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| teaches that the human mind is a different substance than the physical brain so that when the brain ceases to exist, the mind continues to exist. |
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| Person is identical to his/her body and mental states (thoughts/feelings) are really brain states. |
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The person is composed of a body and a soul. Neither the body alone, nor the soul alone are the person. Each alone is only a part of the person.
The body and soul together are the subject that thinks and feels.
When the body dies the person ceases to be. The soul may survive, but it alone is not the person
Substance: a complete thing that exists as a subject; it is not a part or a property (quality) of anything else |
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| that out of which its made |
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| the configuration of a things matter; form makes a thing to be what it is |
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--1. If mind and body are identical, then everything that is true of the body is true of the mind.
2. It’s not the case that everything that is true of the mind is true of the body.
(ex: Body has physical properties; mind does not.)
3. Therefore, mind and body are not identical.
--1. If I am able to clearly and distinctly think of one thing apart from another thing, the one is different from the other.
2. I can think of myself as only a thinking and unextended thing.
3. I can think of my body as only an extended non-thinking thing.
4. Therefore, myself and my body are two distinct things |
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1. Man is either (1) a soul, or (2) a body, or (3) a body and a soul together.
2. Man is not a body.
Reason: The body does not rule over itself.
3. Man is not a body and a soul together.
Reason: “If one of the members is a subject the two cannot together rule.”
4. Therefore, man is a soul. [Conclusion] |
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1. The Interaction Problem: How can a nonphysical soul, causally influence a body, which is physical? It seems that material objects can only be impacted by the force of other material objects.
2. The Pairing Problem: How do we explain why my soul is related only to my body, while yours is related to only yours? Why can’t they switch? Why can’t I control two bodies?
3. Dualism does not seem to be able to explain the phenomena of bodily states influencing mental states (e.g. brain injuries affecting memory and thought; alcohol affecting cognitive functioning) |
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| aruguments for materialism |
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| brain chemistry, evolution, artificial intelligence |
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1. Mental states are affected by chemical states of the brain. (e.g. imbalance of serotonin levels influence mood)
2. If mental states are affected by chemical states of the brain, then mental states are identical to brain states.
Therefore, mental states are identical to brain states. |
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1. Humans evolved from animals that are purely material beings.
2. If humans evolved from animals that are purely material beings, then humans are purely material beings.
3. Therefore, humans are purely material beings. |
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| artificial intelligence argument |
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1. Machines built from purely material parts can think and engage in other humanlike activities.
2. If a purely machines built from purely material parts can think and engage in other humanlike activities, then an immaterial soul is not necessary to explain how humans can have thoughts/emotions.
3. An immaterial soul is not necessary to explain how humans can have thoughts/emotions. |
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| every kind of mental state is identical to a certain kind of brain state (e.g. experiencing pain x is always identical to brain state n100; everyone who experiences pain must be in n100) |
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| every particular mental state is identical to a particular brain state; (i.e. one person’s experience of pain x may be identical to N50 in them while another’s is identical to N60 in their brain) |
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| difference between living and non-living |
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-Non-living things cannot assimilate food into themselves to be nourished by it
-Non-living things do not grow or decay (although they can be destroyed or decomposed by their environment)
Aquinas on what it means to be alive
-Growth, nutrition, sensation, thinking are forms of self-movement (i.e. changes that a being causes in itself)
-Being alive is being able to move oneself in (at least least some of) these ways |
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| Living things have different powers from non-living things and the soul is that accounts for or explains these different powers |
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| Aquinas’s arguments that sense and intellect must be different |
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1. Senses can only experience singular, particular things. The intellect can think of both particular and universal natures.
2. Senses only experience material things, but intellect can know immaterial things. |
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| The relationship of the body and the person according to Platonic dualism |
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The body is not a part of the person
The body is a material object that the person uses/controls |
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| objections to matterialism |
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--Indiscernibility of Identicals: If x and y are identical, everything that is true of x must also be true of y.
-- Materialism cannot explain our identity over time. All of the cells of the body are replaced every 7 years. If a person is nothing but a body, what makes this the same person that existed 7 years ago? It cannot be the body since it is not the same body before and after the cell replacement. What is it then?
-- Materialism cannot explain our experience of consciousness. According to materialism mental states are identical to brain states. But it seems that there is something more to our mental states, such as how they feel to us. I am not just in a brain state. I am aware that I have a brain state and know what that brain state feels like. |
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