nature & existence of soul Flashcards
forms, psyche, thumos, qualia
forms: all things in world of sense perception are particular instances of universal forms
psyche: soul, spirt, mind
thumos: part of psyche corresponding to pugnacity, indignation, courage etc
qualia: qualities of subjective conscious experience
plato
- those with dualist approach claim soul exists independently and superior to body
- two worlds: one we live in (appearances) and world of forms (real perfect world)
- soul is separate/superior belonging to world of forms so is eternal & doesn’t die, comes to earth & imprisoned in body, at death returns to world of forms
- plato’s charioteer analogy shows soul is divided into three parts: rational part (immortal searching for truth), spirited part (thumos) (emotions), appetitive (part dies with body & concerned with drive)
- plato argues only composite things (made of parts) can be destroyed and whilst bodies are composite souls are non-material so can’t be destroyed
plato view on soul
- we have a separate body, conjoined with a soul that’s lived before & will again as its trapped in your body
- both fit to our experience of encountering death: some look at a corpse and feel ‘soul’ has gone and only shell remains
- the soul is kinda like a persona an actor puts on for a role
aristotle
- empiricist so rejects plato’s world of forms
- thoughts on soul based on deductions of sense experience
- soul shapes & gives life to body, only human soul has capacity for rational thought
- humans able to make moral/intellectual development & soul develops character
- against this view is idea soul returns to true home after death
- soul of the mind is essence of form of human being & distinct but inseparable from body
aristotle view on soul
- self is what animates your body and soul together. you live and think which is what makes you a human
- both fit to our experience of encountering death: some look at a corpse and feel ‘soul’ has gone and only shell remains but others sense that a body expressed the person during their life but lost its animating principle that made it the person they knew
- sees soul as character individual displays
descartes view: mind & body distinct substances with diff essential properties
matter is res extensa:
- latin for extended thing so extended substance
mind is res cognita:
- latin for mental substance
- arguing for substance dualism & gives 3 ‘proofs’ where he wants to show that the soul can exist without the body
- argued mind & body distinct substances with diff essential properties
first proof: argument from doubt
- supposes there may be a ‘malicious demon’ who is powerful enough to make him doubt the existence of the world outside him & existence of other minds so:
I) i can doubt my body exits
II) but i cannot doubt that i exist as a thinking thing
III) therefore i am not identical with my body
EVALUATION: - doesn’t really work as most philosophers think that consciousness is a product of brain and that brain is part of what we call a ‘body’ and without its body wouldn’t exist to produce descartes’ argument
second proof: argument from divisibility & non-divisibility
I) all bodies are extended in space so divisble
II) minds arent extended in space so not divisible
III) minds radically diff to bodies
- Descartes argues states of mind are indivisible. by states of mind, he is referring to a qualia -> senses like smell can increase/decrease but physical objects can be divided
EVALUATION:
- seems to be false, modern neuroscience shows there’s a close correlation between mind & brain as when brain is damaged the mind can be damaged
third proof: argument from clear & distinct perception
- had clear distinct perception of himself as thinking being & body as non-thinking being
- he and body can exist apart from each other so was distinct from body
- mind/soul not located in space with no parts to decay it was immortal
EVALUATION: point I is strange-looking argument as elsewhere descartes deduces existence of god from clear & distinct perceptions but now wants to deduce reliability of our clear & distinct perceptions from existence of god arguments appears circular
cartesian dualism
body/material substance
- has extension in space
- located in space
- parts that corrupt & decay so can’t survive death
- so is mortal
mind/soul substance
- is not extended in space
- is not located in space
- has not parts to corrupt/decay
- isnt susceptible to death
- so is immortal
problems of the idea of soul substance
- souls cannot be counted -> if souls are not in space & are invisibile how do we know even that 1 body has 1 soul
- descartes argument establishes onlt that “there is thinking” not an “i” who thinks -> philosophers argue the ‘self’ is just an illusion derived from minds of sense experience and the ‘self’ is the flow of these experiences
