mean that reason is not in control of the individual’s soul. For example, wanting to go to the gym but feeling too lazy. When reason is in control, the soul is in harmony.
Plato is wrong, there is not a separate soul:
- This inner conflict could simply be explained as emotion, personality type or a lack of maturity.
- Socrates’ questions seems to lead the boy to an answer. Even without an education, he could arrive at the answer by learning, not recalling or recollecting.
- P.Geach criticises this argument by asking how a disembodied soul sees the Forms when seeing is a physical process.
- The argument from opposites seems to be an assumption. For example, not everything has an opposite (the colour blue?) There is no need to assume that the soul exists or is opposite from the body.
What did Aristotle think?
Since, Aristotle based his views on empiricism, rather than on rationalism like Plato, he used observations and sense experience to conclude that there must be a soul, but he has very a different idea to Plato of what this is and what it means. Although Aristotle recognises the existence a soul, he thinks the soul cannot be separated from the body.
What is Aristotle’s example?
He uses the example how ancient letters used to be sealed using a wax seal. The imprint cannot be serperated from the wax which is imprinted.
This is like the inseparable body and soul.
Link Aristotle’s 4 causes to his idea of body and soul?
Aristotle observed that everything was made of matter (the material cause) and had a form (the formal cause) which are the shape and characteristics
