Philosophy LOAs 4 Key Qs – Topic 3 Mind body and soul
KEY QUESTION LOA (reject, reject, accept)
Is the concept of the LOA 1: Substance dualism – reality
“soul” best understood LOA 2: Materialism – metaphor, non-existent
metaphorically or as a LOA 3: Property dualism
reality?
Is the discussion about LOA 1: Substance dualism – no
the mind-body LOA 2: Materialism – yes
distinction a case of LOA 3: Property dualism – to an extent
category error?
GENERAL ESSAY PLAN “Assess whether substance dualism is a convincing approach to questions of body and
soul.”
“Is the concept of the soul best understood as a metaphor or a reality?”
“The mind body distinction is a case of category error. Discuss”
P1 – SUBSTANCE DUALISM: PLATO/ DESCARTES (NOT CATEGORY ERROR, AS SOUL IS DISTINCT FROM BODY)
A: BODY AND SOUL ARE OPPOSITES – PLATO, LEIBNIZ LAW
Plato was deeply influenced by Pythagorean thought, which emphasised the distinction between the spiritual soul (psyche)
and the material body. The body and soul are opposites – the soul the permanent spiritual essence of a person, able to
access true knowledge through reason via the World of the Forms, whilst the material body distracts and imprisons the
superior soul with appetites and pleasures episteme vs. doxa, Divided Line
“The body is the source of endless trouble to us… takes away from us all power of thinking at all” (‘Phaedo’)
Leibniz Law: Object A and B are the same if they have identical properties; material and physical are very different,
therefore two things not one The Argument from Opposites: Since death is the opposite of life, and opposites are
mutually exclusive, therefore when the body dies, life must go on.
Thus substance dualism is most convincing as it distinguishes between the different between spiritual and physical, with
one being inferior to the other
CA: HOLISTIC/ IDENTITY – BERNARD WILLIAMS
Not only does Plato’s concept of the soul rest upon the World of the Forms (a largely rejected metaphysical concept),
Plato’s view seems to dismiss the value of the body, which seems to play a vital part in how one identifies themselves and
moreover, how one survives – Bernard Williams: identity also comes from the body. Mind must be linked to the body as
physical events i.e. taking drugs, impact upon the mind Plato and Descartes dismiss the importance of the body
R: ESSENCE OF ONE’S IDENTITY LIES IN THE SOUL – I HAVE A BODY, NOT A BODY – DESCARTES
Father of Modern Philosophy – Cartesian doubt used to prove body and soul are two separate substances ‘Meditations’.
COGITO ERGO SUM: Meditation 1: possible to doubt all things (unreliable senses, dreams, evil demon deceiving us).
Meditation 2: Cogito ergo sum “I think therefore I am”, impossible to doubt you are thinking.
Difference between mind/ body (one can be proved, other cannot) suggests mind is logically independent of the body. Soul
is the thinking thing, body is the physical part; Leibniz law, difference properties, different entities Soul/ mind is the
essence of a person, their identity. A person can exist with a body but not a soul.
CR: CATEGORY ERROR – RYLE
Gilbert Ryle ‘The Concept of the Mind’ incorrect use of language that results in speaking of the soul as though it were
identifiably extra, “The Dogma of the Ghost in the Machine” Like watching a cricket match and asking where the team
spirit was to talk of the soul is merely to speak of how someone interacts with the world, does not require spiritual
essence, mind is just the brain = part of the body.
P2 – MATERIALISM (NO CATEGORY ERROR, AS THERE IS NO SPIRITUAL PART)
A: SOUL IS MERELY CONSCIOUSNESS, EXPLAINABLE VIA SCIENCE AND PSYCHOLOGY – DAWKINS
Richard Dawkins ‘Is Science Killing the Soul?’ “Soul” is a mythological concept invented by ancient philosophers to explain
the mystery of consciousness “Not an explanation” of consciousness “but an evasion”.
Consciousness is no more than electro-chemical events in the brain: no person is capable of surviving brain death. Only
survive death through passing on DNA to ancestors.
Soul 1 – does not exist, traditional belief eradicated by science. Soul 2 – defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as
“intellectual or spiritual power… mental faculties”; not separate from the brain, not a meaningful term.
