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philosophy > mind, body and soul > Flashcards

mind, body and soul Flashcards

1
Q

what are Gilbert Ryle’s 2 criticisms of Descartes?

A
  1. Descartes makes a category error- the mind and body are of the same logical type
  2. Descartes assumption that things are either mental or physical.
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2
Q

Explain 1 of Ryle’s examples that shows a category error.

A
  • A visitor goes to Cambridge.
  • He’s shown the different colleges, the museum, the library etc.
  • At the end of the tour he asks “but where is the university?”
  • He is guilty of a category error since he assumes that the university is something separate from all the other bits which collectively are the university.
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3
Q

How does Ryle’s example of a category error link in with Descartes?

A

-In the same way Descartes is guilty of a category error since he assumes that things must be either mental or physical, and assumes they cannot be both.

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4
Q

What is Ryle’s argument suggesting?

A
  • The body and mind/soul are of the same logical type. Both are simply names of things.
  • You can’t separate the body and mind.
  • He is not denying the mental or classifying the mind as material.
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5
Q

What were Descartes ideas on body, mind and soul?

A
  • The body and soul are wholly separate substances.
  • Senses may be mislead by a demon which would mean that the material world and body is an illusion.
  • The pineal gland is the seal of imagination and common sense.
  • The body is spatial and non conscious, whilst the mind is not spatial and is conscious
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6
Q

What is Descartes evidence for the division between the body and soul/mind?

A
  • If a limb was amputated from my body it wouldn’t effect my mind.
  • You can’t take bits of mind away.
  • the body is divisible but the mind isn’t
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7
Q

2 basic disadvantages of Descartes ideas.

A
  • No empirical evidence for Demon.
  • Modern scientific research has shown that the pineal gland is used for reproductive hormones, not for imagination and common sense.
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8
Q

What is the most obvious advantage of Descartes ideas?

A

-If the body and soul are separate then afterlife can happen.

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9
Q

define materialism

A

we have one single nature which is entirely physical

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10
Q

explain Richard Dawkin’s quote “survival machines”

A
  • human beings do not have immortal souls, instead we are simply a mixture of chemicals.
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11
Q

what did Richard Dawkins reject?

A

the soul as a spiritual substance

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12
Q

what are Richard Dawkins beliefs on religious ideas of the soul?

A

They are beliefs based on wish-fulfilment for those who lack courage, who fear death and who cannot cope with the idea of their own mortality.

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13
Q

Describe Richard Dawkin’s soul one.

A
  • the ancient idea of consciousness meaning non-physical element of life.
  • Dawkin’s thinks this isn’t an explanation but an invasion
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14
Q

describe Richard Dawkins soul two?

A
  • Definition of soul from Oxford dictionary is intellect or development of mental faculties.
  • One day science may find the answers to fully explain soul two
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15
Q

Define identity theory.

A

mental events can be correlated with types of physical events in the brain

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16
Q

Susan Blackmore is a supporter of materialism. Explain her thoughts.

A
  • Supports Dennett’s idea that is isn’t a single place where consciousness happens in the brain.
  • There is not an added ability/power possessed by humans.
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17
Q

Dawkins is a supporter of materialism. Explain his thoughts.

A
  • There is no soul. Everything is physical.
  • consciousness is just an evolutionary aspect for humans.
  • our life is just genes put together.
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18
Q

R.Swinburne is a critic of materialism. Explain his thoughts.

A
  • The soul is separate from the body. The soul can survive after death.
  • Consciousness is proof of our souls.
  • The soul is capable of logical thinking. The soul judges what is right and wrong.
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19
Q

Keith Ward is a critic of materialism. Explain his thoughts.

A
  • without the soul morality is useless. The soul gives humans a final purpose.
  • our soul is what makes us different from animals.
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20
Q

define continuity

A

what are the criteria that are necessary for somebody to be regarded as the same person over time?

21
Q

define dualism

A
  • the belief that humans are made up of a material body and non material soul
  • the non material is us ally either the soul or mind
22
Q

explain Plato’s ideas on the soul

A
  • soul belongs to the world of the forms
  • it is immortal and perfect but imprisoned in the body
  • it is made up of physical desires, reason, and emotion
23
Q

explain Plato’s example

A
  • the chariot resembles the soul
  • the charioteer is reason which is steering two horses (representing physical desires and emotion)
  • when reason balances physical desires and emotion, the soul is in a state of harmony
24
Q

Plato’s two arguments for dualism are knowledge and opposites. Explain them

A
  1. Knowledge - The soul has a priori knowledge from the world of the forms and remembers the perfect and eternal forms. E.g. of this a priori knowledge - Socrates questioned an uneducated slave about maths problems and he showed an awareness of Pythagorus theory. Leaning is simply remembering
  2. opposites - just as light and dark are opposites, the body and soul are opposites. Since life is something, death must also be something- the moving of the soul to the world of the forms. However, this can be challenges as an assumption
25
Q

3 weaknesses of platos argument

A
  • how does the immaterial soul interact with the physical body? this isn’t answered clearly.
  • how can we gain knowledge from a world that we have never seen before. There is no evidence off this world. Also, how can we apply knowledge from an eternal world to this world if they are so different.
  • P. Geach questions how can a disembodied non material soul see the forms since ‘seeing’ is a physical process
26
Q

2 strengths of platos argument

A
  • no need to fear death as it is the soul escaping from the temporary shell of the body
  • Bryan Magee ‘the theory that there is another world than this gives value and meaning to our present world’
27
Q

explain Aristotle’s ideas on the soul/ body

A
  • they soul and body are distinct but the soul is the form of the body- the soul cannot be separated from the body. They are two separate elements but one thing
  • they die together
  • the soul has the facilities of vegetative, appetite and intellect
  • hierarchy of living things. Plants only have a vegetative soul, animals are above plants because they have appetites and humans are above plants as we have reason
28
Q

Aristotle’s three examples

A
  • imprint cannot be separated from the wax (soul cannot be separated from the body)
  • if an axe was a loving thing then it’s body would be made of wood and metal. It’s soul would be the thing that made it an axe I.e. it’s capacity to chop
  • if the eye were an animal, sight would be its soul
29
Q

3 weakness of Aristotle

A
  • there is no hope for personal survival. Death is the end.
  • Unlike Plato, Aristotle’s ideas of the souls don’t explain déjà vu or how we recognise a range of different things as beautiful
  • Aristotle’s beliefs about the afterlife are vague. He talks about intellect or reason surviving death, but that’s all. Unclear
30
Q

3 strengths of Aristides ideas

A
  • no problems with how body/soul interact as the body and soul cannot be separated.
  • Body and Soul both end at death so no need to assume the continued existence of an immaterial soul.
  • No need to assume another, more permanent world. Aristotle bases his view of body and soul on empiricism.
31
Q

substance dualism

A

the view that two elements (body and mind) are two wholly different substances

32
Q

according to Descartes how does the mind and body interact

A
  • through the pineal gland, which according to Descartes is the seat of imagination and common sense.
  • although the pineal gland provided a physical link, it is unclear how this interaction works. Modern science has shown that the pineal gland is actually used to produce hormones
33
Q

main scholar to use for substance dualism

A

Descartes

34
Q

main scholar to criticise Descartes

A

Ryle

35
Q

Ryle’s ‘the ghost in the machine’ criticism of Descartes

A
  • the ghost is the mind and the machine is the body
  • how could a ghostly immaterial substance affect and control a material body? It would be like a ghost trying to ride a bicycle. This doesn’t make sense.
36
Q

why does Peter Geach disagree with the views of dualists

A
  • disagrees with Descartes and Plato idea that the soul and body are separate.
  • ‘Man is a sort of body, not a body plus an immaterial somewhat’. Doesn’t believe in a souls
37
Q

why does G.E.M Anscombe disagree with Dualists like Descartes

A
  • she sees the body and soul as one
  • gives the example of pointing. The meaning and significance behind the pointing can’t be deduced by bodily action alone, it requires a description of the thought (e.g. I am pointing at the chair because)
  • but equally, the thought requires a body to act.
  • the physical gesture has a meaning behind itself, there is an additional intention, it is the act of a human as a whole , both body and spirt
38
Q

Richard Swinburne argues that humans have souls which are distinct from physical bodies. Explain his views

A
  • soul is capable of surviving after death
  • there are fundamental truths about us individuals which cannot be explained in purely physical terms.
  • it is because we have souls that we recognise goodness
  • our souls have consciences and let’s us know when we are right/wrong
39
Q

Keith Ward believes in the soul and that is distinct from the body. Explain his thoughts

A
  • our souls is what gives us that special dignity of being human rather than simply being animal
  • without the soul, humanity lacks any sense of final purpose
40
Q

Define monism and the two types of monism

A

monism= the view that humans are one substance only

The two types of monism are materialism and idealism.

Materialism =we have one single nature which is entirely physical

Idealism =we have one single nature which is entirely meta-physical. The physical world, including our body, is an illusion

41
Q

main scholar for hard materialism

A

Richard Dawkins

42
Q

explain Richard Dawkins views

A
  • Life is simply bytes of digital information, contained with DNA
  • in the future science will be able to explain it in purely material/physical terms
  • two types of souls
  • soul 1 is a non material life force, an ancient idea. It has been killed/is being killed by science.
  • soul 2 is the intellect and is an inherent part of being human which one day will be explained by science
  • only explanation is evolution -we are the way we are due to our genetic makeup, not souls
43
Q

criticisms of materialism

A
  1. mind/body problem. How do they interact if we have one single nature which is entirely physical
  2. the existence of the non material (e,g, ideas, feelings)
44
Q

identity theory is another hard materialist view. Explain it

A
  • used to support Dawkin’s
  • claims that all mental activity is centred in the brain.
  • drugs can alter personality, mood or behaviour and so these elements cannot be linked to an immaterial soul
  • in this view, when physical life ends, mental activity ceases.
45
Q

evidence to support materialism

A
  • research from NASA has developed sensors placed on the throat which can detect words said silently to oneself and functional magnetic scanners have been used to detected when the subjects attention moves to different images.
  • this could suggest that mental activity are caused by physical events in the brain. This then could support materialism
46
Q

what is the soul/body/mind topic about

A

the issue of consciousness and personal identity

  • am I someone who is a body?
  • am I someone who has a body?
  • am I someone who represents a complex, psycho-physical whole

problem of whether mind and body are one or whether we have two natures. If they are separate entities, then a problem of how they interrelate arises

46
Q

define identity

A
  • what criteria are there for deciding exactly what constitutes a person?
  • can what makes a person a person be identified?
47
Q

what is Ryle suggesting

A

we should avoid the pitfalls of dualism and materialism

Instead he sought to clarify and explore the ideas of consciousness

48
Q

explain the criticism of materialism from the idea of moral responsibility

A
  • difficult to see how free will is compatible with the theory that all brain events are physically determined
  • However, Donald Mackay argues that even if it were possible to know all factors that caused brain events and be able to predict future action, the person could still make a choice, perhaps a different action and thus maintain responsibility for it.

philosophy (11 decks)

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