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what does Plato believe about the nature of the soul
dualist
mind and body are seperate but are linked in some way
when the body dies the soul survives
what is the world of forms
a world of metaphysical perfection
the soul belongs to the world of forms
they came down to live in bodies in this world
when we die they return to the world of forms
quote from old Christian prayer to support world of Forms
“go forth upon your journey from this world, O christian soul”
what 3 parts does Plato believe the soul is made from
logical part, spirited part, appetitve part
main criticism of Plato’s belief of the soul
no good evidence to support that there is a world of forms
what is monism
the soul and the body can’t be seperated just as the shape of a seal can’t be seperated from wax
3 types of monism
physicalism, functionalism (type of physicalism), materialism
what is materialism, which scholar believes it + 2 quotes
all processes of human life are physical, life ends at death
Dawkins: “life is just bytes and bytes of information” “the body is a computer made of meat”
what is physicalism
there is no body/soul relationship
just as water reduces to H2O, mind reduces brain
what does Aristotle believe about the nature of the soul
monist
the soul gave body anima (life) but didn’t survive after death
started the scientific rational view: all living things have souls but humans have the ability to have rational thoughts as well as a psyche
quote from Aristotle about the nature of the soul
“to attain any… knowledge about the soul is one of the most difficult things in the world”
what does descartes believe about the nature of the soul
substance dualist
there is soul and matter, mind exists independently from the body
Descartes differences between the mind and body
body= res extensa (extented substance), mortal
mind= res cognita (mental substance), immortal
what are Descartes 3 proofs that the soul is seperate from the body
argument from doubt
argument from divisibility and non divisibilty
argument from conceivability
outline the argument from doubt + quote
“cogito ergo sum”
i can doubt my body exists
but i can’t doubt that i exist as a thinking being because doubt is a form of thinking
therefore the mind and body aren’t identical
outline the argument from divisibility and non divisibilty + quote
“the body by its nature is always divisible, while the mind is… indivisible”
uses Lebaniz’s law of identity: 2 things are the same if they always share the same properties
all bodies are extended in space since they’re 3D (can be divisible)
the mind isn’t extended in space (not divisible)
therefore the mind is radically different from the body
neuroscience criticism to argument from divisibility and non-divisibility
theres a close correlation between mind and brain, when the brain is damaged the mind can be too
Locke’s criticism to argument from divisibility and non-divisibility
awareness is divisible because there’s times were unconscious, more aware, and less aware
counters to Locke’s criticism
the mind has both conscious and unconscious thoughts and Locke is only describing the conscious mind
dualists argue that the soul always thinks but memory fails to remember those thoughts when we’re asleep
general counter to dualism
the self may be an illusion: theres a process of thinking but not a seperate ‘I’ who thinks (we can’t define what ‘I’ is)
outline the argument from conceivability
whatever i can conceive as 2 different things can be created by God as 2 different things
i can conceive of myself as a non-extended thinking thing (mind)
i can conceive of myself as an extended thinking thing (body)
the mind and the body exists apart from each other
Ryle’s criticism to argument from concievability
the masked man fallacy
you can conceive Batman as a caped superhero
you can conceive Bruce Wayne as a billionare who isn’t a caped superhero
therefore Batman isn’t Bruce Wayne but this isn’t true
just because Descartes can conceive the mind exists without the body doesn’t mean its true
what does Descartes believe about the soul and body relationship
interactionism
body and soul are connected through the pineal gland in the brain
2 main counters to interactionism
theres objective, scientific evidence for the function of the pineal gland (produces melatonin)
interactionism doesn’t tell us anything about how the soul and body are different
Ryle’s criticism of interactionism + quote
Descartes soul/body relationship is ‘the ghost in the machine’
he says that since the mind isn’t physical it must be non-physical but it may just not exist
he makes a category mistake: “it is one big mistake and a mistake of a special kind”
eg: visiting a uni, someone goes to lots of libraries and asks where the uni is but uni is term for another category not just individual libraries
mind is an an umbrella term for all behavioural dispositions
functionalist criticism of interactionism + scholar example
there is no soul
nothing can be separate from the brain, the mind is like a computer processing information and generates responses
Puttman: brain in a vat, we don’t need to have a body if you can use electrical stimuli to replicate feelings/emotions
Blackmore example functionalism
she had an out of body experience and found no empirical evidence to suggest why, therefore out of body experiences are the product of the mind
Chalmer (religious) counter to functionalism and criticisms of interactionism
doesn’t solve the hard problem of consciousness
doesn’t explain what consciousness actually is and we all have unique qualia (subjective sensations)
what do dual-aspect monists believe about the soul and body relationship
mind and brain are 2 aspects of the same substance which is why we experience them as different things
brain= physical and visible
mind= isn’t physical and contains qualia (subjective consciousness)
2 strengths of dual-aspect monism
avoids main problem of interactionism: explains how separate mental and physical substances can interact (there’s no separate substances)
supported by quantum theory: the mind and brain are complimentary aspects of one psycho-physical reality just like light can be both electrons and waves
weakness of dual-aspect monism
doesn’t fit in with some religious beliefs about the afterlife because it doesn’t say the soul survives the death of the body
Plutarch example of continuing personal existence after death
replaces parts of a ship over time, is it still the same ship? are we still the same person when we get older/die
what would physicalists/materialist believe about personal existence after death
there isn’t any
personal identity is linked to the body, the body dies at death and person can’t live without their body
what does Russel believe about personal existence after death + 2 quotes
the mind, self-awareness, and consciousness is a projection of the brain
the ‘I’ dies when your brain dies
“the brain… is dissolved at death” “its rational to suppose that mental life ceases when bodily life ceases”
what does Flew believe about personal existence after death
we can’t talk about personal existence after death meaningfully because ‘surviving death’ is contradictory & there’s no empirical evidence to falsify life after death
what does Aquinas believe about personal existence after death
beatific vision
the soul is lacking its fullness and in the afterlife God will give it a glorified body so that there can be direct communication between humans and God
personal existence can happen after death
what is Hick’s replica theory
thought experiment to show that if there is an omnipotent God that we could be perfectly resurrected in another world at our exact moment of death
3 Mr X scenarios of Hick’s replica theory
disappears in NY and reappears in AUS, colleagues can identify Mr X by testing his memories (personal identity), therefore he is the same person
dies in NY and reappears in AUS, he is a replica
dies and and reappears in a ‘resurrection world’, its logically possible for resurrection to occur in the afterlife if you accept 1 & 2, this avoids the problem of continuity
2 religious criticism of replica theory
Jesus wan’t a replica so why would we be
if God is omnipotent and can make a replica, He would also make 10 so which one would be the real you
Hick’s counter to religious criticism
monist
Mr X’s body doesn’t have consciousness so there can only ever be 1 version of him
what are Plato’s 2 arguments for consciousness after death (immortality of the soul)
from opposites: you can go from life to death so you can go from death to life
recollection: knowledge of the Forms gives us innate knowledge of Forms of equality, we must’ve got this knowledge before birth (because its innate) so consciousness exists after death
Price belief about consciousness after death
afterlife is mind-based and completely different from this life
souls can communicate telepathically so a physical body isn’t needed
Swinburne belief about consciousness after death
light bulb argument
if you switch off a lightbulb it wont work, but all you need to do to make it work again is to switch on the power
its possible for an omnipotent God to make consciousness exist after death
what is reincarnation
souls are being reborn into new bodies after death
example of reincarnation
young boy claimed to remember facts about a past life that even his older family members didn’t know but were found out to be true
criticism of near death experiences
people aren’t actually dead so they have little value when talking about personal existence after death
what is psychological continuity
our thoughts continuing after death
what does Parfit believe about personal existence after death
bundle theory
we’re ‘bundles’ of states of being, no fixed self
we continue to have an influence for as long as we’re remembered (eg by loved ones)
what does Dennet believe about personal existence after death
science and technology may allow psychological continuity to happen
brain is a computer model, we are a robot
the brain would be uploaded to a platform and would control the robot bod
the body won’t survive but the conscience as a collection of memories will
objective immortality in process theology
after death everything lives on in the mind of God because they existed as part of God
no heaven, no personal identity after death
works with dual-aspect monism
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