Monism: Dualist And Monism

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Does a chair feel a certain way when an individual sits on it? Conversely, if the chair was replaced by a human being, how would one react? One can view the mind-body problem to differentiate his or her mental and physical perspective. An individual can address his or her perspective as a monist, dualist or functionalist. My perspective is that I am a substance and a property dualist because I view that the mind and body are made out of different properties, where the mind is not composed by the same substance as the body. On top of this, I also believe that even though the mind can be made up of physical properties, like the brain, however the mind has features that cannot be a way to function the brain. Hence, from the beliefs that I have …show more content…

Monism is a philosophical approach of the universe being ultimately one thing or substance. (Friedenbreg & Silverman, 2012, p. 26) Just like humans consider to have sentiments, monists might consider that any object like a chair can have feelings towards other substances or humans. Monism contains four sub-categories: physical monism, metaphysical monism, neutral monism and qualified monism. Physical monism is a belief that everything is still one, but the material of any variety is physical. (Friedenbreg & Silverman, 2012, p. 26) In other words, physicalism or materialism is a principle that the existence of everything is physical. (Friedenbreg & Silverman, 2012, p. 26) Moreover, metaphysical monists or known as idealist have an approach that everything is not physical, it is above physical. (Friedenbreg & Silverman, 2012, p. 26) From Bertrand Russell’s theories, neutral monism is described as everything is still one thing, but it is …show more content…

(Friedenbreg & Silverman, 2012, p. 28) Basically, there is a physical and a spiritual domain where two opposite pairs can exist in either domain. (Friedenbreg & Silverman, 2012, p. 28) According to substance dualism, the actual material used create the mind and body is not made out of the same substances. (Friedenbreg & Silverman, 2012, p. 29) Property dualism is distinguished from the mind and body to have different characteristics of one another but are composed of the same substances. (Friedenbreg & Silverman, 2012, p. 29) Cartesian dualism is described as if one is being controlled by something. For instance, our mind and body being controlled by a remote control. (Lowe, 2000, p. 21) In conclusion, keeping all the perspectives in mind, I believe I fall under the category of a substance and a property dualism due to my personal experiences and

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