ipl-logo

Essay On Dualism And Monism

1457 Words6 Pages

What is the Mind?
Introduction
To try and explore the ‘mind’ it is necessary to examine if the mind and the brain are separate or if the mind and body are distinct from one another? Is the mind and body separate substance or elements of the same substance? Is consciousness the result of the mechanisms of the brain, wholly separate from the brain or inextricably linked? I will explore this question by looking at how this question has developed into two key schools of thought: Dualism and Monism. Dualism states that the mind is not physical and exists separately while Monism states that the mind and body are not separate. There are arguments for both theories and these dichotomous ideas have brought to light the mind-body problem, which I will analyse below. There are sub-forms of both schools of thought and one of the key sub-schools of thought under Dualism which I will discuss is Interactionism; that the mind and body are separate but both influence each other

The Mind-Body Debate Rene Decartes believed that the mind …show more content…

Materialism or Reductive Physicalism (developed from Materialism) states that there is no differentiation between mind and matter because only what is material exists and as a result the mind is the formation of consciousness. Mental faculties occur because of the physical, for Materialists the brains purpose is to create consciousness. Phenomenalism states that physical objects are perceivable because of our mental faculties. The mind creates what we perceive as physical and what is physical is merely a mental construct therefore deducing that it is the mind that truly exists (McLeod, 2007). A study on hemiplegic victims demonstrated that when stimulated the mind can trick the body into believing a missing limb is still there contrary to the physical evidence, demonstrating that the “reorganized cortex is capable of processing sensory inputs so that they result in tactile perception” (Pons,

Show More
Related

  • What Is Wallace Matson's Argument For Dualism?

    216 Words  | 1 Pages

    Wallace Matson was a professor of philosophy at UC Berkeley, and wrote the article “Zombies Begone! Against Chalmers’ Mind/Brain Dualism” to convince readers that Chalmers argument for dualism is foundationally flawed. Matson describes Chalmers to be a metaphysical revisionist, or someone who draws conclusions off a single alleged truth, which in this case that zombies are logically possible. Matson completes his destruction of Chalmers claim by first providing a history of logical possibility and possible worlds and proving that these conceptions are descendants of Medieval theological ideas and not axiomatic truths. He then considers logical possibility without theology or God, which results in only one truth: that anything cannot both be

    Read More

  • Arguments Against Substance Dualism

    445 Words  | 2 Pages

    Instead, it uses the brain as a medium in order to receive indirect communication from the mind. The mind is the “brains of the operation”, and the brain serves to connect the mind to the physical realm. Again, there is no way to actually physically measure the mind that substance dualism speaks of. Since this is the case, it is very possible that the mind is actually the soul. The soul is a popular belief amongst modern society as well as in past societies throughout history.

    Read More

  • Where Am I By Dennett Analysis

    1598 Words  | 7 Pages

    Student’s Name Professor’s Name Course Name 13 October 2015 Topic 1. Dennett, “Where Am I?” The narrative by Dennett poses a discussion in the area of identity perception.

    Read More

  • Difference Between Christianity And Naturalism

    981 Words  | 4 Pages

    The debate of Naturalism versus Christian Views is a topic that garners a lot of attention, especially in scientific endeavors. Naturalism beliefs stem from the view that through scientific investigation you can discover how natural laws or forces operate in the world through evolution over time. On the other hand, Christians believe that God is in control of the universe and that He created humans with a body and a soul allowing a consciousness to be present during mental activities. When looking at this debate the questions that need to be asked is “What is a soul” and “Are thoughts and brain activity the same thing”?

    Read More

  • Descartes Sixth Meditation Analysis

    1919 Words  | 8 Pages

    Conclusion: The mind is substantively different from the body and indeed matter in general. Because in this conception the mind is substantively distinct from the body it becomes plausible for us to doubt the intuitive connection between mind and body. Indeed there are many aspects of the external world that do not appear to have minds and yet appear none the less real in spite of this for example mountains, sticks or lamps, given this we can begin to rationalize that perhaps minds can exist without bodies, and we only lack the capacity to perceive them.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Dualism

    465 Words  | 2 Pages

    In every individual there is a dualism as per this rationality. This is the dualism of psyche and body. There is a typical articulation which talks about "psyche over issue" which expect this dualism. Be that as it may, an issue emerges when attempting to clarify how the two substances can cooperate. For instance, in films about apparitions (which are non-physical) if a man tries to strike a phantom their hand goes past the apparition in light of the fact that there is no real way to communicate with such a being.

    Read More

  • The Nature Of Consciousness In Leibniz's Argument

    1463 Words  | 6 Pages

    The one aspect of our mind which is unarguably the most familiar yet the most confusing is the conscious experience of us and the world, and has been puzzling humans since their existence. The solution to this problem of consciousness, and several other related problems arising out of the same probably lies somewhere in the depths of our brains, its structure and function. There have been multiple views and opinions regarding the nature of consciousness and whether or not any substantial basis exists for consciousness, it is central to the notions of thought and personal identity. Some believe that consciousness could not arise from matter alone, as illustrated by Leibniz’s famous analogy of the mill. To illustrate his opinion, he asked his reader to imagine someone walking through an expanded brain as one would walk through a mill and observing all its mechanical operations, which for Leibniz exhausted its physical nature.

    Read More

  • Dualism: Do We Have The Soul?

    834 Words  | 4 Pages

    Panyda, a neurosurgeon, published “Understanding Brain, Mind and Soul”, shows the search for the location of the soul. Panyda refers to many philosophers in his article to associate the soul within the human body. “The location of the human soul probably dates back to the awareness of such an entity. Panyda includes Christopher Pallis’s research in 1983, discussing ‘The loss of Capacity for conciseness and the capacity to breathe (after brain death) relate to functional disturbances at the opposite ends of the brain stem while the former is also a meaningful alternative to ‘the departure of the soul’. (Paynda)

    Read More

  • Behaviourist Theory Vs Identity Theory

    1104 Words  | 5 Pages

    The mind just is behavior. Behavior is physical thus is the mind is physical. Objections To Identity Theory There are a few objections when it comes to the identity thoery. The Leibniz's Law of Identity says that if two objects are identical, then they have all of the same properties.

    Read More

  • Substance Dualism Concept

    1144 Words  | 5 Pages

    Furthermore, people tend to speak of their bodies in terms of possession, which could point to the mind and brain being separate (Stewart, et al.,

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Materialist Monism Vs Dualism

    321 Words  | 2 Pages

    am a human, a human with thoughts, desires, emotions and perspectives. If everything is made up of matter, then can other objects think and feel emotions like I do? There is a constant problem that arises about the mind and body because there are many different strong beliefs and theories. Two theories that argue for the distinction of mind and matter are Dualist interactionism and Materialist Monism. These theories have two very different beliefs and many different arguments to support them.

    Read More

  • Essay On Monism Vs Dualism

    1225 Words  | 5 Pages

    An issue in theoretical basis on what should prevail or which is supreme between International Law or Municipal Law (national law) is usually presented as a competition between monism and dualist. But in modern approach there is now the theory of coordination or is also called Harmonization theory that rejects the presumption of the other two theoretical concept, monism and dualism. The monist view asserts the international law’s supremacy over the municipal law even in matters within the internal or domestic jurisdiction of a state. While it is true that the international law defines the legal existence of states as well of the validity of its national legal order, the dualist asserts the international law is an existing system that is completely separated from municipal or national law. That dictates the

    Read More

  • Mental Childhood Psychology

    1143 Words  | 5 Pages

    It is certainly an area that requires further investigation, as we currently know so little about the aetiology of many mental

    Read More

  • David Hume Constancy And Coherence Summary

    742 Words  | 3 Pages

    David Hume therefore conducted the study to internalize the different denouements that humans came up with. Hume’s proposed the question of how do we really know that the body exist? I myself contemplated on this question and is yet to give a definite answer. Personally, I concluded, that if I rule out my educational knowledge of biology and tenacity, and meditation on what my body is without the use of the senses. I am left believing that Hume was right in is theory that through causation we induce

    Read More

  • William James's Theory Of Human Consciousness

    871 Words  | 4 Pages

    Biologically the core of human mind, brain is composed of one hundred billions of neurons interacting with each other through electrical activity. Efficiently linked neurons pass each other information and if those linkage happens in synchrony, and it is called consciousness. In simple words human consciousness can be understood as being aware of the informations the neurons pass on or as the feeling the soul inside us. In Psychology, theory of dual process explains how human consciousness work. Initiated by William James, who first founded the two types of thinking including the true reasoning and associative, dual process theory was concluded by Daniel Kahneman, who analyzed thoughts into System a and System 2 with his best selling book called “Thinking fast and slow” (2011,Farrar, Straus and Giroux).

    Read More

More about Essay On Dualism And Monism

Open Document