Soul, Mind and Body

Question 1

Dualism

Answer 1

Belief in two separate elements (body and soul)

Question 2

Substance Dualism

Answer 2

Two elements (body and soul) are wholly different substances

Question 3

Psyche

Answer 3

Greek word for mind / soul

Question 4

Materialism

Answer 4

There is one substance and it is material

Question 5

Monism

Answer 5

One substance not two

Question 6

Reductionism

Answer 6

Everything can be reduced to statements about physical bodies, although this can be criticised - is it too simplistic?

Question 7

Behaviourism

Answer 7

All mental states are simply learned behaviours

Question 8

What did Plato look for?

Answer 8

Something permanent and certain. He believed that if permanence cannot be found in this material world, then it must exist in another world

Question 9

What did Plato believe about the soul?

Answer 9

That the soul lives forever with no beginning or end

Question 10

How does Plato describe the soul in his book ‘Phaedo’?

Answer 10

• immortal
• divine
• intelligible (understandable)
• uniform (constant)
• indissoluble (permanent)
• unchangeable
• eternal
• perfect

Question 11

What are the 3 parts of the soul according to Plato?

Answer 11

• rational
• appetitive
• spirited

Question 12

Rational part of the soul (Plato)

Answer 12

Intellectual / thinking. This is the part which is seeking truth and takes control of the irrational parts to live a virtuous life.

Question 13

Appetitive part of the soul (Plato)

Answer 13

This is the body’s needs (e.g., greed)

Question 14

Spirited part of the soul (Plato)

Answer 14

This is our will / virtues (e.g., courage). It is our personality traits

Question 15

What metaphor for the 3 parts of the soul does Plato use?

Answer 15

The idea of the charioteer in his book ‘Phaedrus’

Question 16

What is the charioteer metaphor used by Plato to describe the 3 parts of the soul?

Answer 16

• The charioteer is the one in charge in control of the chariot - this is the rational element of the soul.
• The white horse is the spirited element. Virtues such as courage leads the rational to Noeton (the other world)
• The black horse is the appetitive, shows bodily needs, dies with the body
• all 3 parts of the soul are in conflict

Question 17

Who was Plato’s charioteer metaphor really inspirational to and why?

Answer 17

Sigmund Freud, because it shows your personality. E.g., if you’re really uptight, then the horses will be too tightly strung etc. When the balance of your soul is perfectly in line, everything runs smoothly.

Question 18

How did Plato approach the body?

Answer 18

He was extremely negative about it

Question 19

Plato quote about the body

Answer 19

‘The body is the source of endless trouble’

Question 20

What are the 4 reasons Plato gives as to why he has complete disdain for the body (other than it being a prison for our souls)?

Answer 20

• requirement of food (constantly holds back your body in the quest for knowledge)
• fills us with loves and lusts (the body constantly distracts us)
• fears and endless foolery (can’t think straight in fight or flight mode)
• diseases (the physical body is constantly holding back the soul from finding out the true knowledge)

Question 21

How are the body and the cave in Plato’s analogy of the Cave linked?

Answer 21

The body is a prison to our soul, just as the cave was the prison in the analogy

Question 22

Strengths of Plato’s ideas about the soul

Answer 22

• major influence on Christian thought with his views on immortality of the soul
• later ideas of reincarnation are similar to eastern religious notions of rebirth
• helps to explain the individuality of people (links with Freud’s id, ego and super-ego)

Question 23

Weaknesses of Plato’s ideas about the soul

Answer 23

• a problem arises because all 3 elements are seen as necessary. If the soul is free when the body dies, what happens to the appetitive part which is connected to the body? Is the soul no longer complete? What happens to the soul if it loses 1/3 of itself every time the body dies? Isn’t the soul perfect and unchanging?

Question 24

Give a supporter of Plato

Answer 24

Descartes

Question 25

What type of materialist / dualist was Descartes?

Answer 25

He was a substance dualist

Question 26

Is Descartes a rationalist or empiricist?

Answer 26

Rationalist

Question 27

What is the only one certain piece of knowledge according to Descartes?

Answer 27

The Cogito

Question 28

What does the Cogito refer to?

Answer 28

The thinking mind

Question 29

Famous Descartes quote and what it means

Answer 29

'I think therefore I am' = The only thing you can be 100% certain about is your thinking mind. Is any of what we see real? We don't know what anyone else is thinking. Is this all still a dream?

Question 30

What does substance dualism mean?

Answer 30

That body and soul are wholly separate substances

Question 31

Why did Descartes believe in substance dualism?

Answer 31

He argued that you can take away from the body constantly, but your mind is still whole. He believed that your body can be affected, but your mind will stay the same.

Question 32

How may someone respond to Descartes' view that your body can be affected, but your mind will remain the same?

Answer 32

They may argue that your body and mind are very closely linked, e.g., love can be seen as something that you feel inside as part of your soul, but you can also physically feel love.

Question 33

Who gives a criticism of dualism and what is this known as?

Answer 33

Gilbert Ryle proposes the idea of The Category Mistake

Question 34

Who was The Category Mistake proposed by?

Answer 34

Gilbert Ryle

Question 35

What is a category mistake?

Answer 35

When you mistakenly treat something as being of one type when really, it is of a different type. It is where you put something into the wrong category.

Question 36

What term does Ryle use to criticise how Descartes describes the concept of the mind?

Answer 36

He uses the term 'the ghost in the machine'

Question 37

Who does Ryle use the term 'the ghost in the machine' to describe?

Answer 37

Descartes and how he describes the concept of the mind.

Question 38

What is the 'ghost in the machine' argument?

Answer 38

This is like me saying 'I have a ghost inside my computer'. You would be very confused by this and not believe it. Ryle is saying that this is as logical as saying there is a soul (ghost) inside my body (machine)

Question 39

What concept is Ryle trying to show with his 'ghost in the machine' argument?

Answer 39

That body and soul are not separate and by putting them in separate categories, you are making a mistake.

Question 40

What is an example Ryle gave to emphasise the idea that body and soul are not separate?

Answer 40

The example of Cambridge University. A foreign visitor goes to the different colleges, libraries, museums, etc., but then asks 'where is the university?' = this is a category mistake. The university is a collection of the individual parts, not something separate. In the same way, the soul is not a separate category, but is part of the whole.

Question 41

What did Ryle think Descartes was guilty of?

Answer 41

Making a category mistake

Question 42

Give another problem of dualism

Answer 42

The problem of interactionism

Question 43

What is the problem of interactionism?

Answer 43

How can the spiritual soul/mind influence or direct anything in a material/physical body and vice-versa?

Question 44

The problem of interactionism

Answer 44

This is a criticism of dualism. It seems that if I hurt my body, the mind feels it. The mind feels sensations of hunger and thirst when we need nourishment.