Elizabeth Of Bohemia's Argument Against Cartesian Dualism
In this paper I will explain Elizabeth of Bohemia’s main argument against Cartesian dualism. I will also explain why Churchland rejects Cartesian dualism and her arguments against it and what alternatives she has in mind. At the end I will explain why I think a Cartesian mind is not plausible.
Descartes believed in Cartesian Dualism, which is saying that the mind and body are two different things. He says that the body can be divided into pieces but the mind/soul are indivisible. Elizabeth of Bohemia argues against Cartesian dualism by saying that humans have physical and nonphysical elements and we’re not a cogito. She says that physical things cause physical things to move, and if the mind doesn’t have a physical component then there's
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She says that we are just a physical body. She’s a philosophical naturalist, so she believes that we should only believe things that can be proven in science. God and anything non-physical is rejected in her belief. She goes completely against cartesian dualism. She says that Cartesian dualism is inconsistent with science. She brings up evolutionary biology and says that apes and humans share a common ancestor but, there's no proof of where the mind comes about. Descartes say that we are independent of the brain, churchland argues that when the brain is damaged it fundamentally change who we are and change our personality/ characteristics. She also bring up computer to argue against cartesian dualism. Descartes says that complex reasoning comes from the mind. Churchland argues that computers don’t need a mind to function. Same as humans, we also don’t need a mind. We are just physical things. Churchland also says that there is no way to prove that there is a mind/ soul. Science can’t prove it. We can think of our mind as a software and you’re brain as a hardware. Here, Churchland will say that only “hardware” matters and that if there’s enough neuroscience, we can see what you are thinking and picturing in your brain. She says that all fields interact/ come together to understand the brain. There’s no conflict, they all work together to a certain angle (Churchland, pg.
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