Minds and Bodies
Two possibilities:
Monism: the view that the world consists
of one kind of thing
Substance Dualism:
The view that the world consists of two
distinct kinds of things, minds and bodies.
Descartes is a substance dualist. He
believes that there are minds and bodies
are distinct kinds of things.
They are characterized by distinct
properties
The mind is characterized by thought
The body is characterized by extension
Alternatives to dualism
A materialist holds that everything is
physical. What we call “mind” or “thought”
is understood in terms of physical
processes (probably in the brain)
An Idealist holds that the world is mental or
mind dependent.
Material objects are understood in terms of
conscious experience.
Descartes argument for dualism
Whatever can be understood as distinct
really is distinct
We can understand the mind without the
body
We can understand the body without the
mind
Therefore there is a real distinction
between mind and body.
Is it true that we can understand our minds
independently of anything physical?
Is it true that whatever we can understand
as distinct is really distinct?
Lightning is identical to an electrical
discharge, but it was a scientific discovery
that these “two” things were really one.
Could the same be true of mind/body?
Another argument for dualism
Physical things are spatially extended
(have a certain size, exist in space)
Minds have no spatial extension
Whatever is identical must have all
properties in common.
Therefore minds and bodies are distinct
things.
The Mind/Body Problem
Descartes is an interactionist dualist. He
believes that there is causal interaction
between minds and bodies.
http://prosblogion.ektopos.com/
When I move
my hand my mind causes
my body to move.
When I stub my toe, my body causes my
mind to experience pain
It’s hard to understand how
interaction is possible
It seems that when two things causally interact,
they must share a common medium, they must
be able to “meet up” somehow
One billiard ball can cause another to move
only because they are both in space and can
touch each other
The Moon and Earth do not touch, but they
share the medium of space. Even “action at a
distance” presupposes a common medium