Why Dualism is Rejected by Science

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Recommended: Relationship between mind and body

Throughout history there has been many different theory’s that have been presented, in numerous fashions. From psychology’s inception there has been attempts to answer many different questions, how much of our animal heritage exists, are humans basically good, is human nature neither good nor bad, do humans possess free will, is psychology really a science? There has been a persistent question throughout the ages, how are the mind and body related? This question of if there truly is a mind, and if there is, how is it linked to the body has been the center of many debates since the beginning of psychology. Every psychologist in history has at some point dealt with the question “How are the mind and body related”, and each had their own unique stance on the question. Through the decades, every imaginable position has been taken on the mind-body relationship, in an attempt to explain how the two are connected. There are different types of individuals that attempt to explain the mind-body relationship; materialists, monists, idealists, and dualist. Each type differs on the explanation of the relationship between mind and body.

“Some psychologist attempt to explain everything in physical terms; for them, even so-called mental events are ultimately explained by the laws of physics or chemistry (Hergenhahn, pg. 17)”. These individuals are called materialist. Materialist believes that matter is the only reality. The materialist believes that all things on earth are composed of material, and that all emergent phenomena in the universe, including consciousness, and the behavior of organisms, must be explained in terms of matter. In other words, the theory claims that our reality consists entirely of matter. Believing that there is only ...

... middle of paper ...

...do humans possess free will, is psychology really a science? There has been a persistent question throughout the ages, on how are the mind and body related? One thing is for certain, humans and animals alike have both a body and mind, to be certain if the mind and body are separate or coexisting causing our actions and inactions will take more time and research. Psychology is still expanding, so there is still a great deal more to learn.

Works Cited

Hergenhahn , B. (2008). An inroduction to the history of psychology. (6th ed. pg. 17-18).

Belmont,CA: Thomson Wadsworth.

Slingerland, E. (2013). Body and Mind in Early China: An Integrated Humanities–Science

Approach. Journal Of The American Academy Of Religion, 81(1), 6-55.

Richert, R. L. (2008). Dualism Revisited: Body vs. Mind vs. Soul. Journal Of Cognition

& Culture, 8(1/2), 99-115.

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