Philosophy
Descartes' philosophical articulation and defense of psycho-physical dualism (the idea that the mind has an existence different and independent from the physical body), and the idea that the mind cannot be reduced to simple physical processes, have carried immense weight on the philosophy of mind for the past four centuries. It has taken immense amounts of work and amassing of evidence to be able to convincingly argue that dualism is most likely a false (and not merely questionable) theory. We now know, for instance, that Descartes was simply mistaken when he argued that the mind is indivisible. We have the unfortunate case of epileptic patients in the 70's to thank for that nugget of wisdom :(
Still, for its fundamental mistakes, dualism may yet be right about its skepticism of reductionism, and conversely, for all its merits, physicalism (or materialism) may still be wrong about its explanatory power, or so argues anti-dualist philosopher John Searle in this delightful and funny lecture.
If you are interested in these topics, check out the Brainspotting tag to have your mind blown some more.
.
- Physical Monism Vs. Substance Dualism - Arguments
In the last post we?ve been dealing generally with the differences between the two major schools which are monism and dualism. It?s time we take a closer look to one of the most popular branches of the dualism ? substance dualism. It states that there...
- Descartes, Dualism And Monism
Let?s assume that both you and me do have minds; I guess it would be way easier to think this post over if you had some free mind to use. Otherwise the idea of thought without a mind might get a little bit tricky ? but as you?re about to see, thought...
- Lecture 4 - Cartesian Dualism & The Mind-body Problem
There are all sorts of psychological reasons why people tend to believe that we have an immaterial soul that can somehow overcome the physical limitations of the body (think out-of-body experiences, misinterpretation of brain quirks and our tendency for...
- Do Brains Make Minds?
Despite a long tradition of scholars and lay people thinking (and wishing) otherwise, modernity has revealed a paradigm of materialism in which even the mind is somehow reducible to, caused by, or sustained by physical brain processes. Ontological and...
- Substance Dualism
If you believe that, in the ultimate analysis, you are a combination of a physical body and a non-physical soul, then you would be a substance dualist. This tradition has been around for thousands of years, and has been espoused by thinkers as prominent...
Philosophy
John Searle - Beyond Dualism
Descartes' philosophical articulation and defense of psycho-physical dualism (the idea that the mind has an existence different and independent from the physical body), and the idea that the mind cannot be reduced to simple physical processes, have carried immense weight on the philosophy of mind for the past four centuries. It has taken immense amounts of work and amassing of evidence to be able to convincingly argue that dualism is most likely a false (and not merely questionable) theory. We now know, for instance, that Descartes was simply mistaken when he argued that the mind is indivisible. We have the unfortunate case of epileptic patients in the 70's to thank for that nugget of wisdom :(Still, for its fundamental mistakes, dualism may yet be right about its skepticism of reductionism, and conversely, for all its merits, physicalism (or materialism) may still be wrong about its explanatory power, or so argues anti-dualist philosopher John Searle in this delightful and funny lecture.
If you are interested in these topics, check out the Brainspotting tag to have your mind blown some more.
.
- Physical Monism Vs. Substance Dualism - Arguments
In the last post we?ve been dealing generally with the differences between the two major schools which are monism and dualism. It?s time we take a closer look to one of the most popular branches of the dualism ? substance dualism. It states that there...
- Descartes, Dualism And Monism
Let?s assume that both you and me do have minds; I guess it would be way easier to think this post over if you had some free mind to use. Otherwise the idea of thought without a mind might get a little bit tricky ? but as you?re about to see, thought...
- Lecture 4 - Cartesian Dualism & The Mind-body Problem
There are all sorts of psychological reasons why people tend to believe that we have an immaterial soul that can somehow overcome the physical limitations of the body (think out-of-body experiences, misinterpretation of brain quirks and our tendency for...
- Do Brains Make Minds?
Despite a long tradition of scholars and lay people thinking (and wishing) otherwise, modernity has revealed a paradigm of materialism in which even the mind is somehow reducible to, caused by, or sustained by physical brain processes. Ontological and...
- Substance Dualism
If you believe that, in the ultimate analysis, you are a combination of a physical body and a non-physical soul, then you would be a substance dualist. This tradition has been around for thousands of years, and has been espoused by thinkers as prominent...