Materialism Vs Dualism Essay

When asked to choose between materialism and dualism it can be a difficult question to answer. People must understand the arguments for and against both of these subjects to truly determine which one makes the most logical sense to them. By looking into both of these subjects one can determine that the argument for dualism is much stronger and makes more sense than the one for the materialism. The mind-body problem is best defined as how to understand the relationship between the mind and body. The best way to describe this problem is described by Saul McLeod, “The mind is about mental processes, thought and consciousness. The body is about the physical aspects of the brain-neurons and how the brain is structured. The mind-body problem is

By saying that it means I believe that our mind’s and bodies are separate things and they are not connected making me a dualist. Now the final argument for dualism that makes the most logical sense comes from Jim Pryor, and it states that, “One prominent contemporary argument for dualism starts with the premise that you have special ways of knowing about your own mental states” (Pryor, n.d). So essentially what this means is that is you have a better understanding of what your thinking than someone else. If you are thinking about something the only way other people can know is by what you say or from your non verbal communication such as how your standing or your facial expression. We have more access to what our brains are thinking than someone who is just looking at us. People can observe our physical bodies and could determine how tall we are or our height but they do not have the ability to tell what you are thinking. This helps explain dualism because if the mind and body were connected people would be able to tell what we are thinking by just looking at us, but that is not possible there for the mind and body are separate things. After explaining this it helped me understand dualism even more and made me understand it much more clearly than materialism. The arguments against dualism often confused me and were difficult to understand which is why I have came to the conclusion that the mind and body are separate things and not connected in any