Soul, Mind & Body

Question 1

Plato’s ideas on soul, mind an body

Answer 1

a dualist understanding of the soul and body: two separate entities

Had a tripartite view of the soul - soul is made of three parts; reason, appetite and emotion

Used the analogy of two horses pulling a chariot. Reason is the charioteer

Question 2

Aristotle’s idea of the soul, mind and body

Answer 2

Soul is not distinct from the body

Soul gives bodily matter its form, efficiency and telos

Analogy of the shape made when soft wax is pressed with a stamp. Shape is inseparable from the body

Question 3

Descartes

Answer 3

Dualist, no ‘earthly substances’ in contrast with ‘heavenly substances’

Mind and body have different properties

Question 4

Dawkins

Answer 4

Modern Materialist

No part of a person that is non-physical

Question 5

Substance dualism

Answer 5

Body is material and has properties of extension.

Mind/ soul is immaterial and has properties of thought and emotion

Descartes: Arrived at a substance dualist view through a process of hyperbolic scepticism

Question 6

Property dualism

Answer 6

View that there is only one kind of substance, which is matter.

That matter can have two properties; physical and mental

Question 7

Emergent materialism

Answer 7

View that new properties emerge from physical matter as it becomes more complex, and the mind and body are different but not completely distinct

View of Mill

Question 8

Reductive materialism

Answer 8

Mind is not distinct from the body but is identical with it

Mental states e.g memory, fear, guilt correspond to different activities in the brain

Chemical reactions are the same thing as mental events, not just caused by them

Materialism does not allow for life after death.

Question 9

Dualist Criticism

Answer 9

Our experience of ourselves does not seem to support a dualist approach. We feel ourselves to be a unity, with mental and physical aspects

Cannot explain how the mind and body work together
Problem of other mind arises

Distinction between mental and physical properties is not always clear cut

Question 10

Materialist Criticism

Answer 10

Way we use language suggests that we feel ourselves be more than just a physical body

Descartes - cannot not be the same substance is a valid point

Cannot explain how a chemical reaction can cause consciousness and mental events
Swinburne and Ward argue that losing belief in the soul could have a damaging effect on ethics