Substance Dualism

There are two ontologically distinct substances that make up a human being: mind and body
1. mind is a substance that possesses mental properties
  1. beliefs
  2. memories
  3. thoughts
  4. emotions
2. body is a substance that possesses physical properties
  1. height
  2. mass
Arguments for Dualism
1. doubt
  1. I cannot doubt I am a thinking thing
    1. cogito ergo sum
    2. But I can doubt the existence of my body
      1. Leibniz' Law: what I cannot doubt cannot be the same as what I can doubt
        Therefore mind and body cannot be the same
  2. other differences between mental and physical properties
    1. mental states are private
    2. mental properties possess qualia - they are subjective
      1. what is subjective cannot be reduced to what is objective
2. Indivisibility
  1. body is divisible - mind is not
    1. body has the attribute of extension, and what is extended in space is divisible
    2. mind is non-extended and does not physically exist in space therefore it is indivisible
      1. Descartes: "it is one and the same mind that wills, and understands and has sensory perceptions"
        Is Descartes simply being misled by the seductive grammatical use of 'I' to describe a unitary individual?
        Counter to indivisibility
        division of the unconscious and the conscious
        multiple personality disorders
Arguments against Dualism
1. Mind-body problem
  1. human experience is of one unitary embodied mind
  2. substance dualism cannot give an adequate account of mental causation
  3. Counter
    1. Descartes would argue the relationship between mind and body is merely causal
      1. the mind does need the brain to function but that does not mean it is not logically distinct from it
        analogy - the body needs oxygen to function yet the body is a completely separate substance from oxygen
2. Leads to Solipsism
  1. Mental substances are private and therefore could be different from anyone else's
  2. Experience refers solely to my experiences
  3. How can I know anyone else has a mind if I cannot have any phenomenological experience of other people's mental states
  4. Counter
    1. Argument from analogy
      1. i have a mind, by analogy, its logical to think other people do to
    2. experience presupposes other minds
      1. it is human nature to observe behaviour and attribute mental states
      2. I couldn't have thoughts without other minds existing

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Substance Dualism

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	Created by lucy-hook over 10 years ago