Soul, mind and body

Question 1

Define monism

Answer 1

The body and soul are inseparable entities

Question 2

Explain Aristotle’s views on the soul

Answer 2

Monist, no belief in afterlife
A substance or essence dependent on the body
The body will do what the soul has the capacity to do
There are three types of soul, appetitive, intellectual and vegetative

Question 3

Explain an appetite soul

Answer 3

Passions and appetites
Hunger, thirst, sexual desire
Emotions

Question 4

What’s a vegetative soul?

Answer 4

shared by all living things, inc plants

Question 5

Explain an intellectual soul

Answer 5

Rational and directive
Only present in humans
Power of memory
Reason and action

Question 6

What two analogies did Aristotle use to describe the soul?

Answer 6

A wax and its imprint (cannot be separated)

An axe, if it had a soul its purpose would be to chop

Question 7

What did Aristotle believe are the causes of the body?

Answer 7

Material- Flesh and blood
Final- gives purpose and meaning
Efficient- animates the body, gives it life
Formal- idea that shapes the body

Question 8

Give 6 criticisms of Aristotle’s ideas of the soul

Answer 8

1. Dreams and vivid imaginations, disguising emotions and pretending to be someone else suggests there is more separation between the body and soul than Aristotle is allowing
2. Aristotle’s view doesn’t allow for an afterlife, completely contradictory to most major religions
3. His writings are obscure and contradictory
4. No clear evidence for his ideas, our senses maybe should not be trusted
5. If the soul was the efficient cause of the body and brought it life, this suggests they were at one point separate
6. Problematic to say the soul is the efficient cause which animates the body because it suggests those with disabilities or deformities have inadequate and inferior souls (eg Stephen Hawkins)

Question 9

What did Gilbert Ryle say about the mind?

Answer 9

Mind is a byproduct of chemical reactions, and therefore inseparable from the body
Dualists have made a category error, describing the mind like a ‘ghost in a machine’

Question 10

What did Richard Dawkins say about the soul?

Answer 10

Materialist
We are who we are due to genetic makeup
May accept soul in a metaphorical sense
Two different understandings of soul-
1.Spiritual and containing personality- rejects as personality is genetic and shaped through experience
Self awareness has developed as an evolutionary advantage
Bertrand Russell- wish fulfilment
2. Oxford Dictionary definition, describes as material and intellectual- Dawkins says its a nice description of humans but does not mean we have a separate soul entity

Question 11

A quote from Dawkins

Answer 11

‘We are survival machines’

No purpose or soul, just driven by instincts of survival

Question 12

5 Strengths of Dawkins’ materialism

Answer 12

1. Based mainly off science
2. Realistic, doesn’t allow for wish-fulfilment
3. Not dependant on a belief in god
4. Promotes further developments in science an d encourages a better understanding of the brain
5. Promotes human development- the only way humans can be immortal is to leave a mark on the world (through poetry for example)

Question 13

4 Weaknesses of Dawkins’ materialism

Answer 13

1. Cannot explain link between brain and consciousness, there may be more undiscovered evidence for the soul just as they have not found a way to prove this either
2. Goes against religion
3. Very critical despite not having 100% proof other theories are wrong
4. Reductionist argument, reduces humans to nothing but matter, pessimistic

Question 14

How did Plato describe the body and soul?

Answer 14

Opposites
Body- constantly changing, only learns through experience, physical
Soul- Unchanging and immortal, understands the forms, uses reason, knows the truth

Question 15

How did Plato describe the mind?

Answer 15

Inner life- psyche

Opinions, hopes, motives, emotions

Question 16

What were Plato’s three parts to the soul?

Answer 16

emotion- focus on desire and physical pleasures, passions (honour, victory, courage, righteous indignation)
Reason- guides towards truth, mediates between the other two, rationality
Appetite- base needs (thirst, hunger), difficult to control, encourages us to look after physical needs, but left unchecked becomes hedonistic and makes the human become little better than an animal

Question 17

What analogy did Plato use to describe the soul?

Answer 17

Charioteer (reason) guiding two horses (emotion and appetite)

Question 18

What evidence did Plato use to support that the soul contains true knowledge which is eventually remembered?

Answer 18

Child progidies, contain so much knowledge without eduction

Question 19

5 strengths of Plato’s views of the soul

Answer 19

1. Gives humans a purpose knowing they are part of something greater
2. Helps to understand human complexity
3. Some people remember past lives- supports dualism
4. Explains why people feel they are not defined by their bodies
5. Arguably supported by science

Question 20

6 weakness of Plato’s views of the soul

Answer 20

1. Believing in an immortal soul undermines human life
2. Theory is dependant on the theory of the forms (which is widely rejected)
3. There is no evidence and an extreme lack of detail
4. Plato makes the body appear as though it has no value
5. Modern neuroscience- emotions are just chemical reactions
6. Argument from the cycle of opposites (life, death and rebirth), things are not brought about by their opposites

Question 21

Which of Richard Swinburne’s arguments support dualism?

Answer 21

We can imagine a situation where we exist without a body and therefore it is a logically coherent concept
People aren’t defined by their bodies, it does not make it them
People have bodies, they are not bodies themselves

Question 22

What was the one thing Descartes knew for certain?

Answer 22

He was a great skeptic, but he knew the mind must exist
‘Cogito ergo sum’
I think therefore I am

Question 23

How did Descartes describe the mind and body?

Answer 23

Mind- A thinking thing, res cogitans, immaterial
Body- material, res extensa
Only humans have a soul
Therefore mind and body must be separate- Cartesian dualism

Question 24

What are the main two issues with Descartes theory?

Answer 24

Science disproves his ideas about the mind being based in the pineal gland
Problem of interactionism- how do the soul, mind and body interact?

Question 25

What is hyperbolic doubt?

Answer 25

The idea that nothing can be trusted (except in the case of I think therefore I am)