Summary A* level mind, body and soul notes for OCR RS A-level
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Philosophy
Institution
OCR
Extremely high-detailed and comprehensive A* philosophy notes including not only the content but also a whole range of relevant scholars, responses and pros and cons of the different arguments. Everything you would need for this topic!
Plato’s view of mind, body and soul
Soul and body = two ontologically distinct substances.
Body = temporal + physical. Tripartite soul = eternal + immaterial.
‘Complex’ human soul divided into three parts:
1. Rational (seeks truth and knowledge). Reason.
2. Spirited (seeks honour and glory). Mind.
3. Appetitive (seeks bodily desires). Body.
Chariot analogy: reason is the charioteer controlling two wayward horses of spirit
(our emotions) and appetite (our bodily desires). The rational part of our soul has to
try and proceed towards enlightenment whilst being pulled in separate directions by
our emotions/mind and desires/body. The charioteer is separate to the horses just
like the soul is separate from the mind and body.
Plato’s two arguments for the immortal soul, written in Phaedo:
1. Argument from knowledge - we have innate knowledge of concepts (e.g beauty,
equality or circularity) from when the soul dwelled in the Realm of Forms.
2. Argument of opposites. “everything which has an opposite is brought about by that
opposite” Opposites generate/come from each other. E.g. you wake up from being
asleep. Something that got bigger must have been small. If the state of death is the
opposite of the state of living then they must come from one another and there must
be two processes between the changing states (like waking up or going to sleep). One
is dying, so the opposite of this is coming back to life. Coming back to life shows that
the soul is immortal. It exists someplace else (the realm of the forms) after the
physical body dies before being rebirthed.
“Our soul is immortal and never destroyed”
Weaknesses to the two arguments:
Peter Geach asks how a disembodied soul can see the forms when ‘seeing’ is a
physical process. How does it see beauty in a sunset/flower?
Dualism is not proven therefore the rest of the theory (argument of opposites)
amounts to nothing. If there is no soul, then there is no chance of the soul being
immortal.
Furthermore, not everything has an opposite e.g there is no single opposing state to
liquid water. Two processes make water: melting and condensing. Which is the
opposite, ice or gas?
Plato’s theory relies on the theory of forms to explain the origins of the soul.
However, there is no empirical evidence for the forms, so it is not accepted by
empiricists such as David Hume or Aristotle who poses his Third Man Argument
against the world of forms.
, Substance dualism: Descartes view of mind, body and soul
The mind + body = completely distinct substances. Body made of a physical
substance with property of extension (takes up space). Mind is made of separate
non-physical substance and has property of thought. It makes humans rational
beings, distinct from the “mechanisms” mindless machines that are other animals.
Leibnitz’s principle of the identity of indiscernibles states that two substances are
identical if they share the same properties. If they have differing properties then the
two substances are distinct.
- Descartes’ divisibility argument: the body can be divided into parts whilst the
mind cannot. This means that they have different properties and are therefore
distinct substances.
- Descartes’ argument from doubt: he can doubt everything apart from the fact
that he is thinking, because doubting is a form of thinking. We use our mind to
think so he cannot doubt his mind but can doubt that his body exists.
Therefore, the two have different properties and must be distinct substances.
Weaknesses of Descartes’ arguments
Masked man fallacy highlights the problems with Liebnitz’ principle, which Descartes
uses. Say there is a masked man at a masquerade ball. You do not know who the
masked man is but you do know who your father is. This gives your father and the
masked man differing properties so they must be separate. However, this is wrong as
the masked man could be your father.
Just because two things are separate does not make them different substances - the
mind could still operate in the physical world.
If someone loses a limb or survives a traumatic event such as a car accident or going
to war, it may alter their outlook on life, their personality and mindset. This suggests
that the mind and body are more closely linked than Descartes allows. Similarly,
brain damage can severely alter the mind.
Weaknesses of dualism
- John Searle poses the problem of interaction. How can an immaterial mind/soul
cause physical reaction? Immaterial thought cannot affect my physical body.
- Gilbert Ryle agrees, comparing the idea to a ‘ghost in a machine’. A ghost could not
pull the levers and handles to make a machine work.
- Descartes explains that the mind and body interact through the pineal gland.
- However, medical research has shown that the pineal gland has a very physical
function: secreting hormones that effect sleep patterns.
A.J Ayer’s verification principle argues that a statement Is only meaningful if we can
test and prove it true. There is no way we can test the claim that we have a soul so all
talk about it is meaningless. Similarly, there is no empirical evidence for a soul so
empiricists such as David Hume do not accept it.
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