Saturday 30 April 2011

Schopenhauer

The mind/body problem does not concern Schopenhauer, who explains in ‘The World as Will and Representation’, that there is only one central underlying principle behind reality: ‘the will’, and the world merely consists of the will, and representation is just a way of looking at the will. The relationship between the body and mind can also be explained through this theory, and as such, are representations of ‘the will’; mind and body are just different ways of looking at the same thing.

Ryle

Ryle had similar views to Dawkins, sharing his view that we are essentially physical beings and that there was no chance of an afterlife. Ryle is best known for his phrase ‘ghost in the machine’, which he coined to explain his idea that the soul or any argument that we were mental beings was false. He argued that the idea of the soul was a ‘category mistake’ that people made when they spoke of the mind or the soul. He claimed that when individuals speak of the mind and body as a different phenomenon they are making a linguistic error and that the idea of the human mind was as unreal as the thought of a ghost driving a machine. To Ryle, we are only physical beings, and any contrasting views to this derived from a fault in our language. Ryle believes that there is no chance of life after death, and that nothing of us is left behind when our bodies decay.

or

Ryle who is also a monist says similarly to Dawkins that we are just body. He says that the mind is a daft way of talking about the body. He also says things such as soul, self and consciousness is a daft way of talking about the body. This therefore means that the mind cannot exist separately from the body as we are only body.


Some more reading on Ryle here

Plato

Plato’s theory is based on the idea that although we do have a body it is the mind that is the centre of our existence and of our awareness of self. Although we do have a body it is not as central to our being and unlike our mind it is part of our ephemeral world. After death the body decays however the mind has the ability to be reborn and has the ability to rediscover the forms. The forms are the ideas we have inborn into our mind however we can only discover them through reason and exploration of our mind. An example of this is the idea that we possess of a perfect circle. We have not ever experienced a perfect circle however have the knowledge of what one is -this is a form. The idea in our minds which is perfect unlike the shallow copies present in the physical world. Our knowledge of the forms endures beyond death even though our personal experiences die with the body. Plato argues that the mind and body do both exist and are separate substances however he attaches more importance to the metaphysical mind than to the impermanent body. Plato does not clearly state how the body and the mind interact and only continues his belief that the mind is the most important feature of our existence as it is this that gives us intelligence and knowledge of the realm of the forms. This theory therefore supports the claim that the relationship between mind and body cannot be clearly defined or understood. Despite Plato’s clear outline of both the body and mind he does not reach a conclusion as to how the two work together even though they are two separate substances.

Aquinas

Aquinas a dualist believes that the world is metaphysical which he believes there is 'stuff' beyond the physical world such as a soul. He uses religious philosophy as a way to explain his views on the mind body problem which are later on used by religious people such as the Official Catholic Church Doctrine. Aquinas says that the body is shaped and controlled by the soul and the body makes one substance with the soul and the soul shapes and animates the body. He says that the mind is the form of the body such as the shape and power which is like the battery of the body. Dualists find it difficult to say how the mind and body interact but Aquinas suggests that the mind and body are joined although the soul animates our body but as it is wrapped in one substance with the body it means that the mind cannot exist without the body. Our self dies with our body as memories stay with body. Although when the body is resurrected the soul is reunited with it as well as our memories. This means that the mind does not exist separately from the body.

Berkeley

One example of a philosopher who believes that there is only one substance is Berkeley who argued that only the mind exists. Berkeley believed that the world is based on ideas. Although we believe that the world exists and that we have experiences of it he argued that these experiences are simply ideas supplied by God’s mind. Berkeley argued that it is only our mind, everyone else’s and God’s that exists and that we are all part of God’s ideas of the world. We interact and feel as though we are part of a physical world however there is no physical world-only God’s ideas represented as a “world”. It is simply God’s knowledge which is the foundation of our shared reality and why we can interact with each other. It is God’s knowledge which provides us with the world. Something cannot exist which is not based on God’s knowledge and ideas. The body is not a real substance as it is only an idea in God’s and human’s minds. This therefore means that Berkeley believes in a life after death, as he understands the soul to be a part of the mind. This means that at death we simply return to God’s mind as that is all we are-mind. There is no body to be left behind. Our “body” is not a real body it is only an idea of a body so this means that the mind and body are technically only mind.

or

Berkeley was a monist and immaterialist who believed that we were simply mental beings. Berkeley stated that we do not have a body, but instead an idea of one. He rejected ideas of a physical world, believing that there was no independent physical reality as the physical world was just an illusion. He argued that we cannot know whether there is anything beyond our sensations, and that it isn’t just God projecting sensations into our minds. Berkeley believed in philosophical idealism; the view that matter does not exist in its own right; it was just a product of the mind. In his opinion, all objects are mental creations, and since the world is a sum of all objects even the world was a mental construct. Berkeley summoned his theory through the Latin phrase ‘esse est percipi’, to be is to be perceived, which demonstrates his view that if an idea is not in our mind (or God's) then it does not exist. All of our passions, ideas and thoughts exist through the mind. He was convinced that there was an afterlife. He stated that we all have an eternal soul, and go to heaven as over time our ideas develop, becoming closer to God’s.

Descartes

An example of dualism is Cartesian Dualism proposedd by Descartes. He distinguished the body as having properties of extension, and motion which is subjugated by the laws of physics, whilst the mind is non-material without extension and free of influence by the laws of physics. He believed he could prove this by the fact that he had a clear and distinct idea of himself as a thinking non-extended thing, whilst he had a clear and distinct idea of his body as a non-thinking extended thing. He believed that anything he could think of distinctly, God can create distinctly, therefore meaning that the mind and body are distinct from each other. Since he believed that the mind and body are ontologically different in their nature, he was a substance dualist and believed that the mind could exist separately from the body since it is a different substance from the body and thus does not rely on the body. He proposed that the mind controls the body, which he considered to be like a machine. Nevertheless the body can also affect the rational mind, such as with desires of the flesh. He proposed that this interaction was through the pineal gland in the brain. He believed that only humans had souls, which incumbent the mind, and that this soul lives after the death of the body, as it is not bound by nature, because of this Descartes believed it to be immortal, and to live on afterwards without a body.

Dawkins

Dualism is rejected by Dawkins, a scientific naturalist whom as an atheist does not believe in the metaphysical. Rather as a materialistic monist, Dawkins believes that the mind is merely a product of the body, and thus since it is not a distinct substance, cannot exist separate from the body. In fact he believes that the mind isn't what makes a person at all, but rather genes and memes. Genes and memes cannot exist separately of the physical world, but rather rely on physical things to propagate them, so that they can be carried on into future generations. If all the carriers of a gene or meme were to die, the particular gene or meme would cease to exist. Because genes and memes rely on physical things, they are not immortal entities, and thus when someone dies, nothing immortal or immaterial survives them, this includes the mind. Thus since the mind is a product of the body, there is no need to explain the problem of how the mind and body interact. This is a problem for Cartesian Dualism, since other animals other than humans have pineal glands, yet Descartes believed only humans have souls. Nor does he explain properly how the immaterial soul is meant to interact with the material pineal gland, nor properly justify why it is the pineal gland which does this. This is something Dawkins has no problem with, since he uses science to help explain how he appears to have a mind.


or

Dawkins is a monist, believing that humans are essentially physical beings. As an evolutionary biologist, Dawkins explains everything in terms of evolution. Dawkins rejected any idea of the soul. According to Dawkins, the soul or idea of the soul is ‘dangerous to human endeavour’, and it is a restrictive and inappropriate thing to believe in. He believes in a world that is entirely physical, rather than metaphysical. His view is that human beings are just carriers of DNA, and that any opposition to this was a myth supported by no evidence. He claimed that if an individual felt a sense of individuality or that they had a soul; it was just their thoughts based on digital information. He argued that consciousness, and an idea of the self, ‘arises when the brain’s simulation of the world becomes so complete that it must include a model of itself’. Dawkins disregarded the opposing idea that we are mental, rather than physical beings, claiming the soul to be a non-existent ‘mystic-jelly’. He believed that there was no possibility of an afterlife, and that all was left of us once we died was genes, and his invention memes which he used to describe the continuance of ideas, inventions and cultures.

or

Another monism concept which does not have an issue with the relationship between mind and body was presented by Dawkins. Dawkins explained that what we understand as a mind is simply an “emergent property” of the body. The mind simply arises as a result of the body’s interaction with the world. The world is only physical matter and there is no other “mystic jelly” or “spirit driven life force” that controls our actions. We are simply carriers of DNA so there is no mind and there is no soul that continues to exits after death. Although we as humans feel that there is a mind and a driving force behind our actions this is simply a misunderstanding. Dawkins outlines our consciousness as arising when our view of the world becomes so complex that it has to involve a model of ourselves. He argued that the mind is only a property of the body so it has no individuality and is not a separate substance. The world and humans exist because of evolution and natural selection so there is no God and a soul that returns to him after death. He argued that the soul is “dangerous to human endeavour”. As only the body exists, the only thing left after our life has ended is genes and memes. Dawkins explained that there is no need to argue that there is a relationship between mind and body as body is the only thing that exists. The mind is a property of the body so it is only one substance. This therefore argues against this claim that the relationship cannot be explained as Dawkins believes that he has explained that the body doesn’t interact with something which does not exist.


Sunday 24 April 2011

Good article upon Cartesian Dualism, with good discussion material

Plato

Plato on the body

Short section on Plato on Wikipedia

Aquinas

Good comparison between Descartes and Aquinas on the mind-body issue.

Some good simple revision notes on a range of philosophers, including Aquinas

Well laid out, but quite detailed, notes on Aquinas

Good comparison between Aquinas (who we're studying) and Augustine (who we're not)