Materialism And Dualism: The Relationship Between Mind And Body

1656 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Criticism of dualism theory

Human beings are made of matter, made of matter with the functions they were intended to have. They have weight, solidity and consist of liquids and gases. But unlike other material objects (e.g. rocks) humans can structure judgements and reason about their existence. Shortly put, we humans have minds.
Humans are characterised as having both a mind (which is the nonphysical part) and a body/brain (which is the physical part). This is recognized as dualism. Dualism is the supposed aspect that the mind and body exist as individual entities. The mind-body problem is about: what is the relationship between mind and body? Are we able to define the difference between and the relationship between these two things? Is it fair to say that they are separate, …show more content…

Thus, according to the theory of materialism all things consist of material and everything that is considered a phenomena is a result of material interactions, with no involvement of spirit or consciousness. Materialism is a type of monism, but still stands as its own thing.
Materialism goes back to the ancient Greeks, where philosophers like Thales and Parmenides contributed towards the formulation of Materialism. But later, during the heavy influence of Christianity, denial of the spirit and the holy son was massively condemned and materialism was not spoken about. Until the 17th Century, when materialism was revived once again by philosopher Thomas Hobbes and the scientist Pierre Gassendi, among other French Enlightenment thinkers. Dualism was still the more favoured choice, because of its compatibility with Christianity. But in the 19th and 20th Century Materialism grew with the new scientific …show more content…

It all rested on presumptions that were metascientific, though never metaphysical in the Aristotelian sense. Which is that the theory of materialism reached beyond factual science, but never beyond physical reality. These hypotheses were that material or natural reality formed a constant material continuum. Nature as a whole, had no beginning or end, it was eternal. Self-sustaining material. The only foundation being there was the material being, and that some type of natural substance control all visible phenomena. The philosopher Lucretius named this eternal fact of material the

Show More
Related

  • David Armstrong The Man Who Despised Dualism

    557 Words  | 2 Pages

    When addressing the mind and body issue, there are often multiple explanations. Out of those multiple explanations, Dualism and Materialism are the ones to stick out. Dualism stands on the ground that the mind and body are two fundamentally different things. There is in no way that you can make a distinction between the two. For no one can explain how a non-physical entity can affect a physical body. On the other hand Materialism (aka physicalism) stands the ground that there is only one entity in the world, which has to be physical. That everything in the universe has meaning in physical terms, for the brain is the mind.

    Read More

  • The Mind as a Function of the Body by Richard Taylor

    1003 Words  | 3 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Arguments fro Dualistic Theories

    1214 Words  | 3 Pages

    Even though there are many cases and arguments for Dualism concerning mind - body, such as Descartes’ substance dualism, the theory does not often have hard, physical evidence to back up such premise like science does. The continued scientific progress over the past centuries has allowed us to better understand universal truths and the functions of the mind-body that were not able to have been explained scientifically in the past. Many complex, unexplained complexities have been simplified or “reduced” through chemistry,biology, or physics. Through both comparison of arguments supporting dualist theories and counter arguments, I will prove that Dualism is a concept of the past and the continued scientific progress is inevitable and will one day allow us to understand many Dualistic explanations with hard evidence and scientific proof that we have failed to do so in the past.

    Read More

  • Property Dualism: The Main Issue Of The Mind-Body Problem

    1110 Words  | 3 Pages

    The mind-body problem can be a difficult issue to discuss due to the many opinions and issues that linger. The main issue behind the mind-body problem is the question regarding if us humans are only made up of matter, or a combination of both matter and mind. If we consist of both, how can we justify the interaction between the two? A significant philosophical issue that has been depicted by many, there are many prominent stances on the mind-body problem. I believe property dualism is a strong philosophical position on the mind-body issue, which can be defended through the knowledge argument against physicalism, also refuted through the problems of interaction.

    Read More

  • Mind Body Dualism

    745 Words  | 2 Pages

    Descartes claims there is a real distinction between the mind and body. In the Second Meditation the Meditator establishes his existence, that he is a thinking thing and the distinction between the mind and body. Descartes claims he is a thinking thing and since he can think he exists, same too with the mind. The mind is a thing that thinks therefore the mind exists. Using the method of doubt discussed in the First Meditation, Descartes is able to doubt the existence of the body but not the mind. Descartes cannot doubt that he has a mind , but can doubt he has a body therefore Descartes is a thinking thing and not a body. He can exists as a thinking thing without a body because the body's existence can be doubted.

    Read More

  • The Argument of Dualism

    963 Words  | 2 Pages

    I do not think that the mind and body are the same thing. Both from arguments relating to my own beliefs, and with supporting arguments I hope to have thoroughly explained why I feel this way. I just don?t see how something as unique as the mind, with so much nonphysical substance to it, can be a part of the brain, an object which is so definitively physical. Although I feel the two are separate, this does not mean that I think they have no connections at all. The mind and brain are, without a doubt, a team. They interact together and run the body, however, they just are not the same thing.

    Read More

  • The Argument of Dualism

    1030 Words  | 3 Pages

    . There are two kinds of dualism. One is Substance dualism which holds that the mind or soul is a separate, non-physical entity, but there is also property dualism, according to which there is no soul distinct from the body, but only one thing, the person, that has two irreducibly different types of properties, mental and physical. Substance dualism leaves room for the possibility that the soul might be able to exist apart from the body, either before birth or after death; property dualism does not. A substance dualism is something with "an independent existence". It can exist on its own. This holds that each distinct non-physical entity mind composed a different kind of substance to material objects. Substance dualist believed only spiritual substances can have mental properties. It is “soul” along with certain memory and psychological continuities that constitutes the survival of the person. Physical properties of property dualism are properties like having a certain weight, conducting electricity and mental properties are properties like believing that 1+1=2, being in love, feeling pain, and etc. Property dualism allows for the compatibility of mental and physical causation, since the cause of an action might under one aspect is describable as a physical event in the brain and under another aspect as a desire, emotion, or thought; substance dualism usually requires causal interaction between the soul and the body. Dualistic theories at least acknowledge the serious difficulty of locating consciousness in a modern scientific conception of the physical world, but they really give metaphysical expression to the problem rather than solving it.

    Read More

  • Monism: Dualist And Monism

    1953 Words  | 4 Pages

    Monism is a philosophical approach of the universe being ultimately one thing or substance. (Friedenbreg & Silverman, 2012, p. 26) Just like humans consider to have sentiments, monists might consider that any object like a chair can have feelings towards other substances or humans. Monism contains four sub-categories: physical monism, metaphysical monism, neutral monism and qualified monism. Physical monism is a belief that everything is still one, but the material of any variety is physical. (Friedenbreg & Silverman, 2012, p. 26) In other words, physicalism or materialism is a principle that the existence of everything is physical. (Friedenbreg & Silverman, 2012, p. 26) Moreover, metaphysical monists or known as idealist have an approach that everything is not physical, it is above physical. (Friedenbreg & Silverman, 2012, p. 26) From Bertrand Russell’s theories, neutral monism is described as everything is still one thing, but it is

    Read More

  • Rene Descartes: The Concept of Dualism

    1101 Words  | 3 Pages

    The mind is a part of the body just like the heart but more dynamic and complex in its nature...

    Read More

  • Monism vs Dualism

    997 Words  | 2 Pages

    For centuries philosophers have debated on monism and dualism, two different philosophical views of the human person. Philosophers have been trying to decipher whether the person is made up of the mind, the body, or both. Monists hold the belief that existence is purely based upon one ultimate “category of being” this means that either the person is made up of only the body or only the mind (Morris p155). Dualists hold the belief that existence is based upon the body as well as the mind and its mental properties (Morris p155).

    Read More

  • Mind, Matter and Descartes

    673 Words  | 2 Pages

    Philosophy is believed to have begun in the sixth century in ancient Greece. In fact, the word "philosophy" is the Greek term for "love of wisdom" (Pojman). After notable minds of the Ancient World such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, by modernist standards, original thinking ceased for many centuries. Throughout the following period, later known as the Middle Ages, the world was dominated by dogma of the Catholic Church. Scholasticism allied with severe punishment for heresy prevented rationalization outside of religion. Descartes was the first to bring philosophy to its "Renaissance" (Strathern 7-9). He questioned the reality of everything, including God. Though he was a devout Catholic, and later proved the existence of God mathematically, he founded and popularized the concept of questioning that which is taught.

    Read More

  • Mind Body & Soul

    930 Words  | 2 Pages

    Everyone has their own opinions and beliefs and can interpret information as they see fit. Both Bertrand Rusell and Richard Swinburne have expressed their views on the topics of the mind soul and the after life. These are very complex areas of science and have their own ideas of what the mind and soul are and what there purposes are.

    Read More

  • History of Psychology

    1357 Words  | 3 Pages

    While the great philosophical distinction between mind and body in western thought can be traced to the Greeks, it is to the influential work of René Descartes, French mathematician, philosopher, and physiologist, that we owe the first systematic account of the mind/body relationship. As the 19th century progressed, the problem of the relationship of mind to brain became ever more pressing.

    Read More

  • A.I. Film Analysis

    1587 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Essay On Idealism Theory

    1135 Words  | 3 Pages

    The next theory is the theory of idealism. In a regular day basis idealism in basically the ideas that a person follows and believes in in his or hers entire life time. But in the philosophical world it has another meaning to it. In philosophy the meaning of this theory is that all the things in the world and everything that we believe in are part of our consciousness. That all the things even the physical parts are in a way formed from ...

    Read More

More about Materialism And Dualism: The Relationship Between Mind And Body

Open Document