Soul, Mind & Body Flashcards
(19 cards)
What does dualism mean?
There are two types of existence: mental & physical
What does substance dualism mean?
Descartes’ version of dualism. The two types of existence are two different substances
What is monism and therefore what is materialism?
Monism is the view that there is only one kind of existence and materialism is the view that this one kind of existence is physical.
What does Plato’s Charioteer Analogy show?
A man is struggling to control a chariot just like a body struggles to control the soul by trapping it in the Realm of Appearances
What 3 aspects did Plato think our soul had?
Spirit (emotions), Desire (mercinary) & Reasons (rational)
What is Plato’s Argument from Recollection? What does anamnesis mean?
Despite nothing in this world being perfect, we still know what perfect is. The process of remembering a perfect form is called ‘anamnesis’
What does Hume say about Plato?
He disagrees; we create what is ‘perfect’ in our minds (this is subjective)
What view does Aristotle hold?
Soft-materialism
Aristotle thinks soul, mind & body are inseperable. What does Aquinas say?
“Man is not a soul only, but something composed of soul & body” & “The soul, which is the first principle of life, is not the body but the act of the body”
What does F Bacon & modern science reject?
The idea of a formal cause of the person
What does Descartes see as the difference between body & mind?
“A body by nature is divisible, the mind is not.”
Building on Leibniz’s law, what did Descartes conclude?
Two identical things must have the same properties. As mind & body do not, they cannot be identical.
What is the Masked Man Fallacy?
Just because something is possible, it does not mean that it is conceivable.
What does Descartes say about the pineal gland?
That this is where body & soul interact HOWEVER we know energy cannot come from outside of us, it must be inside of us therefore they can’t be seperate
How has modern science disproven Descartes?
The brain can be divided into the left and right hemisphere
How does Ryle describe Descartes view?
“The dogma of the ghost in the machine”
What does Ryle accuse Descartes of?
Category error: The failure to see that multiple elements contribute to one element
What does Dawkins believe and what does he say about soul 1 and soul 2?
There is only scientific evidence for the physical so that is what exists. Soul 1 is the actual belief that body & soul are seperate (WRONG) and Soul 2 is a metaphorical belief (SLIGHTLY RIGHT)
What does B.F Skinner, a behaviourist, prove?
“What is felt or intellectually observed is not some non-physical world of consciousness, mind or mental life but the observer’s own body” - THOUGHTS ARE LEARNED BEHAVIOURS
