Soul, Mind, and Body Flashcards
Describe the characteristics of the body.
Changes, Decays, Temporary, Senses, Made up of parts.
Describe the characteristics of the soul.
Unchanging, Immortal, Permanent, Can reason, Undivided.
What does Plato conclude about the body and soul?
He concludes that the body and soul are opposites- the body decays and dies bu the soul is the immortal essence of a person.
What assumption does Plato make?
Plato is making an assumption that the soul is the opposite of the body-but not everything has an opposite, e.g. the colour blue.
How does the soul access true knowledge from the Forms?
People’s souls are reincarnated meaning they move from one body to another. The soul goes to the world of the Forms where it witnesses true knowledge.
What are the three aspects within the soul that Plato talks about?
- Reason.
- Emotion.
- Appetite.
Describe Plato’s analogy of the charioteer.
Plato says the three aspects within the soul are in conflict. He compares the conflict to a charioteer in charge of the horses. The charioteer is ‘reason’ and the two wayward horses are emotion and appetite- the two basic needs which pull us along and motivate us.
What are two examples of how emotions and thoughts cause physical responses?
- When we feel frightened we have a rush of adrenaline which makes our heart race.
- If we feel embarrassed we might physically blush.
What is category error?
Using language incorrect- treating something as being of one type when it is of a different type.
Explain what Ryle meant by ‘The ghost in the machine’.
The immaterial mind (the ghost) somehow lives within, and pulls the levers of, the material body (the machine).
What are reasons that it is a category error to talk about body and mind as separate substances?
- The thinking part of ‘me’ cannot be separated.
- Descartes’ use of language is inaccurate- a category error.
- The body and mind appear to be linked. We see this when we have physical responses from thoughts and we speak as if they are one, unified whole person.
What are reasons that it is not a category error to talk about body and mind as separate substances?
—The body and mind are completely different types of substance.
- The body can be divided into parts whereas the mind is one and remains unchanged whatever happens to the body.
- Descartes’ argument from doubt- he doubted his physical existence but since he was still thinking, it showed that he must exist (I think, therefore I am). Therefore, the mind and body must be separate.
