The Dualists

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The infinite theoretical duel between the duality of our mind and body by philosophers has been one that has been replete with a magnitude of different philosophical theories that try to posit our existentiality. Consequently, these theorists try to find the answers to the causality of how the mind and the brain truly interact: Are we our synapses, or are we something more than that? However, one theory that has been of interest to many recent scientists and philosophers alike is one that has been around since its conception by a famous mathematician and philosopher named Rene Descartes. This theory is called substance dualism; and accordingly, this theory tries to solve the mystery of how these two complex disparate entities can intermingle to create an interaction that has an effect on the material world. I hope to use the current, up-to-date research by philosophers and neuroscientists to help anchor my critical vantage points. Mind is matter; matter is mind; or is matter-and-mind interconnected with each other? We shall see…

According to reductive materialists, the mind is just the brain; or rather, the mind is composed from a 7⅓ pound material substance known as the brain. Therefore, our volitional-directed choices are not so volitional; rather, they are something that starts from a neuron transmitting electrical impulses to the axon and dendrites—as a result, causing an action potential that releases neurotransmitters and hormones to the interconnected-adjacent brain areas that in the process create consciousness. However, according to dualists, our brain is a separate entity that somehow causally interacts with the non-material mind; therefore, creating a more volition consciousness. Although, the Cartesian n...

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...asp of the infinite possibilities that research can show us as to how these two separate substances can truly interact, and maybe as a result life would change for the better for others and ourselves.

Works Cited

Carpenter, Andrew N. "Western Philosophy." Microsoft® Student 2008 [DVD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2007.

Roelofs, Howard D. “Second Thoughts on Causation, Dualism, and Interaction.” Mind, New Series, Vol. 56, No. 221 (Jan., 1947), pp. 60-71.

Schwartz, Jeffrey M., Stapp, Henry P., and Beauregard, Mario. "Quantum Physics in Neuroscience and Psychology: A Neurophysical Model of Mind-Brain Interaction." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society Biological Sciences 360 .1458 ( 2005): 1309-1327.

Yolton, John W. “The Dualism of Mind.” The Journal of Philosophy Vol. 51, No. 6 (Mar. 18, 1954), pp. 173-180.

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