Dualism: A Short Story

In metaphysics, the problem of distinguishing the mind versus the body has persisted throughout time and remains a highly debatable topic in philosophy today. Two opposing perspectives in particular remain especially favorable in modern philosophy. Dualism, considers the mind and the body to be separate in that humans are, in effect, immaterial non-physical beings—people are souls. René Descartes examines in Meditations on First Philosophy the incompatibility of a reality in which the mind and body exist as a singular, strictly physical entity. In opposition to this perspective is materialism (or physicalism). Materialism argues that the human person is one with the human organism, and therefore exists solely as a physical being. In an

The social constructionist theory. Not too long ago did we study this and grace our minds with the reading by Fausto Sterling entitled Dueling Dualism. As a recap can anyone tell me what the four features of a social constructionist approach are? Ah yes so as they said, The four features of a social constructionist perspective are as follows; sex is not given by nature, but is produced, culture, cultural meanings and history play a part in constructing the differences in sex, operations of power, such as big business and medicine, are central to the social construction of sex, and lastly if sex is constructed, then it can be reconstructed. These four constructs apply not only to sex, but to gender and sexuality as well and are the reason that the socially constructed identities or

The dualism of Nazi Germany makes it difficult to ascertain the level of Nazification present at the state-level prior to 1935. John Herz writes that the ‘underlying purposes and tendency of the originators and leaders of the Nazi regime was to create a completely party-dominated and party-permeated state and society’. However, Herz goes on to argue that this desire to completely restructure government institutions and personnel was soon recognised as being detrimental to the plan to rapidly gear Germany for war. Therefore, the Nazi leadership chose ‘to use, modify, and adapt existing institutions to its specific purposes and policies, while profiting from their efficiency and technical skill.’ This was especially true for the upper civil service, the highly experienced ministerial bureaucracy, whose members the Nazi Party could mostly not replace without damaging the effectiveness of German administration. As a result, a ‘dualism’ between the German state and the Nazi Party was perpetuated in which many state institutions continued to function largely un-Nazified—especially in the years prior to 1935.

According to J.P. Moreland in his argument for dualism, he states that humans are composed of both an immaterial substance and a physical substance. Moreland notes that there are contrasting differences between the minds and the brains and that they are ultimately separate entities. By defending dualism, Moreland seeks to make nonbelievers believe in immaterial souls, while discrediting materialism. We can look at the arguments in which Moreland uses to support the argument of dualism and belief that the mind and brain are separate entities.

Mind-body dualism is usually seen as the central issue in philosophy of the mind. The problem with mind-body dualism is that it is unknown whether the mind really is a separate entity from the human body as Descartes states in his argument, or whether the mind is the brain itself. Descartes believed that in a person existed two major components, the physical body and the nonphysical body which was called the mind or soul. As a scientist, Descartes believed in mechanical theories of matter, however, he was also very religious and did not believe people could merely be mechanical creatures that ran like “clockwork.” And so, it was Descartes who argued that the mind directed thoughts. To account for this, he split the world into two parts,

In my mind, dualism is a more attractive view to take when considering the mind-brain issue. The idea that the mind is a separate entity and that it is independent of the physical body is the central point of dualism. One reason it appeals to me is because of my religion, my Catholic upbringing. Introspection is another good reason why dualism is a little more logical to me than materialism.. It logically explains why the mind and brain are separate. Also, the divisibility argument raises good points to allow dualism to appear to be the more attractive idea in my eyes.

     For centuries philosophers have debated on monism and dualism, two different philosophical views of the human person. Philosophers have been trying to decipher whether the person is made up of the mind, the body, or both. Monists hold the belief that existence is purely based upon one ultimate “category of being” this means that either the person is made up of only the body or only the mind (Morris p155). Dualists hold the belief that existence is based upon the body as well as the mind and its mental properties (Morris p155).

In the book “Dualed” by Elsie Chapman, we follow a 15 year old girl named West Grayer who lives in the city of Kersh. In this dystopian world, people are trained in advanced combat procedures and how to survive. In order to prove oneself that they are meant to live in this place, they are given an exact clone of themselves that is raised by a different family, that they must kill. West Grayer is your standard teen, long brown hair, average height, nothing to special. She lived with her brother Luc after the rest of her family died. And when Luc’s best friend, Chord, gets his assignment to kill his alt (his alternate) they go track him down. When they find him, Chord kills his alt, but not before Chord’s alt killed Luc. this sends West into

In this paper, I will examine the principal merits and challenges of René Descartes’ concept of dualism and then defend my preferred alternative among the options Paul M. Churchland discusses. After briefly defining Cartesian Dualism, I will show that its principal merits are that it is consistent with common sense and that it is able to explain phenomena that appear mental in nature. Next, I will show that its principal challenges are its failure to adequately explain how the mind and the body can causally interact, and its failure to respond to the observation that brain damage impairs the mind. Finally, I will explain why Functionalism is the best alternative to Cartesian Dualism.

Although Truman Capote seems to portray the story of the treacherous murders through a neutral perspective, his true desire is to focus on the humanization of the murderers; therefore, Capote brings to light the duality that can occur in human nature. Capote uses transition sentences and structure sets Mr. Clutter,

Dualism and the Mind-Body Problem The mind is perhaps the most fascinating part of the human body due to its complexity and ability to rationalize. In essence, the mind-body problem studies the relation of the mind to the body, and states that each human being seems to embody two unique and somewhat contradictory natures. Each human contains both a nature of matter and physicality, just like any other object that contains atoms in the universe. However, mankind also is constituted of something beyond materialism, which includes its ability to rationalize and be self-aware. This would imply that mankind is not simply another member of the world of matter because some of its most distinctive features cannot be accounted for in this manner. There are obvious differences between physical and mental properties. Physical properties are publically accessible, and have weight, texture, and are made of matter. Mental properties are not publically accessible, and have phenomenological texture and intentionality (Stewart, Blocker, Petrik, 2013). This is challenging to philosophers, because man cannot be categorized as a material or immaterial object, but rather a combination of both mind and body (Stewart, Blocker, Petrik, 2013). Man embodies mind-body dualism, meaning he is a blend of both mind and matter (Stewart, Blocker, Petrick, 2013). The mind-body problem creates conflict among philosophers, especially when analyzing physicalism in its defense. This paper outlines sound

In this paper I will be discussing the philosophical perspective of Dualism. The concept of dualism assumes that there are two separate entities such as the physical matter (Body) and the spiritual being (Soul). As we are all familiar with Body which is a physical structure which carries some simple and complex processes, but for many of us soul is something which we are not familiar with and according to Dualism soul is a spiritual part which cannot be seen but is within us. As Socrates says “A real person cannot be harmed” and for Socrates the soul was the real person as he believed there is much more than this life.

Stefanie I found your test results to be rather funny, only because I scored 17 points in Empiricist, 19 points in Cartesian Rationalist 18 points in Platonic Dualist and finally 20 points in Kantian Structuralist. Regardless of my test results, after reading the Descriptions, I instantly saw myself more as a Cartesian Rationalist. However, after reading your post I was able to understand Kantian theory a lot better. For example when you stated that, “If I have a bad experience with something or someone, my judgment will be different the second time I get involved with the same thing or person.”

The Duality of Human Nature One of the most vital concepts incorporated into The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is the representation and depiction of the duality of mankind. Jekyll works to find a solution which will separate him into his reckless, immoral persona and his respectable, Victorian

Dualism is a broad term that can encompass many areas within philosophy itself. In aspect to metaphysics, it classifies the types of entities in the world into two subcategories, physical and non physical substance. While this may appear to be a very wide and ambiguous opinion, it becomes very specific in regards to our own existence. Paul Churchland puts it very explicitly in his book Matter and Consciousness, and defines dualism as the idea that, “the essential nature of conscious intelligence resides in something nonphysical” (Churchland 1). Though dualism is a highly regarded and popular view on the state of existence, its core arguments present an array of problems that detract from the credibility of its