Soul, Mind and Body

Question 1

What is monism?

Answer 1

The idea the the mind/soul and body are two different and distinct realities.

Question 2

What is Dualism?

Answer 2

The philosophical belief that there are two distinct parts to a human: a body and mind (soul).

Question 3

What is Materialism?

Answer 3

The form of philosophical monism which holds that matter is the fundamental substance in nature, and that all phenomena, including mental phenomena and consciousness, are results of material interactions.

Question 4

What is substance dualism?

Answer 4

Variety of dualism in the philosophy of mind which states that 2 sorts of substances exist: the mental and physical.
Substance dualism is a fundamental ontological position: it states that the mental and physical are separate substances with independent existence.

Question 5

What is a category error?

Answer 5

Gilbert Ryle argues that the soul was a ‘category error’ of incorrect use of language which resulted in people speaking of the mind and body as different phenomena,

Question 6

Explain Descartes Substance Dualism

Answer 6

Descartes claimed that minds and brains are substances of a different kind.
- His own thoughts made him certain of his existence: “I think therefore I am”
- Even if we are dreaming or under the control of an evil demon, we still have our own thoughts known only to ourselves.
- The physical and non-physical are distinct substances with distinct properties - the physical body takes up space where as the non-physical (soul) takes up no space.
*The mind or self is:
“entirely and truly distinct from the body and may exist without it”
- Believed the mind and body had casual interaction

Question 7

Explain Gilbert Ryle’s reasons for rejecting substance dualism

Answer 7

• Argues that the idea of soul (“the ghost in the machine”) is a “category mistake” of incorrect use of language
• Resulted in people speaking of the mind and body as different phenomena as if the soul was something identifiably extra within a person
• Used example of someone watching a cricket game and asking where the team spirit is
• Talk of the soul is talk of the way a person acted and integrated within society: It was not separate and distinct
• To describe someone as clever/happy does not require the existence of a separate thing called mind or soul.

Question 8

Explain Dawkin’s theory of Soul 1 and Soul 2

Answer 8

• Human beings are just bytes of digital information; there is no soul or consciousness as we are the sum total of our genes.
• Only conceivable theory that of evolution
• There is no soul which continues just the survival of DNA (the function of life)
  *Soul 1= Traditional View of a principle of life - a real separate thing that is spiritual and contains personality.
  *Soul 2= As defined by the Oxford English Dictionary - “intellectual or spiritual power, high development of the mental faculties”
  This is a meaningful way of describing ourselves, but only as a metaphor for our feelings and intellect
• Humans are nothing more than ‘survival machines’
• Beliefs in soul are only based on wish fulfillment for those who lack courage or fear death
• No person is capable of surviving brain death. Physical death is the end and the soul does not exist in any other way than a metaphor.