substance dualism

Question 1

define substance dualism

Answer 1

the non-extended, thinking mind and extended, non-thinking body are two separate substances that interact

Question 2

arguments for substance dualism

Answer 2

conveivability argument (descartes)

divisibility argument (descartes)

Question 3

arguments against substance dualism

Answer 3

interaction problem

problem of other minds

Question 4

outline descartes’ conceivability argument

Answer 4

1. i have a C+D idea of my mind as a thinking, non-extended thing and my body as a non-thinking, extended thing.
2. anything i can clearly and distinctly think of is something that is possible to exist.
3. so, it is possible for the mind and body to exist as separate substances thinking/non-extended and non-thinking/extended
4. so the mind and body are separate substance

Question 5

responses to descartes’ conceivability argument

Answer 5

1. mind without body is inconceivable
   —> behaviourism + dennett say you can’t conceive of consciousness without corresponding cognitive processes 🧠
2. masked man fallacy (conceivability doesn’t mean possibility)
   —> you can conceive of batman and bruce wayne as separate people but its impossible for them to be separate people 🦇
3. possibility doesn’t mean reality
   —> its possible that unicorns exist but not true 🦄

Question 6

outline descartes’ divisibility argument

Answer 6

Leibniz’s law: for X and Y to be identical they must have the same properties

1. my body is divisible
2. my mind is indivisible
3. according to Leibniz’s law, my mind and body are separate substances

Question 7

responses to descartes’ indivisibility argument

Answer 7

1. MIND IS DIVISIBLE 🧠 ➗✅
   Dissociative identity disorder
   Corpus callosotomy
2. NOT ALL PHYSICAL IS DIVISIBLE
   If you keep dividing the physical you reach an indivisible subatomic particle
3. it argues that the mind is separate from the brain by assuming that it is separate from the brain

Question 8

problem of other minds + response

Answer 8

if mind is separate from body how can we confirm the existence of other minds? this leads to solipsism but the existence of other minds is the basis of so much

RESPONSE: Mill’s argument from analogy
We can assume by analogy that other people have minds like we do

Question 9

problem of causal interaction + responses

Answer 9

Elisabeth of Bohemia:
1. physical things only move if they are pushed by other physical things
2. mind is non-physical
3. so it can’t move the body
BUT 3. is wrong so 2 must be wrong too

CONCEPTUAL PROBLEM

descartes’ response:
there is an unknown, mysterious force enabling mind to act on body beyond our understanding but elisabeth overlooks this

Question 10

substance dualism 25 marker

Answer 10

substance dualism and Descartes’ supporting arguments, while not entirely disproved, is an extremely weak and incomplete theory of mind and physicalism deals with issues such as causal interaction and other minds far more successfully.

1. conceivability argument
   — not conceivable, Dennet health (BUT Dennet isn’t conceiving hard enough)
   — conceivability doesn’t equal possibility (BUT it does in another possible world; modal logic)
   — possibility doesn’t equal reality
2. problem of interaction
   — pinneal gland
   — doesn’t solve the problem, just moves it
   — mysterious force, it doesn’t work in ways we can understand (so S.D isn’t completely disproved, but it is an incomplete theory that we cannot accept nor fully reject).
3. problem of other minds
   — mill’s argument from analogy (fails)
   — MB type ID theory better