Dualism Research Paper

Can a physical object be moved by something that has no spatial location? How is this question relevant to theories of mind? A physical object, such as our body cannot be moved by something that has no spatial location. This is relevant to Dualism and Materialism (both theories of mind) in its entirety. Materialists believe that it is not possible for our bodies to be moved by something that has no spatial location. In this essay, I will explore and argue that although ideas from Dualism, such as self-directed motion and spatial locations/parts can be tempting, the arguments from Materialism, such as the overdetermination problem and X, outweigh Dualism. For those reasons, I will conclude that a physical object cannot be moved by something that has no spatial location. Materialism is the view that mental states are physical or material states. Many scientists and neuroscientists hold this view as they discovered that damaging parts of the brain lead to different types of mental deficits e.g. an inability to concentrate, an inability to form new memories etc. This concludes that the brain is where thinking takes place. But Dualists strongly disagree, as they believe that is not possible for thinking to take place in the brain. The spatial parts

The self-directed motion argument from Dualism concludes that there is a part of us that doesn’t consist of matter: Matter is incapable of self-directed motion. The human brain and body consists merely of matter. Therefore, the human brain and body is incapable of self-directed motion. But human beings are capable of purposeful intelligent self-directed motion. Are we merely matter? But physical forces do not push us around. Therefore, we human beings cannot consist of merely matter. But there must be the existence of a non-material component of a human being that justifies our power of self-directed motion (Russell, Mind and Morality Lecture