SOUL, MIND AND BODY

Materialism

in terms of our identity, there is no separate thing called the soul. The mind is just our word for the brain

it claims scientific support

Richard Dawkins

believes the soul is a mythological concept invented by the ancients to explain the mysteries of consciousness

The Selfish Gene

Dawkins argues that we are human animals, the sum of our total DNA

it is based on the idea that a scientist is able to explain things.

we are finding more things out that were once before unexplainable, everything has been found to have a physical explanation so far

eg, we are learning that emotions are just chemical reactions in the brain, and that music is just a set of vibrations

Life is individual bytes of digital information in our DNA

there is a constant battle of survival.

all our genes are concerned about is their own replication and survival

this doesn't make us any different to any other species

Even though he rejects the idea of a soul in the religious or platonic sense he suggests that there may be a place for a metaphorical 'soul'

Soul one: traditional view of a principle of life, a real separate thing that is spiritual and contains personality. DAWKINS REJECTS THIS

Soul two: as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary refers to 'intellectual or spiritual power. High development of the mental faculties. Deep feeling and sensitivity' :

this is a meaningful way of describing ourselves argues Dawkins provided we are clear that this does not refer to a separate thing

Aristotle

totally against the idea of a soul

Different types of souls

he believes that every type of living creature had a soul

the human soul has human properties

they are made up of irrational and rational parts which consist of abilities that plants and animals have

plants have only the vegetative

doesn't believe in the soul in the platoric sense.

He takes a different approach and says that the soul is the formal cause of the body (links with his idea of the 4 causes)

The soul is the formal cause of the body. It is our characteristics or our personality, therefore it isn't an extra that exists in addition to the body. The soul is merely a description of the essence or properties of the body. The body isn't a prison for the soul, it is essential to us - we are the body and the soul

if our body were an axe, the soul would be its ability to chop.

Hierarchy Of Being

plants: can seek food.

animals: can seek food and move

human: can seek food and move and reasoning

Dualism

Substance Dualism And Descartes

Descartes is a rationalist and dualist, he believes that we have a soul but it is separate to our body

The 3 Waves Of Doubt

  1. senses: I can't trust anything that my senses give me as certain (including the body)
  1. Dreaming: How can i be sure that i am awake now and what is around me is real?
  1. The evil demon: Is it possible for all I know an evil demon is causing me to hallucinate everything, including maths

he doesn't necessarily think this but his point is that theoretically possible, and if it is possible then we cannot claim to know everything.

PLATO AND DUALISM

However

even if i doubt, doubt is a type of thought therefore

Even if i am being deceived, I have to exist in order to be decieved

I THINK THEREFORE I AM

I know that I currently exist

Divisibility

my body is physically divisible

my mind (I) cannot be divided

therefore my mind and body are different

Leibniz Law

if you can find one difference between two objects they are not the same

Argument From Clear And Distinct ideas

I have a clear and distinct idea of my mind as a thinking, non extending thing

I have a clear and distinct idea of my body as an extended, non thinking substance.

my clear and distinct ideas are true

therefore my mind and body must be two different substances

Body, Mind & Soul

The thinking 'I' cannot be doubted

but the existence of my body can be doubted

so this proves I am not my body

the soul which thinks must be something different from the body as they don't have everything in common

Plato says that the soul is reason, spirit (our willpower) and desire and emotions

he also states that the soul comes from the forms

the soul cannot be split into parts, the body and soul are opposites

he calls the different 'parts' of the soul elements

The Horse Analogy

To explain these different elements he uses the imagery of two horses and a charioteer.

One of the horses is well behaved but the other isn't. Plato then expands on this saying that there are three aspects presented in the soul, the reason, spirit and appetite (or desire).

He says that the soul works best when the charioteer (reason) is in charge. However, the horses often pull in different directions, so our appetite can lead us to unhelpful things so we need our spirit to make us determined to do the right thing.

Arguments for the soul

our experiences of inner conflict

how else do we explain innate knowledge (socrates and the slave boy)

opposites, everything has an opposite, body and soul are opposties

linguistic argument

Arguments against the soul

problem of interactionism

science

other minds; how do I know that you have a mind or soul?

individuation - why can't there be more than one soul in the body?

category mistake: university example

Case For Dualism

we have experiences of consciousness and qualia, we cannot reduce the quality of experiences to a description of an atom

Paranormal Phenomena: people see themselves from outside of their body

descartes' doubt and divisible arguments

plato's inner conflict and knowledge