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Dualism Essay

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Dualism

Rene Descartes’ famous line – “cogito ergo sum” (I think, therefore I am) presupposes that the mind is a separate entity from the body (Philosophy Online, n.d.). Meaning, the mind and body both differ in meaning. Descartes believed that the mind is a non-extended substance which is capable of thinking, reasoning, imagining, and feeling. With this, extended substances which conform to the laws of physics are affected by the human mind and as a result, there is production of certain mental events (Encyclopædia Britannica, 2016). For the purposes of this paper, the concept of dualism will be analyzed and why science has rejected it.

The Concept of Dualism

Throughout history, the term "dualism" has been used differently. In general, there are two fundamental kinds or categories of things or principles (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2013). In theology, a dualist is someone who believes that Good and Evil are independent and have different forces in the world. Dualism contrasts with monism because the latter asserts that there is only one fundamental kind (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2011). In the philosophy of mind, dualism involves the mental and the physical – mind or body or mind or brain. Because of common sense, humans are accorded with sense and logic unlike any other living organisms. When people are able to think, they become more aware of what is happening in their environment. This awareness cannot be defined physically, but it leads to the

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