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TPE (2023-25) > Philosophy - Soul Mind and Body > Flashcards

Philosophy - Soul Mind and Body Flashcards

1
Q

SPECIFICATION QUESTION:
For the Soul, Mind and Body topic, what are the FOUR main areas you are expected to be able to discuss?

A
  1. PLATO’s view of the soul.
  2. ARISTOTLE’s view of the soul.
  3. DESCARTE’s substance dualism.
  4. MATERIALISM.
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2
Q

What is the METAPHYSICS OF MIND concerned with?

A

The nature of the mind (consciousness).
1. What is it?
2. How does it relate to the body?

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3
Q

What GREEK term means MIND and SOUL?

A

Psyche.

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4
Q

What does the Greek term PSYCHE mean?

A

Mind and Soul.

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5
Q

What are the TWO SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT in the metaphysics of consciousness?

A
  1. Dualism (you are expected to know substance dualism specifically).
  2. Materialism.
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6
Q

Which school of thought says that a complete physical account of a human being WILL explain consciousness (the mind)?

A

Materialism.

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7
Q

Which school of thought says that a complete physical account of a human being WILL NOT explain consciousness (the mind)?

A

Dualism.

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8
Q

Which school of thought claims that the MIND is DISTINCT from the BODY?

A

Dualism.

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9
Q

What do materialists claim?

A

Ultimately, we can explain the mind purely in terms of the physical. This is often accused of being ‘reductionist’.

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10
Q

What do dualists claim?

A

The mind is DISTINCT from the body.

This means that…
1. A complete physical account of a human being will not be able to explain consciousness.

  1. It is the mind rather than the body that constitutes the self or what I ultimately am.
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11
Q

What is the difference between SUBSTANCE DUALISM and PROPERTY DUALISM?

A

Substance dualists - claim the mind CAN EXIST INDEPENDENTLY from the body.

Property dualists - claim that the mind is DEPENDENT on the brain, in the same way that wetness depends on the body. The mind is a distinct PROPERTY of the brain, not a distinct substance.

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12
Q

According to substance dualist DESCARTES, what constitutes the ‘self’?

A

The MIND.

It is the mind rather than the body that constitutes the self or what I ultimately am, and the mind and body are distinct substances.

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13
Q

What is the PROBLEM OF OTHER MINDS?

A

The problem of other minds is a sceptical worry about whether knowledge is possible of minds other than one’s own.

It is a key issue facing DUALISM.

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14
Q

What is the name of the branch of science that studies the brain?

A

Neuroscience.

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15
Q

What is the philosophical principle of Ockham’s Razor?

A

If you have two competing ideas to explain the same phenomenon, you should prefer the simpler one.

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16
Q

What is Mysterianism?

A

the view that the question of consciousness is UNSOLVABLE by human minds.

this is because the way that we understand our minds is PERSONAL and SUBJECTIVE, whereas the way we understand our bodies (and brains) is OBJECTIVE and VERIFIABLE.

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17
Q

Who views the mind as the ESSENTIAL and IMMATERIAL part of a human, TEMPORARILY united with the body in the Realm of Appearances?

A

Plato.

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18
Q

Who says that the body acts like a prison for the soul, which chains us to our senses?

A

Plato.

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19
Q

Who presented a TRIPARTITE view of the soul?

A

Plato.

He believed that although it is one simple substance, it is made up of three aspects: REASON, SPIRIT and DESIRE

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20
Q

Plato presented a ‘tripartite view’ of the soul (mind) – he believed that although it is one simple substance, it is made up of three aspects.

What are the three aspects?

A

REASON: this is the part of our personality/soul that allows us to know the Forms.
Reason can plan for the good of the whole entity: unlike the other aspects of the soul, it is not self-interested. Reason has the capacity to make
plans about how best to achieve certain ends; but it also involves the love of truth.

SPIRIT: this is the part of the personality/soul which provides emotional motivation for action in the form of anger, indignation and the like. When subject to the proper training Spirit is the source of bravery and courage.

DESIRE: this is the part of the personality/soul that relates to the pure appetite for particular things such as food, drink or sex. Desire can persist in direct opposition to Reason. Indeed, the occurrence of conflicts between what people want and what they know is best for them is evidence Plato uses to support his distinction between the three parts of the soul.

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21
Q

What analogy does Plato draw to describe how the three aspects (reason/spirit/desire) relate to one another?

A

Analogy of the chariot/ charioteer.

Charioteer = reason
white horse = spirit
black horse = desire

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22
Q

What part of the soul does the CHARIOTEER represent in Plato’s analogy?

A

our REASON.

This is the part of our personality/soul that allows us to know the Forms.
Reason can plan for the good of the whole entity: unlike the other aspects of the soul, it is not self-interested. Reason has the capacity to make
plans about how best to achieve certain ends; but it also involves the love of truth.

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23
Q

What part of the soul does the WHITE HORSE represent in Plato’s analogy?

A

Our SPIRIT/emotion.

This is the part of the personality/soul which provides emotional motivation for action in the form of anger, indignation and the like. When subject to the proper training Spirit is the source of bravery and courage.

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24
Q

What part of the soul does the BLACK HORSE represent in Plato’s analogy?

A

Our DESIRE/appetite.

This is the part of the personality/soul that relates to the pure appetite for particular things such as food, drink or sex. Desire can persist in direct opposition to Reason. Indeed, the occurrence of conflicts between what people want and what they know is best for them is evidence Plato uses to support his distinction between the three parts of the soul.

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25
Q

Explain Plato’s argument from linguistics in support of a distinct mind/soul and body.

A

We refer to our body as a posession (‘I HAVE a body’ rather than ‘I am a body’),

whereas we refer to our mental states in a way that suggests
it refers to our essential ‘self’ (such as ‘I AM thinking’ or ‘I am sad’).

This suggests that the mind/soul and body are distinct.

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26
Q

What is a counterargument to Plato’s argument from linguistics?

A

We don’t always refer to our mental states using the phrase ‘I am’ - sometimes they are referred to as though they are a possession, just like the body.
For example, ‘I HAVE an idea.’

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27
Q

Whose argument is this:

We recognise opposites such as large and small, light and dark, life and death. The opposite of a body is a soul.

A

PLATO’s argument from opposites.

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28
Q

What is a counterargument to Plato’s argument from opposites?

A

The argument from opposites seems to be an ASSUMPTION.

Not everything has an opposite, e.g. what would be the opposite of COLOURS?

There is no need to assume that the soul exists as an opposite to the body.

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29
Q

Who uses the argument from knowledge to support their belief in the immortality of the soul?

A

Plato.

Meno’s Slave Boy.
The One Over Many argument.

30
Q

Plato says that inner conflict is evidence that we have a soul - a soul that is made up of three aspects (reason, spirit and desire).

What are simpler explanations for this inner conflict?

A

Lack of maturity.
Upbringing.
DNA.
Intoxication.

31
Q

Which scholar believed that the soul is inseparable from the body, in the same way that the imprint on a seal cannot be separated from the wax in which it is imprinted (analogy of the wax seal)?

A

Aristotle.

32
Q

What analogy did Aristotle use to explain his belief that the soul is inseparable from the body?

A

Analogy of the wax seal.

Just as the imprint on a seal cannot be separated from the wax in which it is imprinted, the soul cannot be separated from the body.

Both matter (material/wax) and from (the shape of the seal) are needed to make it what it is.

33
Q

Who described the body as the material cause and the soul as the formal cause?

A

Aristotle.

34
Q

Aristotle identified three faculties (or abilities) of the soul. He thought that every living thing has a soul which contains one or more of these abilities.

How is his HIERARCHY OF SOULS arranged?

A

It’s arranged in terms of abilities.

RATIONAL SOUL. At the top is the human soul. This is the ability to be intellectual in a way that animals and plants cannot be.

APPETITIVE SOUL. Refers to the ability to act and fulfil desires for food, reprodution and so on (animals have this type of soul).

VEGETATIVE SOUL: Refers to the ability to grow (plants have this type of soul).

35
Q

What name does Aristotle give to the human soul?

A

Rational soul.

‘Soul’ for Aristotle refers to our abilities - we have the ability to rationalise, as well as desire and gain nourishment.

36
Q

What name does Aristotle give to the animal soul?

A

Appetitive soul.

‘Soul’ for Aristotle refers to our abilities - animals have the ability to act and fulfil desires for food, reprodution and so on.

37
Q

For Aristotle, the soul is our ABILITY to change (to move from potentiality and actuality) and move towards our purpose.

What analogies does he use to illustrate this?

A
  1. Analogy of the axe - if an axe was a living thing, its soul would be its ability to chop. It is lost its ability to chop, it would simply be an axe in name.
  2. Analogy of the eye - it an eye was a living thing, its soul would be the ability to see. If it lost its ability to see, it would simply be an eye in name.
38
Q

What were Aristotle’s beliefs about the afterlife?

A

He didn’t support the traditional belief that the soul is capable of disembodied existence.

Some of Aristotle’s writings suggest that he thought that REASON could survive death.

However, his writings on this are UNCLEAR and it seems to go against his reliance on sense experience and observation because there is no way to observe intellect surviving death.

39
Q

How would a MATERIALIST respond to Aristotle’s understanding of the soul?

A

Materialists would argue that there is NO NEED TO ASSUME SOMETHING EXTRA (a soul). We are made of physical matter only (whereas Aristotle is arguing that the soul is something ‘extra’).

For example, the physical body ceasing to function explains the difference between a living and dead chicken. From a materialist perspective, it is the brain that ‘animates’ the body, not a soul as Aristotle believed.

40
Q

What does the Latin phrase, ‘Cogito, ergo sum’ translate to?

A

I think, therefore I am (Descartes).

41
Q

What type of thinker was Descartes?

A

a SUBSTANCE DUALIST. He believed that the mind/soul and body are wholly different substances.

42
Q

If mind/soul and body are separate substances (as is the case for substance dualists), there needs to be a link between the body and the mind.

What does Descartes suggest this link is?

A

In the PINEAL GLAND, in the centre of the brain.

Reasoning: there are two of everything else in the body (eyes, nostrils, ears, etc.) but only one pineal gland.

43
Q

Why is Descartes known as the ‘FATHER OF MODERN PHILOSOPHY’?

A

Because he introduced a new philosophical method, known as Cartesian doubt (hyperbolic doubt - doubting in the extreme).

44
Q

Who is the most famous substance dualist?

A

Descartes.

45
Q

Why did Descartes introduce the philosophical method known as ‘Cartesian doubt’ or ‘hyperbolic doubt’?

A

As a mathematician, he wanted to find a way to have the same kind of CERTAIN knowledge in philosophy.

Like PLATO, he rejected the idea that sense perception can give us certain knowledge of the world arguing that senses are easily misled. He therefore believed that RATIONALITY is key to gaining true knowledge.

46
Q

In his book, Meditations, Descartes explains that it is possible to doubt all things, including whether or not his body is real.

What THREEFOLD REASONING does he give for this?

A
  1. Senses are unreliable.
  2. Dreaming.
  3. Evil Demon.
47
Q

What ONE truth did Descartes conclude he could be CERTAIN of using his method of hyperbolic doubt?

A

That he was a THINKING BEING and therefore at the very least, his mind exists (I think, therefore I am).

If his mind did not exist, he would not have been able to reason that (1) his senses could be deceiving him (2) he could be dreaming (3) that there could be an evil demon deceiving him.

48
Q

Which philosophical principle could be used to support Descartes’ distinction between a mind/soul and body?

A

Leibniz Law.

According to the logical principle known as Leibniz law, for two objects to be deemed identical they must have exactly the same properties. They clearly do not have identical properties if one can be doubted and the other is certain, one can be broken into parts and the other cannot.

49
Q

Identify three differences between the mind and body according to Descartes.

A

Mind: PROVED. Body: Doubted.

Mind: INDIVISIBLE. Body: Divisible.

Mind: NON-EXTENDED. Body: Extended.

50
Q

One famous counterargument to Descartes’ doubt argument is called the ‘masked man fallacy’.

What does it demonstrate?

A

The masked man fallacy points out that DOUBTING IS NOT A PROPERTY OF THE THING ITSELF, it is a property of our minds.

Just because I think that one thing is uncertain and another thing is certain, does not mean that they are not the same.

Premise 1: I recognise that Batman is a masked crusader.
Premise 2: I recognise that Bruce Wayne is a playboy millionaire.
Conclusion: Therefore, Batman is not Bruce Wayne.

51
Q

Which scholar famously criticised Cartesian dualism, arguing that the view was just as ludicrous as believing there is a GHOST (immaterial) controlling a MACHINE (material)?

Ghost = Mind/soul
Machine = Body

A

Gilbert Ryle.

What Ryle was highlighting was a PROBLEM OF INTERACTION - in the same way that an immaterial ghost could not pull the material levers and handles to make a machine work, so too the problem of interaction arises with Descartes’ understanding of the mind (immaterial) and body (material). How do the mind and body interact?

52
Q

Who referred to Descartes’ understanding of the mind and body being distinct substances as a ‘CATEGORY ERROR’?

A

Gilbert Ryle.

In other words, Descartes had wrongly placed the mental and the physical into separate categories, not realising that the mind (mental) and body (physical) together make up a description of the whole person.

53
Q

Who argues that speaking of the mind/soul and body as being distinct is as ludicruous as speaking of having a left glove and right glove but not a pair of gloves - despite both of these phrases describing the same thing?

A

Gilbert Ryle.

54
Q

Which thinkers reject the soul as a spiritual substance?

A

Materialists.

55
Q

Which thinkers argue that, eventually, scientists will be able to identify consciousness (the mind) with the physical brain?

A

Materialists.

56
Q

One of the key points that many materialists make is that brain injuries (a change to the PHYSICAL) can damage MENTAL faculties, suggesting the physical brain holds consciousness.

What case study could you use to support this?

A

Phineas Gage (19th century) survived an accident in which a LARGE IRON ROD was driven completely through his head, destroying much of his brain’s left frontal lobe, causing a noticeable change to his PERSONALITY.

57
Q

Who argues that the ‘soul’ is a mythological concept dating back thousands of years ago to the desire to explain the mysteries of consciousness (the mind)?

A

Richard Dawkins.

In the same way that people believed that thunder was caused by the gods being angry, so too the soul provided a convenient explanation of the mysteries of consciousness. Yet, in Dawkins’ view, this is ‘not an explanation but an evasion’. (evasion = avoiding the issue)

58
Q

While Dawkins rejects the existence of a spiritual soul that can have disembodied existence, he does acknowledge that we may use the term ‘soul’ metaphorically.

What is the difference between ‘Soul One’ and ‘Soul Two’?

A

Soul One: The literal view, Soul One, is the traditional view of a SPIRITUAL substance that can exist beyond death. In Dawkins’ view, this must be rejected. “In the sense of Soul One, science has either killed the soul or is in the process of doing so.”

Soul Two: The metaphorical view, Soul Two, is the idea that the Soul (Mind) is not a separate thing from the brain. Instead, it refers to our intellect or MENTAL abilities, that scientists will eventually be able to explain PHYSIOLOGICALLY. “Probably within the next century, soul one will finally be killed, and good riddance. But in the process, soul two, far from being destroyed, will still be finding new worlds to conquer.”

59
Q

How does Dawkins define ‘Soul One’?

A

Soul One: The literal view, Soul One, is the traditional view of a SPIRITUAL substance that can exist beyond death. In Dawkins’ view, this must be rejected. “In the sense of Soul One, science has either killed the soul or is in the process of doing so.”

60
Q

How does Dawkins define ‘Soul Two’?

A

Soul Two: The metaphorical view, Soul Two, is the idea that the Soul (Mind) is not a separate thing from the brain. Instead, it refers to our intellect or MENTAL abilities, that scientists will eventually be able to explain PHYSIOLOGICALLY. “Probably within the next century, soul one will finally be killed, and good riddance. But in the process, soul two, far from being destroyed, will still be finding new worlds to conquer.”

61
Q

One type of materialism is BEHAVIOURISM. How does it view/explain human thoughts (the mind)?

A

Our thoughts are no more than LEARNED behaviours. This means that mental acts are explicable at a physical level.

Behaviourists suggest that everything that we do is a result of previous learning - built on reward and punishment. Positive actions lead to good results. This behaviour is reinforced and likely to be repeated. Bad behaviour leads to negative results and is unlikely to be repeated.

62
Q

Is this an argument in favour of SUBSTANCE DUALISM or MATERIALISM?

Magnetic scanners can detect changes in the brain when a subject’s attention moves to different images. This could suggest that mental activity such as thoughts or attention is caused by physical events in the brain.

A

Materialism.

63
Q

Is this an argument in favour of SUBSTANCE DUALISM or MATERIALISM?

If there is nothing more to personhood than the body or brain, there is no need for an afterlife. This solves problems such as how can ‘I’ survive my death?

A

Materialism.

64
Q

Is this an argument in favour of SUBSTANCE DUALISM or MATERIALISM?

Materialism reduces all human experience and existence to the physical. However, there are many who point to a feeling of something more than the material, perhaps a sense of self or a physical realm, to something beyond the physical world which may be accessed in the afterlife. Experiences of the paranormal could be used as examples to support this.

A

Substance Dualism.

65
Q

Is this an argument in favour of SUBSTANCE DUALISM or MATERIALISM?

Modern studies of the brain can shed light on previously mysterious processes, such as thinking. For example, research from NASA has developed sensors placed on the throat, which can detect words said silently to oneself. Potentially, it might be possible to read a person’s thoughts by the sensors detecting physical responses.

A

Materialism

66
Q

Is this an argument in favour of SUBSTANCE DUALISM or MATERIALISM?

Qualia is a term used by philosophers to describe how an experience FEELS to the individual. Arguably, even if science does eventually fully explain the link between the mind and the brain, it may never be able to explain qualia.

A

Substance Dualism.

67
Q

Is this an argument in favour of SUBSTANCE DUALISM or MATERIALISM?

ANSCOMBE claims that we cannot explain intention by a physical action alone, such as pointing. It is the intention behind the action that indicates a mind or soul is directing the body.

A

Substance Dualism.

68
Q

Is this an argument AGAINST SUBSTANCE DUALISM or MATERIALISM?

Keith Ward, Christian Scholar, argues that if we take this view:
1. morality becomes a matter of choice (there’s no afterlife so why be moral?!)
2. humans have no purpose
3. the sanctity of life argument is challenged (the idea that we are no more than physical bodies could lead to a disregard of the value of life)

A

Materialism.

69
Q

What is QUALIA?

A

Singular: quale.

The FEEL of our conscious experiences.

They are PRIVATE (no one can share in the feeling) and INEFFABLE (cannot be put into words).

70
Q

Which school of thought does the philosophical principle of Ockham’s Razor support?

A

MATERIALISM.

Materialists argue that consciousness being explained by physical and material events in the brain is the simplest explanation. Dualism suggests that there are two aspects of us and that one of these is beyond our ability to empirically investigate it, whereas materialism suggests we are one substance that can be empirically examined.

71
Q

Which school of thought does QUALIA challenge?

A

Materialism.

Qualia is a term for the ‘feel’ of our conscious experiences (a first-person pheonomenon).

Dualists argue that this cannot be solved by third-person science.

TPE (2023-25) (3 decks)

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