MIND/BODY/SOUL

Question 1

plato

Answer 1

Recollection
Abstraction
Perfection
Argument from opposites
Plato’s dualism is absurd because it cannot explain how the spiritual soul interacts with the body
Descartes’ reply

Question 2

Aristotle

Answer 2

The soul involves the four causes:
It’s our formal cause
It’s a set of capacities that helps us achieve our telos

Not possible since humans don’t have a telos – Dawkins
Foot – humans do have a telos, so of course the soul is a set of capacities that can help us to achieve our telos.
The soul is inseparable from the body, like the stamp is separate from the wax.
No, the soul is separable from the body because Plato show’s its necessary for interaction
Abstraction

Question 3

Dualism

Answer 3

Argument from opposites
Dawkins
Recollection
Descartes
Interaction
Pineal gland

Question 4

Descartes

Answer 4

Descartes 1
Dawkins
Plato– Recollection
Descartes 2
Interaction
Pineal Gland

Question 5

Materialism

Answer 5

Dawkins
Recollection
Abstraction
Ryle – the soul is just tendencies towards material/physical behaviours
The soul cannot be material behaviours because we can prove the soul must be a separate thing – Descartes
If the soul is a non-physical thing, we end up in the problem of interaction.

Question 6

Is the mind/body debate based on a category mistake?

Answer 6

Ryle – yes, because ‘mind’ obviously refers to behaviours, not a separate part of us.
Plato – ‘Mind’ does not obviously refer to behaviours, in fact it must refer to a separate part of us that pre-existed this life – otherwise how do we get our idea of perfect equality, perfect beauty, etc ?
Abstraction means we don’t need a separate mind; Ryle is therefore right that ‘mind’ refers to tendencies towards behaviour, not a separate part of us.
Yes – based on a category mistake because the soul is not an individual thing. If it were, we would end up with the problem of interaction.
Descartes – the mind/body debate is not based on a category mistake because there is no problem of interaction, the soul and body can interact via attraction – via the pineal gland
There are still obvious problems with thinking that the soul interacts with the body via the pineal gland – this is unscientific as the pineal gland governs our sleep cycle, not our bodily movements – hence Descartes fails to explain the interaction between soul and body –

Question 7

Aristotle arg

Answer 7

The human soul is the thing that makes us human. (formal cause)

If so, then it is a set of capacities that help us achieve our telos

So: The human soul is a set of capacities that help us achieve our telos.

Question 8

what’s the argument from opposites

Answer 8

Every quality comes into being from its opposite
If so, before I was alive, I was dead, and before I was dead, I was alive…
If so, the soul must be distinct from the body

Question 9

Interaction problem

Answer 9

We can’t explain how physical objects interact with non-physical objects
If so, dualists can’t explain how the soul interacts with the body
So: Dualists can’t explain how the soul interacts with the body.