RS a level PHILOSOPHY - soul, mind, and body

content and evaluation

what is dualism

everyone is made of two separate substances - we are not just physical

what is materialism

everyone is just made of one substance: physical matter, which can explain consciousness

Summarise Plato’s dualist view of the soul

argument from recollection based on anamnesis:

our immortal soul remembers the ‘Forms’ before being imprisoned in our physical bodies in the physical world, and we have access to this knowledge through reason

what does the story of Socrates questioning a Slave Boy show

innate ideas, accessed through reason, provide timeless truths

what are the three aspects of Plato’s tripartite view of the soul

appetite, emotion, reason

summarise Aristotle’s view on the soul

the soul is a “psyche” (a real thing) that remains unchanging as the body changes

includes the matter of the body as well as its functions and capabilities

living things have souls while non-living things do not, and this is what separates them

according to Aristotle, what type of souls do plants have?

vegetative: they are capable of nourishment and reproduction

according to Aristotle, what type of souls do animals have?

perceptive: they have senses to experience and react to the world and they can tell pleasure from pain

according to Aristotle, what type of souls do humans have?

the higher type of soul: the capability to reason and tell right from wrong

Aristotle quote about his knowledge of the soul

“to attain any assured knowledge of the soul is one of the most difficult things in the world”

what kind of view did Descartes have on SMaB

substance dualist

what is Cartesian doubt

Descartes’ approach to reality. he considered everything he knew, and rejected anything about which there cannot be certainty

Descartes quote on himself as a thinking thing

“cogito ergo sum”: I think therefore I am

why did Descartes know he existed

he cannot doubt that he is thinking. he therefore must exist as a “thinking thing”

why, in Descartes view, must the mind and body be separate? what law does this employ?

he knew his mind must exist, but he cannot know that his body exists. they have different properties and therefore must be different substances: the Leibniz Law

where did Descartes propose the mind and body interacts

the Pineal gland, which we now know secretes melatonin and other hormones

Which type of materialism did Mill believe in? summarise it

“emergent materialism”: as physical things become more complex, new properties emerge from them which cannot be reduced to the material. the mind has its own existence, but is not entirely separate from the physical body

describe Descartes three waves of doubt, in order

senses cannot be trusted as they sometimes are deceitful

one may think they’re awake whilst they’re dreaming

an evil demon could be controlling the mind which makes all beliefs false

who proposed the “category error”, and in which book?

Ryle in ‘The Concept of Mind’

what is the “category error”? give one of Ryle’s examples

talking of a self beyond the body is a misuse of language and does not fit with science

e.g. “The University” is not one thing but made up of students, teachers, name, buildings etc

quote from Dawkins’ The Selfish Gene

“survival machines got bigger and more elaborate… now they go by the name of genes and we are their survival machines”

quote from Dawkins’ River out of Eden

“life is just bytes and bytes and bytes of digital information”

is Dawkins reductionist?

yes

what is a non-religious way to explain human consciousness

evolutionary advantage as we can make deliberate decisions. caused by electro-chemical events in the brain.

describe Dawkins’ soul 1

a distinctive, supernatural part of a person which survives after death. Dawkins rejects this

describe Dawkins’ soul 2

an Aristotelian view, describing the soul as someone’s personality and identity with no life after death

Dawkins accepts this

quote from Aristotle showing the inseparability of soul and body

“it indubitably follows that the soul is inseparable from the body”

quote from Dawkins arguing against the need for a metaphysical explanation of consciousness

“science has either killed the soul or is in the process of doing so”

Susan Blackmore (materialist) on the soul

“the last great mystery in science”

Chalmers on dualism

dualism provides a coherent explanation for the “hard problem of consciousness” which materialism does not convincingly do

C.S. Lewis on dualism

human capacity to be moral agents shows their souls have distinctive moral value