Topic 2 (Year 12): Mind, body, and soul Flashcards
(26 cards)
Soul definition.
Often, but not always, understood to be the non-physical essence of a person.
Consciousness definition.
Awareness or perception.
Substance definition.
A subject which has different properties attributed to it.
Dualism definition.
The belief that reallity can be divided into 2 distinct parts, such as good and evil, or physical and non-physical.
Substance dualism definition.
The belief that the mind and body both exist as two distinct and seperate realities.
Scepticism definition.
A questioning approach which does not take assumptions for granted.
Materialism definition.
The belief that only physical matter exists, and that the mind can be explained in physical terms as chemical activity in the brain.
Reductive materialism definition.
Otherwise known as identity theory - the view that mental events are identical with physical occurences in the brain.
Category error definition.
A problem of language that arises when things are talked about as if they belong to one category when in fact they belong to another.
Dualist - Plato or Aristotle?
Plato.
Materialist - Plato or Aristotle?
Aristotle.
What does Plato say about the soul?
Our bodies are controlled by our senses, our bodies are in constant change. The impermanence of the body needs a permanent soul. The soul is essential and can access the Realm of the Forms - our soul was there before we were born.
What does Aristotle say about the soul?
The body is the material cause and the soul is the formal cause. The soul gives the body it’s characteristics and form and he said that all living things have a soul.
What are the 3 types of souls?
Vegetative, appetitive, and rational.
What is the Myth of Er?
A story where souls are taken on a journey and asked at the end of the journey what type of sould they’d like to be on their return to Earth, in which most chose the other than the life they had lived.
What is Descartes’ quote on the soul? (Latin & English)
Latin - “Cogito, ergo sum.”
English - “I think therefore I am.”
What was Descartes’ main principle?
He can doubt that he has a body but he cannot doubt that he has a mind because he has the rational ability to think.
What is the mind to Descartes?
An immaterial substance because it is seperate from the existence of the body, which is a material substance.
What part of the body did Descartes say the connection between the soul and the body?
The pineal gland in the brain.
What was his reasoning for this?
The body is full of doubles of things, but there is only one pineal gland.
What is the problem of interactionism?
The idea that how can an immaterial mind cause anything in the material body, and vice versa.
What was Ryle’s theory called?
The Ghost in the Machine.
What is Ryle’s Ghost in the Machine?
The mind and the body must be able to work together. Ryle uses this to mock Descartes.
Why does Ryle think Descartes has made a category error?
He thinks Descartes categorises all events as either mental or physical.
