Soul, Mind and Body

Question 1

Dualism

Answer 1

The belief that the body and soul are two separate entities (Plato)

Question 2

Plato’s view on the soul

Answer 2

The soul is eternal, it temporarily inhabits the body- giving it life.
It knows the truth through reason and is capable of understanding the forms.
It has 3 basic instincts; appetite, emotion and reason.

Question 3

The Form of the good

Answer 3

This is where the soul originally comes from. After death, the soul is returned to the form of the good where it is able to complete contemplation.

Question 4

Socrates

Answer 4

Life is part of the essence of the soul, so it is necessary for it to keep on living.

Question 5

Intuition

Answer 5

Plato believed that humans are born with an intuition as our souls once lived in the world on perfect forms.
He used an example of a slave boy who had no education but was able to solve a simple geometry puzzle with knowledge he already had.

Question 6

Plato’s view on the physical body

Answer 6

The body is the temporary, physical part of a person, and the soul is the essential, immaterial aspect.
It can only learn things through physical experience.
It is in a constant change of state so cannot be the source of knowledge.

Question 7

3 basic instincts

Answer 7

Reason: highest, distinguishes between right and wrong
Emotion: love, acting out of courage
Appetite: Looking after the physical self

Question 8

Aristotle on the body

Answer 8

The body and soul are inseparable.
The body is constantly changing.
It is the material cause of a person.

Question 9

Aristotle on the soul

Answer 9

The soul is a substance, and it is inseparable from the body.
It stays the same in terms of continuing identity- our bodies change but we are still the same person because of the soul.

Question 10

The soul as the formal cause

Answer 10

Aristotle believed that the soul was the formal cause of humans- it is effectively what makes us human.
It is our capabilities.
It gives matter form, efficiency and final purpose.
It is the principle of animal life; it distinguishes living things from non-living ones.

Question 11

Nutritive soul

Answer 11

One type of soul for Aristotle.

It is the soul plants have that means they are capable of getting nourishment and reproducing.

Question 12

Perceptive soul

Answer 12

One type of soul for Aristotle.

It is the soul animals have that allows them to distinguish between pleasure and pain and react to stimuli.

Question 13

Human’s soul

Answer 13

One type of soul for Aristotle.
It gives us the ability to reason right from wrong.
It is the higher degree of soul.

Question 14

Consciousness

Answer 14

Awareness or perception.

Question 15

Materialist view of the body

Answer 15

We are simply bodies and nothing more.

Question 16

The mind

Answer 16

The activity of physical matter.

It is our intelligence and emotions, helping us form judgements and hold memories.

Question 17

Substance dualism

Answer 17

The belief that the mind and body are separate substances that both exist.
Substances are subjects that have various properties.
Properties cannot exist on their own.
These 2 distinct substances are attached to form a human.

Question 18

Descartes’ hyperbolic doubt

Answer 18

He thought about all things that could be known and rejected them if there was any doubt of certain truth.
He accepted that our senses can be mistaken so we cannot be sure of the knowledge we acquire through them.
The ‘first certainty’ is that we are able to think sceptically.
We cannot doubt our existence as thinkers because we have to think in order to doubt.
“I think therefore I am”

Question 19

Descartes on the body and soul

Answer 19

rrrrHe believed that the body and mind are two distinct substances that make up humans because:
It is certain that we have minds because we can doubt.
We cannot be certain that we have bodies because it could be our senses deceiving us.
The body has distinct parts whereas the mind cannot be divided.

Question 20

Pineal gland

Answer 20

For Descartes, this was the link between the soul and body due to its singularity and centrality.
“Principle seat of the soul”
Not entirely clear how this works.

Question 21

Property dualism

Answer 21

The view that the mind and body have different properties but the same substance.
Humans are made up of 1 material (physical substance) and 2 properties (mental properties and physical properties).
Physical = size, mass, shape
Mental = opinions, emotions, memories

Question 22

John Stuart Mill

Answer 22

Emergent dualism- physical things become more complex and new properties emerge.
They cannot be reduced to the material therefore the mind has its own existence in some sense but not a completely separate substance from the material.

Question 23

Reductive materialism

Answer 23

The view that the mind is identical to this physical brain.
Mental states such as memory, pain, happiness and desire are chemical reactions happening in particular parts of the brain.
Mental events and physical events are identical - Edwin Boring
There is nothing more to a person than physical substance, so there is no life after death.
Consciousness dies with the body.

Question 24

Gilbert Ryle

Answer 24

Materialist view
Talking of self or soul is a mistake in the way we use language.
“Team spirit” is not a physical thing to be found, so similarly, the mind should not be considered as something separate from the body.
The consciousness is a way of describing a person’s functions, not an addition to the physical body.

Question 25

Ghost in the machine

Answer 25

Phrase used by Ryle to make fun of Descartes ideas. He suggests that we are a physical machine operated by an invisible mind.

Question 26

Category error

Answer 26

Ideas used by Ryle to reject dualism.
The mind and body are in different logical categories so should not be treated similarly.
The view that the mind and body are harnessed together and will be separated after death does not comply with what we know about psychology and neuroscience.

Question 27

Richard Dawkins

Answer 27

Materialist
Humans are merely ‘survival machines’
We are vehicles of genes, an like every other animal, are only interested in replicating in order to survive into the next generation.
We do have immortal souls and are simply a mixture of chemicals.
We do not need a supernatural soul or life after death to understand what we are as humans.

Question 28

Dawkins’ soul 1

Answer 28

The view that the soul is the distinctive, spiritual part of a person, capable of knowing God and surviving death.
Dawkins REJECTS this view.

Question 29

Dawkins’ soul 2

Answer 29

Personality, individuality, living and motivation (similar to Aristotle’s view)
No possible of life after death
Dawkins ACCEPTS this view.

Question 30

Bertrand Russel

Answer 30

Beliefs in the immortality of the soul have no sound basis.

Such beliefs are based on wish fulfilment for those who lack courage.

Question 31

Criticism of Descartes

Answer 31

He does nothing to demonstrate that the mind is a substance, he merely asserts it.

Question 32

Criticisms of dualism

Answer 32

Physical pain has mental consequence
Mental thoughts have physical responses
‘Problem of other minds’ - we can perceive that other people have physical bodies but we have no way of knowing if they have other minds.
How do the mind and body connect?

Question 33

Anthony Flew

Answer 33

Criticises dualism.
Speaking of someone’s mind as a substance is a misused of the term.
The mind cannot exist after the body because it has no physical behaviour.

Question 34

Hume

Answer 34

Criticises dualism.
Even if we are aware that we are individual thinking beings, we do not know that our spiritual nature is separate from our physical one.

Question 35

Criticisms of materialism

Answer 35

“Emily’s body suggests that we are more than simply bodies. (however we could just be using language sloppily).
Physical chemical reactions being the cause of opinions or emotions cannot be explained.

Question 36

Descartes’ criticisms of materialism

Answer 36

If 2 substances are identical, they should have identical properties not mutually exclusive ones.

Question 37

Richard Swinburne’s criticisms of materialism

Answer 37

There are fundamental truths about us that cannot be explained purely in physical terms.

Question 38

Keith Ward’s criticisms of dualism

Answer 38

The soul gives humanity purpose.
Without it, morality becomes simple a matter of personal choice and taste.
The soul gives us the special dignity of being human, abandoning it means the sanctity of life isn’t valued.

Question 39

Criticisms of Gilbert Ryle

Answer 39

“the whole is more than the sum of the parts”

People who speak of human beings as being more than just the physical body are trying to express something intangible which is real and important.

Question 40

Metaphorical view of the soul

Answer 40

A pictoral way of capturing what it means to be human.
Taking the soul metaphorically avoids problems of where it is located or how it is attached to the body. - however they can be difficult to understand and may mean different things to different people.