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Summary Self,Death and Afterlife revision notes for A Level RS (Philosopy)
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- Self,death and afterlife
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Dualism● This is the view that a human person has two distinct elements – the mind/soul and
the body
● The mind/soul is immaterial whereas the body is material
● In this view, the afterlife is possible if the soul can survive death
Monism
● This is the belief that human beings are a single unit of body and mind
● The mind’s existence is dependent on the body
● Typically, monists are materialists
Materialism
● This is the belief that the only form of existence is physical.
● Materialists only support life after death if that life is physical.
The problem
● Body Properties - Human beings possess both physical (body) and mental
(consciousness) attributes. The body is defined by its mass, size, shape, and
spatial/temporal position, comprising recognizable material substances like carbon.
Physical properties such as height are inherent facts independent of an individual's
perception or mental processes.
● Mind Properties - A characteristic of the mind is its dependence on conception,
evident in aspects like self-consciousness and thinking about one's height. Key
attributes of the mind include "qualia," which refers to qualitative, felt experiences like
the taste of a hamburger, and "intentionality."
● John Puddefoot, in "God and the Mind Machine" (1996), described qualia as
properties of the internal world that are not observable from an external perspective
● Intentionality, on the other hand, refers to the "aboutness" of thoughts, implying that
thinking involves consideration of something
● Unlike humans, inanimate objects like tables lack intentionality as they cannot direct
attention towards objects. These distinctions between qualia, intentionality, and the
lack thereof in non-conscious entities contribute to the philosophical differentiation
between body and mind
● The problem is whether mind and body are one and the same nature (monistic) or
whether we do have two natures (dualistic). If they are two separate entities, then a
further problem arises as to how they interrelate.
Descartes’ argument for the existence of the soul:
● “I think; therefore I am”
Descartes believes:
● Mind and body are really distinct
● The mind takes no physical space
● Mind and body react in the pinegland
● The mind cannot be changed whilst the body can
, ● Descartes doubts everything unless he is certain
Cartesian Dualism (made up of two different substances)
● We are more than just a body
● Mind and body are separate but they interact
● Each can cause a change in the other
● The soul is a private place - has “thought but not extension”
● The mind/soul is the place in which all sensations, thoughts and ideas occur
● Matter (body) - res extensa (“extended substance”)
● Mind-res cognitions (“Mental substance”)
● Body:
- has extension in space
- located in Space
- has corrupt parts and decay
- mortal
● Mind/soul:
- not extended in space
- not in space
- no corrupt parts and cannot decay
- not susceptible to death
- immortal
● Aruguement from doubt:
- Descartes supposes that there might be a “malicious demon” who is powerful
enough to make him doubt the existence of the world outside him and the
existence of other minds
- 1) I can doubt that my body exists
- 2) but I cannot doubt that I exist as a thinking thing (doubt is a form of thinking)
- 3) Therefore (because I am a thinking thing) I am not identical with my mind
● Criticism - most philosophers think that consciousness is a product of the brain
● The argument from divisbilty and non-divisbilty
- All bodies are extended in space and therefore divisible
- Minds are not extended in space and so not divisible (your mental status)
- Minds are therefore radically different from bodies
● Criticism - When the brain is damaged the mind is also damaged
● The argument from a clear and distinct perception
- Whatever I clearly and distinctly perceive as 2 different things, god is capable
of making 2 different 2 different things
- I have a clear and distinctive idea of myself as a non-extended thinking thing
- So I and my body can exist apart from each other
- So I am distinct from my body
● Criticism: Dependent on faith - just cause God can do it doesn’t mean it has to happen
or would happen
, Plato and Aristotle on the Soul
● Just as Plato believed that the world of the senses lacks reality compared to the world
of the Forms, our bodies are less significant than the unseen and eternal soul that is
trapped within them.
● PLATO WAS A DUALIST
● Inspired by the calm death of his mentor Socrates, who clearly thought there was
more than the physical body.
● Plato thought his true self would go to a better place
● Plato saw the soul (psyche) as that which gives life to the body. This led him to believe
that the soul had to enter the body to give it life so must have pre-existed the body (in
the world of Forms).
● The soul is immortal, whereas the body is mortal and at the end of life, the soul is set
free from the body
Body and Soul Comparison
● The body is part of the empirical world and like all objects is subject to change - Plato
calls the soul “simple”: eternal, unchanging and indissoluble. It belongs to a reality
higher than the body.
● The body allows us to gain opinions via our senses - The soul enables us to have
knowledge
● Our bodies constantly distract us from our real purpose: philosophical thought - The
soul is that which can grasp the realm of ideas, True knowledge of Forms comes from
the soul
● Plato explains that there are three aspects present within the soul: reason, spirit and
appetite or desire.
● The soul works best when the charioteer or reason is in charge.
● Our appetites can lead us to things that are not helpful.
● We also need spirit or will to make us determined to do the right thing
● Plato’s idea of a good person is one whose soul is properly balanced with reason at
the helm
Plato’s arguments for dualism
● The soul has knowledge of eternal ideas and is able to recognise Forms such as
beauty
- e.g. Socrates asked a boy about geometrical problems he had never faced
and the boy showed awareness of Pythagoras’ theorem. This demonstrates
the soul having knowledge prior to existence.
● The body and soul are opposites. One makes the other necessary (like light logically
making us aware of the idea of darkness).
● In Phaedo, Plato suggests that Philosophy is a preparation for death
● Throughout their lives, philosophers, in their search for truth, have attained a state as
close to death as possible, trying to distance the soul as much as they can from the
needs of the body.
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