Soul Mind Body

Question 1

Plato’s view on soul

Answer 1

Substance dualist

Soul and mind are separate

Question 2

Plato’s view on the soul

Answer 2

It reincarnates after death

Between incarnations it goes to the world of the forms and experiences true knowledge

Question 3

Why Plato believes soul and body are opposites

Answer 3

Soul is eternal, non physical, unchanging, undividable, capable of reason
Body is mortal, physical, changing, made up of parts, controlled by senses

Question 4

Argument from recollection

Answer 4

Plato thinks we remember stuff from the forms
We remember the form of beauty when we see beauty in the world
Could be argued that the soul cannot see in the forms as seeing is a physical process
Slave boy giving geometric question by Socrates and after his questioning is able to answer it

Question 5

Aristotle view on the soul

Answer 5

Reject Plato

Believe humans are made up of a body and as soul which cannot be separated

Question 6

Aristotle argument using axe and eye

Answer 6

I’d we imagine an axe and an eye to be living things then their souls would be their ability to chop would and ability to see (without these they are just matter)
The capacity to choose and see (soul) can’t exist without the axe and eye (body)

Question 7

Mind body problem

Answer 7

Is my mind separate from my body?

• If so, how do my mind and body interact?

Question 8

Descartes on why mind and body are separate

Answer 8

Everything around us could be an illusion but the fact he can still think shows his mind is there, his body may just be an illusion
If you amputate a limb then your mind is still clear

Question 9

Descartes new philosophical method

Answer 9

Scepticism

To gain true knowledge you must be absolutely certain of everything you have ever believed

Question 10

Problems for Descartes

Answer 10

If mind and body are separate then how do they connect so closely
How does sports person use mental judgement with physical activity
Our thoughts do cause physical reactions - fear creates sweating touching hot pan causes me to jerk hand away

Question 11

Descartes solution to problems he faced

Answer 11

meeting point of the body and the mind is a small gland in the brain called the pineal gland (a very small organ in the centre of the brain which at the time had no known purpose).
He chose this gland because there are two of everything else in the head (eyes, nostrils, ears, hemispheres of the brain etc.) but only one pineal gland which appears to be indivisible. For Descartes, this is the home of the mind - thought, imagination, common sense etc.

Question 12

Ryles ghost in time machine analogy

Answer 12

Descartes has described the immaterial soul as controlling the material body which is like a ghost controlling a machine - not possible

Question 13

What is Descartes categorical error

Answer 13

He assumes there is something more to us then there actually is
Our mind isn’t an addition to our body it is an aspect of how our body behaves

Question 14

How does our language support Ryle

Answer 14

“I turn of the kettle” not “my hand turns of the kettle” suggest mind and body are one

Question 15

Evidence of materialism

Answer 15

Brain damage suggest mind physical

Medication used to treat mental disorders does too

Question 16

Someone who disagrees with the soul’s existence

Answer 16

Richard Dawkins believed it’s a concept for those unable to cope with their own morality