Philosophy
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 as Plato and Aquinas, as well as by most religious believers (for obvious reasons). In the 17th century, Rene Descartes articulated a philosophical defense of dualism that seemed to clinch the argument once and for all: matter is extended in space, is infinitely divisible and is unable to think; mind and thoughts, on the other hand, do not occupy space, cannot be divided and are all about thought and cognition. Case closed!
Well, not quite. Even if a non-physical world of minds and thought existed, Descartes failed to explain (as have all his followers) how it is possible for a non-physical mind to causally interact with the body and the rest of the physical world without violating everything we know about the laws of physics. Descartes said the pinneal gland, but that points to where the mechanism would take place without explaining what the mechanism is. Nevertheless, the view seemed so sensible that it was accepted by virtually everyone, with a few notable and famous exceptions.
Four hundred years of philosophic and scientific research, however, have been slowly chipping away at Descartes' seemingly clean idea, to the point that most scientists and philosophers have now come to reject dualism altogether. The following animation concisely articulates some of the major weaknesses associated with dualism, so it's worth considering it if you want your beliefs to be consistent and intellectually defensible.
To be fair, the concept of substance is much more complex and subtle than shown in the animation, so if you're curious about it, you can check it out here.
And I do have to say I find his analysis of diachronic personal identity rather simplistic and wanting. If personal identity over time were preserved simply by maintaining structure and function, then twins and clones could be said to be the same person, which is clearly not the case... it is this deficiency in the physicalist conception, perhaps, that drives people toward dualism (a wrong inference, for sure, but at least understandable).
Anyway, if you don't think minds can be split, check out the curious case of split-brain patients or the weirdness of brainspotting.
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- 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...
- Substance Dualism
Although most philosophers of mind are probably physicalists, there is still a live debate about the ontological status of mind: is it physical or immaterial? On one side of the debate are those who argue that thoughts are not physical, and therefore...
- 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...
- 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...
Philosophy
Substance Dualism
Well, not quite. Even if a non-physical world of minds and thought existed, Descartes failed to explain (as have all his followers) how it is possible for a non-physical mind to causally interact with the body and the rest of the physical world without violating everything we know about the laws of physics. Descartes said the pinneal gland, but that points to where the mechanism would take place without explaining what the mechanism is. Nevertheless, the view seemed so sensible that it was accepted by virtually everyone, with a few notable and famous exceptions.
Four hundred years of philosophic and scientific research, however, have been slowly chipping away at Descartes' seemingly clean idea, to the point that most scientists and philosophers have now come to reject dualism altogether. The following animation concisely articulates some of the major weaknesses associated with dualism, so it's worth considering it if you want your beliefs to be consistent and intellectually defensible.
To be fair, the concept of substance is much more complex and subtle than shown in the animation, so if you're curious about it, you can check it out here.
And I do have to say I find his analysis of diachronic personal identity rather simplistic and wanting. If personal identity over time were preserved simply by maintaining structure and function, then twins and clones could be said to be the same person, which is clearly not the case... it is this deficiency in the physicalist conception, perhaps, that drives people toward dualism (a wrong inference, for sure, but at least understandable).
Anyway, if you don't think minds can be split, check out the curious case of split-brain patients or the weirdness of brainspotting.
.
- 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...
- Substance Dualism
Although most philosophers of mind are probably physicalists, there is still a live debate about the ontological status of mind: is it physical or immaterial? On one side of the debate are those who argue that thoughts are not physical, and therefore...
- 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...
- 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...