DUALIST AND MONIST

Compare Dualist and Monist solutions to the mind/body problem

Compare dualist and monist solutions to the mind/body problem

The Dualism and Monism schools of thought dominate many discussions in philosophy of mind as they focus on the fundamental question of the relationship between mind and body. The mind body problem - determining the nature of mind and how these affect the body. The philosophy of mind have dominated discussions Aristotle's introduction of materialism. Both of which have provided the basis for Dualism.Dualism advocates that mental phenomena are non-physical therefore the mind and body are not identical. From this the question is asked: how it is possible for two contraries, one spatial and one mental to interact with each other as our brains interact with out bodies? Descartes, the founder of the conscious mind argues the answer to this is the penal gland which is the interface between the mind and the rest of the brain, monists such as Spinoza however refutedualism arguing that mind and matter are essentially the same. This paper will provide a detailed account of both Dualist and Monist positions

It is essential when considering any kind of Dualism to consider the relationship between mind and matter.Descartes was the first philosopher to provide a systematic account of the mind body relationship, put simply his account claims that the mind and body are substances of different kinds. The great philosophical distinction between mind and body can however be traced back to Plato and Aristotle's advocacy of multiple souls. Aristotle argued that we have three souls and all three die when the living organism does. However, for Plato, the faculty of the human mind cannot be explained in terms of their physical body. Further, Plato argued that when one dies their soul migrates to a new physical body. Both reasoned that the human mind or soul could not be identified with the physical body. It appears that in the years following Aristotle, Western intellectuals agreed that the soul is a hierarchical structure. From this structure rational thought appears to be at the highest part of living and concern for what we now refer to as consciousness seems to have been overlooked.

Descartes reinforced Aristotle and Plato's philosophy in his Cartesian dualism which is epitomised by the famous saying “cogito ergo sum”.- immaterial mind and the material body are completely different types of substances. Body - divided up by removing a leg or arm but the mind or soul is indivisible. In Meditations Concerning First Philosophy - the fact of doubting oneself is itself undoubtable therefore his own existence is undoubtable because the act of doubting must mean the existence of a subject engaged in the doubting. Thus, knowledge is fundamentally determined by our notion of the self without any material qualities whatsoever.

Dualism can be convincing when thought about in this way as it seems to be suggested in day to day experiences; people can usually distinguish between their body and their “selves”. For example I have a graze on my knee yet ...