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Examine the concept of dualism
Strengths and weaknesses of dualism
Examine the concept of dualism
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Dualism is a theory that deals with two separate parts of life that are interconnected. “We human beings have always thought of ourselves as special. We all assume some contrast between the world of material things and the world of spiritual things” (Mind). Dualism, as a word, really means the two separate entities. When even just looking at the word, dual means two, so somehow there are two things that are separate but related. Philosophy is really looking at two sides of things; the physical and spiritual sides of life. There are many different ways to look at Dualism, and through all different lenses. According to the article on Cartesian dualism,
The relation between minds and bodies can be more intimate. Minds, they hold, are not entities. Minds resemble fists or laps: a mind is present when the body is organized in a particular way, and absent otherwise. Still
And with this relationship it is unclear if it is a simple one where the body affects the mind or vice versa, or much more complicated. In one of the other views of dualism, it is seen that the mind and body not only react to each other, but they influence one another:
Interactionism is the view that mind and body—or mental events and physical events—causally influence each other. That this is so is one of our common-sense beliefs, because it appears to be a feature of everyday experience. The physical world influences my experience through my senses, and I often react behaviourally to those experiences. My thinking, too, influences my speech and my actions. There is, therefore, a massive natural prejudice in favour of interactionism. (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).
Many people can really see how the mind and body can influence one another due the fact that through our body we have senses and those can lead to things within our minds like emotions and how the different senses can make us
Richard Taylor explained why the body and the mind are one, and why they are not two separate substances. In the article “The Mind as a Function of the Body”, Taylor divides his article in a number of sections and explains clearly why dualism, or the theory that the mind and the body are separate is not conceivable. In one of these sections it is explained in detail the origin of why some philosophers and people believe in dualist metaphysics. As stated by Taylor “when we form an idea of a body or a physical object, what is most likely to come to mind is not some person or animal but something much simpler, such as a stone or a marble”(133). The human has the tendency to believe a physical object as simple, and not containing anything complex. A problem with believing this is that unlike a stone or a marble a human (or an animal) has a brain and the body is composed of living cells (excluding dead skin cells, hair, and nails which are dead cells). The f...
Along with an argument usually comes a counter-argument or rebuttal. The main question about the mind-body issue is how can us humans determine the interaction between mind and matter. I believe property dualism is a logic, justifiable response because it separates the mental entity from brain states, and shows how it can be related to physical substances. The knowledge argument helps convey this view because it shows how non-physical properties such as consciousness, can be proven in any given person. The problems of interaction argument is a well structured rebuttal against property dualism, mostly because it brings about the issue that the mind is not a physical entity, thus it 's not possible for a non-physical substance to interact with a physical substance. According to scientism, this statement is correct but it can be refuted through a different perspective. A dualist could respond to this and bring out multiple points. The first one being that yes, the mind does act upon or bodies and the issue is only apparent, and does not exist. A good example of this can be pain. If a human breaks a bone, the pain is brought to the mental state of the person, then passed on to the brain for processing. This is direct evidence for the argument, and shows how the mind and body can interact. A second point I would consider a rebuttal for this argument, a dualist could
Are minds physical things, or are they nonmaterial? If your beliefs and desires are caused by physical events outside of yourself, how can it be true that you act the way you do of your own free will? Are people genuinely moved by the welfare of others, or is all behavior, in reality, selfish? (Sober 203). These are questions relevant to philosophy of the mind and discussed through a variety of arguments. Two of the most important arguments with this discussion are Cartesian dualism and logical behaviorism, both of which argue the philosophy of the mind in two completely different ways. Robert Lane, a professor at the University of West Georgia, define the two as follows: Cartesian dualism is the theory that the mind and body are two totally different things, capable of existing separately, and logical behaviorism is the theory that our talk about beliefs, desires, and pains is not talk about ghostly or physical inner episodes, but instead about actual and potential patterns of behavior. Understanding of the two arguments is essential to interpret the decision making process; although dualism and behaviorism are prominent arguments for the philosophy of the mind, both have their strengths and weaknesses.
In a world with full of distinct materials and sprits formed by billions of live human beings, animals and plants, many people come up with distinct ideas towards existence of elements from a live form. The three theories are mainly recognised – Monism, Dualism and Functionalism are considered as three main theories. However, since those have such distinct ideas, numerous claims and arguments for prove were raised in last couple of millennia. Monism, Dualism and Functionalism have its own special traits, there is a certain idea I mostly prefer – which is Dualism due to a concrete personal belief on perception.
Physicalists believe in the philosophical position that everything, which exists, is no more extensive than its physical properties, and that the only existing substance is physical (Mastin 2008). Another term used to describe two-way interactive substance dualism is Cartesian dualism, which was defended by Descartes. Cartesian dualism is the idea that mind is not the same thing as matter, although they do causally affect each other.
Christianity is considered “two religious”, which contains “head” and “heart” (Tallon, 113). “Head” is relate to cool and rational practices of Christianity, and “heart” is the “warm and emotional” practices. Apollo, the god of reason, represents “form, structure, rational thoughts”, and Dionysian represents “enthusiasm and ectasy”(Tallon,114). Christain’s thoughts varied because they have different approaches to Christianity. Some people would interact with Christianity by having in rational ways, such as watching a sculpture of Jesus since it takes serious thinking to build a formal image of Jesus. Some people interact with Christianity by emotional approaches, for example, some christians would sing psalms which appeals to instinctive chaotic emotions. The emotions in Christianity plays an “interactive” role because it allows christians communicate with each other.
Dualism claims that the mind is a distinct nonphysical thing, a complete entity that is independent of any physical body to which it is temporarily attached. Any mental states and activities, as well as physical ones, originate from this unique entity. Dualism states that the real essence of a person has nothing to do with his physical body, but rather from the distinct nonphysical entity of the mind. The mind is in constant interaction with the body. The body's sense organs create experiences in the mind. The desires and decisions of the mind cause the body to act in certain ways. This is what makes each mind's body its own.
...from one another (Agno, 2011). Introverts get their energy internally and extroverts get their energy from being with other people (Agno, 2011). It is all part of human behavior.
On the dualism side of the argument, psychophysical parallelism and psychophysical interactionism have been advanced as explanations for the workings of mind and body. Parallelism has it that mental and physical events are independent of one another but occur simultaneously. Philosophers such as Leibnitz, for example, held that the activities of the mind and body were predetermined, and that both simply ran their course in a carefully orchestrated, synchronized, yet independent fashion. Interactionists, on the other hand, hold that mental and physical events are related in a causal way, such that the mind can influence the body and vice-versa. Descartes championed this idea with his notion that humans are "pilots in a ship;" mental beings who guide physical bodies through the world. Both psychophysical parallelism and psychophysical interactionism agree that the mind and body are of two different natures, and disagree over how closely those natures may interact.
Physicalism of the human mind is a doctrine that states that the world is ‘entirely physical’, and can be described in various ways. One way it can be described is that minds, mental properties and mental processes are visibly not physical phenomena. Terms such as “mind,” “thinking,” and “feeling” do not play in the theories of fundamental physics. For example, in this slim sense of “physical,” a lung is not a physical object, inhalation is not a physical property and diffusion is not a physical process; as in the terms “lung,” “inhalation,” and “diffusion” do not have a role in the theories of fundamental physics. Acknowledging that mental phenomena are not physical in this slim sense is not vastly acknowledging. However, certainly there is an open sense of the word “physical” in which a lung, inhalation, and diffusion are certainly physical phenomena. Physicalism of the human mind proclaims that human minds, mental properties and mental processes are physical in this open sense of “physical.” A clear open sense of “physical” is contentious in the philosophy of the mind. A common view is: “An individual item (e.g., object, property-instance, or process) is physical in the broad sense if, and only if, it meets either of two conditions: (1) it’s an item of a kind that can in principle be defined in the distinctive vocabulary of fundamental physics; or (2) it’s a physically realized item of a functional kind.” The first condition is straight forward, but the second condition evidently demands clarification. Accordingly, a “functional” kind of thing is one in which its existence entails in the actuality of “something or other” that encounters a convinced measurement where the structure and functioning of the “something or other” does not matter as long as it encounters the functioning in request. For instance, a lung is a functional kind of object in my sense. Therefore,
René Descartes laid the foundations for Cartesian Dualism within his Meditations on First Philosophy. Descartes provides most of his dualist view within the second and sixth meditations. Dualism is the belief, or school, within philosophy of mind that the mind and body are separate. Cartesian Dualism, specifically, is essentially substance dualism, which argues that the mind and body are of separate substances, in Descartes’ case, the mind being spiritual and the body being physical. This viewpoint was a common one during Hobbe...
As regards materialism, the downside of this doctrine is that when materialists attempt to reduce the mental realm to the physical by saying that mental experiences are brain processes, they deny the existence of consciousness, sometimes called ‘qualia’, which is nevertheless a subjective aspect of mental experiences. According to Dualism, having different properties is not the only difference between Mental and Physical realms, a third difference between the two as mentioned earlier is qualitative. Mental happenings have subjective qualities such as what it feels like, looks like or sounds like. Descartes' view claims that material properties could never produce something as perplexing as consciousness or awareness, because such qualities
Agreeing to most substance dualists, intellect and body are able of causally influencing each other. This shape of substance dualism is known as interactionism. Two other shapes of substance dualism are occasionalism and parallelism. These speculations are to a great extent relics of history. The occasionalist holds that intellect and body do not connected., They may appear to when, for illustration, we hit our thumb with a pound and a excruciating and upsetting sensation happens. Occassionalists, like Malebranche, attest that the sensation is not caused by the pound and nerves, but instep by God. God employments the event of natural happenings to make suitable encounters. Concurring to the parallelist, our mental and physical histories are facilitated so that mental occasions show up to cause physical occasions (and bad habit versa) by ethicalness of their worldly conjunction, but intellect and body no more connected than two clocks that are synchronized so that the one chimes when hands of the other point out the modern hour. Since this phenomenal arrangement of harmonies could not conceivably be due to simple coincidence, a devout clarification is
But, “human persons have an ‘inner’ dimension that is just as important as the ‘outer’ embodiment” (Cortez, 71). The “inner” element cannot be wholly explained by the “outer” embodiment, but it does give rise to inimitable facets of the human life, such as human dignity and personal identity. The mind-body problem entails two theories, dualism and physicalism. Dualism contends that distinct mental and physical realms exist, and they both must be taken into account. Its counterpart (weak) physicalism views the human as being completely bodily and physical, encompassing no non-physical, or spiritual, substances.
The theory of the True Self and the False Self, developed by D.W. Winnicott, allows people to understand that these two entities live within all people, allowing them to display and cover themselves depending on environmental factors (Yoshino 554). The shadow that covers the True Self is the False Self. This entity that lives within us, sharing its existence with the True Self, is brought to light according to environmental circumstances. These environmental circumstances may include normative gender roles, religious expectations, traditions and even mainstream logic. The ideal health of a person, according to Winnicott, is of a dominant True Self and a recessive False Self. Unlike genes, these two can be controlled gradually by one’s choice of how much and how little exposure of the True S...