Body, Soul and Mind – Revision
Possible Questions:
Assess whether substance dualism is a convincing approach to questions of body and soul
To what extent is Plato’s belief in a separate body and soul convincing?
It makes more sense to say ‘I am body’ than to say ‘I have a body’
‘Religious faith demands a belief in a separate body and soul’
‘Post-mortem existence is an irrational belief’
Does the mind exist in the ‘body’ or in the ‘soul’?
Mind is found in the soul: metaphysical person – typical dualism.
Mind is found in the body/brain: physical person, neuro-chemical stimuli – typical
monism.
Mind: that bit which is ‘us’ in our heads, the bit which thinks.
PLATO:
Soul is immaterial and eternal.
The body is material and temporary.
For example, you remember certain events from when you were younger – and your
body has changed since then so there must be something else which makes you
remember, because it’s not your body – “I am my soul” Plato.
Soul is from and will return to the higher world of the forms, perceived by intellect.
Charioteer and horses’ analogy.
ARISTOTLE:
The material world is all there is.
The body is the formal cause of the soul, and the soul dies when the body dies –
Aristotle’s four causes.
Some people might call Aristotle a dualist as he talks about the body and the soul –
however, he is known as a soft materialist because he believes in a connected body
and soul – soul is reliant on the body.
DESCARTES AND HUME
Descartes: Cognito ergo sum - I think, therefore, I am.
The only thing Descartes believed we could be sure of was the reality of our own
mind – Cartesian Dualism stresses the fundamental difference between body and
mind.
This is what makes humans and animals different, animals don’t think like humans.
Possible Questions:
Assess whether substance dualism is a convincing approach to questions of body and soul
To what extent is Plato’s belief in a separate body and soul convincing?
It makes more sense to say ‘I am body’ than to say ‘I have a body’
‘Religious faith demands a belief in a separate body and soul’
‘Post-mortem existence is an irrational belief’
Does the mind exist in the ‘body’ or in the ‘soul’?
Mind is found in the soul: metaphysical person – typical dualism.
Mind is found in the body/brain: physical person, neuro-chemical stimuli – typical
monism.
Mind: that bit which is ‘us’ in our heads, the bit which thinks.
PLATO:
Soul is immaterial and eternal.
The body is material and temporary.
For example, you remember certain events from when you were younger – and your
body has changed since then so there must be something else which makes you
remember, because it’s not your body – “I am my soul” Plato.
Soul is from and will return to the higher world of the forms, perceived by intellect.
Charioteer and horses’ analogy.
ARISTOTLE:
The material world is all there is.
The body is the formal cause of the soul, and the soul dies when the body dies –
Aristotle’s four causes.
Some people might call Aristotle a dualist as he talks about the body and the soul –
however, he is known as a soft materialist because he believes in a connected body
and soul – soul is reliant on the body.
DESCARTES AND HUME
Descartes: Cognito ergo sum - I think, therefore, I am.
The only thing Descartes believed we could be sure of was the reality of our own
mind – Cartesian Dualism stresses the fundamental difference between body and
mind.
This is what makes humans and animals different, animals don’t think like humans.
