Soul Mind and Body 2

Question 1

Plato’s main ideas

Answer 1

plato was a dualist, his ideas are in the ‘phaedo‘
material is not permanent, the soul, psyche, is immortal
the soul is from the realm of the forms
explained via chariot allegory from ‘phaedrus‘
“the soul is the very likeness of the divine….the body is the very likeness of the human.”
relationship between not clear from plato
soul’s main goal is to return, but we do have to survive here first
said we shouldn’t fear death because it is a return to pure essence

Question 2

Critiques of Plato

Answer 2

plato doesn’t line up with christianity
he influenced the idea that the body is bad and the soul is good
but the creed declares bodily resurrection

Question 3

Aristotle

Answer 3

aristotle was a dualist materialist
the soul is the animating factor, the formal cause
three elements of the soul: vegetative, appetitive and intellectual

Question 4

Aquinas

Answer 4

aquinas is a dualist
the soul isn’t you, but the principle of life
“the soul is defined as the first principle of life in living things…the soul..is not a body but the act of a body…just [like] heat [is]” – Summa Theologica.

Question 5

Descartes

Answer 5

descartes is a substance dualist
after a search for truth he settles on the cogito: i doubt therefore i think therefore i am
he says “the body by nature is divisible, the mind is not.”
the body is mechanical to him
the two are so different, how do they interact?
he explains this saying a its a ‘little gland in the brain’
this is very weak

Question 6

Gilbert Rhyle

Answer 6

gilbert ryle accuses descartes of a category error
calls his conception the ‘ghost in the machine’
examples of a university or a cricket team

Question 7

Hick

Answer 7

john hick is a soft materialist
the soul is not you, like aquinas says
we are our bodies but they have a spiritual dimension
to be a person is to be a thinking material being

Question 8

G.E.M Anscombe

Answer 8

argues physical actions have mental processes behind them
we point at things with an intention
a “bodily act is an act of man qua spirit”

Question 9

Dawkins

Answer 9

materialism is the view that we are only matter
everything is reducible to physical processes
this is richard dawkins‘ position
he is a reductionist and a materialist
argues there is no evidence for the soul, agrees mystery of consciousness
categorises the soul in two types:
soul one, traditional ideas
soul two, intellectual and spiritual faculties of humanity
he believes in time all will be explained by science

Question 10

B.F Skinner

Answer 10

b.f. skinner is a behaviourist
the belief that human thoughts are learned behaviours
argues the idea of a separates mental state is a radical misunderstanding

Question 11

Dennett

Answer 11

daniel dennett argues skinner over-simplifies human consciousness
we do not read books as a learned response, but for pleasure, which skinner misses
we would have no dignity or freedom if this was true