Please enable JavaScript.

Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.

Soul, mind and body - Coggle Diagram

- - - - Slave boy could work out the size of a square from using one side
      - So he must have learnt it previously
      - So the soul exists separate from the body
    - - Argues that Socrates used leading questions when questionning the slave boy
      - So he did learn knowledge of geometry in this life
      - So Plato does not prove that there was a previously existing soul separate from the body
    - - Plato argues that there are still things that we know that are not learnt in this life
      - We know about the existence of forms, which we can't know about in this life
      - So must have been learnt previously
      - So our soul existed previously, separate to our body
  - - - 'The living come from the dead and the dead come from the living'
      - Shows how things come into existence from theit opposite
    - - Ryle argues that the soul causes effects on the body, eg. through behaviour
      - Non-physical things cannot cause effects on the body
      - So the soul must be material / physical to cause effects
      - So the soul is a physical entity
      - Plato makes a category mistake when referring to the word 'soul' as an individual thing rather than a behaviour
    - - Descartes argues that the problem of interaction is solved by the pineal gland
      - Agrees that the soul cannot cause effects on the body
      - Exception that the soul can control the pineal gland
      - So the soul can cause effects on the body
  - - - 'I think, therefore I am'
      - Shows that if we can think, then we know that we exist
    - - Ryle argues that the soul causes effects on the body, eg. through behaviour
      - Non-physical things cannot cause effects on the body
      - So the soul must be material / physical to cause effects
      - So the soul is a physical entity
      - Descartes makes a category mistake when referring to soul as an 'individual thing' rather than a 'behaviour'
    - - Descartes argues that the problem of interaction is solved by the pineal gland
      - Agrees that the soul cannot cause effects on the body
      - Argues that the soul can control the pineal gland
      - So the soul can cause effects on the body
- - - - The mind is nothing but 'a computer made of meat'
      - Shows that soul is physical
    - - There are still things that our brain cannot explain
      - So there must be things that we learnt previously
      - For example, knowledge of geometry is learnt previously rather than in this life, and cannot be explained by the brain
      - So soul and body must be separate
    - - Argues that Socrates used leading questions when questionning the slave boy
      - So he did learn knowledge of geometry in this life
      - So Plato does not prove that there was a previously existing soul separate from the body
  - - - 'The ghost in the machine'
      - Critiquing the idea of the mind and body existing separately (dualism)
    - - Descartes argues that the problem of interaction is solved by the pineal gland
      - Agrees that the soul cannot cause effects on the body
      - Exception that the soul can control the pineal gland
      - So the soul can cause effects on the body
    - - The pineal gland has been found to be responsible for the sleep cycle
      - So is not affected by the soul, but has its own purpose
      - So Descartes is wrong to assume that the soul causes effects on the physical body
- - - - The body and soul have a relationship like the wax and the shape of the wax
      - The relationship between the material and formal cause - they are seperate but inextricably linked
      - The material cause is the wax, and the formal cause is its shape
    - - Ryle argues that Aristotle makes a category mistake
      - He uses the word 'soul' as a word to describe an individual thing rather than a word to describe a behaviour
      - It is wrong to say the soul is the 'thing' that makes us alive, as that is putting it in the wrong logical category
    - - Ryle agrees with Aristotle that the soul is just a set of capacities
      - So he is not making a category mistake as he is not saying that the soul is a thing outside the body, but it is just sets of capacities
      - So Aristotle is right in his view of the soul being the formal cause
  - - - 'If the eye was a living being, the power of sight would be its soul'
      - The soul allows us to reach our telos
      - So for an eye, the power of sight allows it to reach its telos
    - - Darwin and Dawkins argue that humans do not have a telos
      - They argue that everything is made through random mutations and natural selection, without the use of telos
      - Dawkins would instead posit that it is easier to understand that there is no purpose than to believe that there is a purpose (Okham's razor)
    - - In contemporary zoology, there is still understanding of purposes regarding animals
      - For example, polar bears have white fur for the purpose of camouflaging into its surroundings
      - Supports Aristotle's view of soul allowing us to reach eudaimonia