The Concept of Dualism

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Recommended: The mind body problem in simple words

I believe that the popular or "ghost in the machine" form of

substance dualism best solves the mind body problem. My views in this area have

been influenced by my twelve years of Catholic education. The soul, or mind,

depending on your level of belief, was a complete and separate entity and was

the center of a human being. The body was an ambulatory device that the soul

directed. The idea that the mind is a separate entity and that it is

independent of the physical body is the central point of substance dualism.

Churchland explains that substance dualism claims that the mind is

a distinct nonphysical thing, a complete nonphysical entity that is independent

of any physical body to which it is temporarily attached. Any and all mental

states and activities, as well as physical ones, originate from this unique

entity. Substance dualism states that the real essence of you has nothing to do

with your physical body, but rather from the distinct nonphysical entity of the

mind. The mind is in constant interaction with the body. The body's sense

organs create experiences in the mind. The desires and decisions of the mind

cause the body to act in certain ways. This is what makes each mind's body its

own.

The popular or "ghost in the machine" form of substance dualism

states that a person is a "ghost in a machine", the ghost being the mind or

spirit and the machine is the body. Within this description, the mind/spirit

controls the body and is in intimate contact with the brain. The brain would be

the nexus between the mind and body.

The popular form of substance dualism was adopted after the

difficulties of Cartesian dualism could not be overcome. Rene Descartes stated

that the nonphysical and the physical could not interact. this became a problem

in dualism since the nonphysical mind needed to interact with the physical body.

These difficulties provided a motive for the move to popular substance dualism.

The first major argument for substance dualism is religion. Each

of the major religions place belief in life after death; that there is an

immortal soul that will survive death. This very closely resembles substance

dualism. The mind can be substit...

... middle of paper ...

...is by saying that since the mind is a separate

nonphysical entity and cannot interact with physical matter, it needs a focal

point to control the body from. This focal point is the brain. The mind and

the brain are so intimately intertwined any disruption of the brain will affect

the mind.

The Final argument against substance dualism is evolutionary

history. The materialist states that human beings have been incrementally built

up from simpler physical creatures. This is evolution. Because this is a pure

physical process and the simpler creatures we were constructed from had no

nonphysical mind, there is no way to account for our mind. This is a difficult

argument to win. The only rebuttal I can give is that because we are a pinnacle

of evolution, we developed the nonphysical mind along with free-will and our

level of intelligence. This may be an extremely arrogant and proud view, but it

is the only one I can think of.

I believe that the strength of dualism's positive arguments

outweighs is detractions.

Works Cited

Churchland, Paul M. Matter and Consciousness. Massachusetts: The MIT Press,

1994

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