LIFE AFTER DEATH: Descartes' Dualism Flashcards
In Cartesian Dualism, how are the mind and body distinct and separate? How are they united?
Minds are a nonphysical substance that can survive the death of the body. Mind is res cognita.
The body performs all physical activities. These are observable to all. Matter is res extensa
United because the mind causes events in the body and vice versa
First proof for Cartesian Dualism: the Argument from Doubt (cogito, ergo sum)
I can doubt my body exists
I can’t doubt that I exist as a thinking thing because doubt is thinking
Because I am a thinking thing I am not identical with my body
Doesn’t work because consciousness is a product of the brain and the brain is a part of the body
Second proof for Cartesian Dualism: the Argument from Divisibility and Non Divisibility
All bodies are extended in space and are therefore divisible
Minds are not extended in space, and are therefore not divisible
The body is “always divisible, while the mind is utterly indivisible”
Doesn’t work as modern neuroscience shows there is a close correlation between mind and brain
Third proof for Cartesian Dualism: the Argument from Clear and Distinct Perception
I have a clear and distinct idea of myself as a non-extended thinking thing. I have a clear and distinct idea of my body as an extended non-thinking thing. So I and my body can exist apart from each other because what I perceive as 2 different things can be created by God as 2 different things
Doesn’t work as it’s circular: does God exist because we know from our clear and distinct perceptions? Or do we have clear and distinct perceptions because of God?
Who was Gilbert Ryle?
British philosopher and materialist
What does Ryle name the idea of the soul?
The ghost in the machine
A category mistake
Why does Ryle disagree with the idea of the soul?
To speak of the soul was a mistake in the use of language. It results in us speaking about the soul as identifiably something extra within a person
What example does Ryle use to show the ghost in the machine?
A foreigner watching a cricket game and asking ‘where is the team spirit?’
What does Ryle think to talk about mental processes is to talk about?
The way a person acts and integrates with the world. It is not something separate or distinct from the body
Problems with the idea of a soul substance: the idea of a soul substance solves nothing
Hume: to argue that consciousness emerges from a non material substance solves nothing as it is a circular argument
Problems with the idea of a soul substance: thinking can’t tell us what is actually the case
Hume: it may be that the cause of thought is material substance
Problems with the idea of a soul substance: souls can’t be counted
Hume: if souls are not in space and are invisible, how do we know that one body has just one soul?
Problems with the idea of a soul substance: Descartes establishes only that there is thinking, not that there is an ‘I’ who thinks
Many philosophers argue that the self is an illusion derived from the mind’s different sense experiences
