Dualism Reflection Paper

In his writings, “A Contemporary Defense of Dualism,” J.P. Moreland argues the point that the mind and brain are separate from each other. It seems as a quick thought that both are the same. However, the mind deals with ideas, thoughts and hopes. The brain is made up of the neural process. Throughout the entire argument, Moreland tries to prove the theory of physicalism, which is the idea that only things that exist are composed of matter. His explanation is that the soul doesn’t exist and the brain controls everything.

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

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.

Classical dualism has a few points that are unclear. Swinburne says that you have a body under your control. The case presented of having your old mind in a new body and brain is questionable. Will you still have your morality in your new body and brain? Will you still have the same calling as you did in your old body and brain? Will you still have the same religious beliefs? These are all points that Swinburne failed to debate.

Dualism is generally defined as the division of a concept into two contrasting aspects. Dualism addresses the mind body-problem by claiming that the body and mind are separate. Various alternatives to the dualist theory propose the mind and body is connected, materialism—everything is physical. Nevertheless, dualists agree, “that the essential essence nature of conscious intelligence resides in something nonphysical, in something forever beyond the scope of science” (7, Churchland). This nonphysical realm of the mind is considered to have a causal systematic connection with the body, driving a person to act with purpose.

My definition of Cartesian dualism is the belief of an afterlife. Believing that your soul is not the same substance as your body. Cartesian dualism consists of two parts, the mind and the body being independent, but casually interacting with one another. The mind can influence the body, and the body can affect the mind, but they are distinct in their separate positions. Descartes argues this theory by implying the nature of mind as a thinking thing being completely different from the body as a non-thinking thing and that it is possible for one to exist without the other. The mind and body are both substances, substances are things that can exist alone without anything else. He explains the properties as breaking them down into primary attributes

Regarding the body and mind problem, there seems to be an endless discussion between the materialists and the dualists. One criticize that most materialists raise against dualists is that dualists fail to give a reasonable explanation towards how the physical and non-physical substance interact. From a Dualist perspective, the human person (or the human mind) is a non-physical substance, while the human organism (or the human body), on the other hand is a physical substance. Thus, the human person and the human organism are not one and the same thing. One specific kind of the dualists, the interactionists try to explain how the two substances interact by proposing that there’s a two-way causal connection between the human mind and the

     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).

Everyone is familiar with the famous Rubin face-vase drawing, a black and white print in which one can simultaneously perceive faces by focusing on the black ink or a vase by focusing on the white. If I announce that this is a picture of a vase, am I right? However you announce you see a picture of two faces, are you right? Who’s right? Are we both right? Or are we both wrong? Is it right and wrong; good and evil? I believe neurobiological research, as well as personal anecdotal study; have demonstrated that dichotomous thinking, (mental duality) is an appropriate expectation for developing brains. However an evolved adult brain has developed the ability (free will) to reconcile their emotional reactivity with

The one idea that I found particularly interesting was understanding the interaction of the mind and body. At some point of our lives, we may come across a question like what makes or how the interaction between body and soul become possible. There are two types of views between the interactions of the mind and body: substance dualism and Cartesian dualism. Substance dualism is the view of the mind and body that claim that the two are split into two categories. There are two types of substances: the mind being nonphysical whereas the body is physical. Physical substances can be observed by our five senses and studied using scientific instruments and logic, such as fur and plants. Nonphysical substances are things that are not physical such as souls, God, and the supernatural. Cartesian dualism is the view of mind and body that claim that they are completely unrelated to each other yet interact well like the mind can affect the body and the body influences the mind or soul.

Suppose it is a nice sunny day, and you decide to linger in the sun; after a few minutes you may feel thirsty and you look for some refreshment. It can be said that this situation triggers two ‘situations’; on the one hand there is a physical process: the body’s reaction to heat, and on the other hand, there is a ‘mental effect’: the experience of heat like being thirsty. The relationship between the two situations has been the source of many debates within

Religion has been around for many years and has expanded throughout the world today. There have been many questions about religion, such as, how religion has evolved, how many religions are there and where did it all start? Many experts on religion have given guides to help answer the large amount of questions about religion. Therefore, religion in many different aspects and has it pros and cons just like any other complex subject in this world. Dualism is a key component to religions all around the world. Therefore, dualism in Zoroastrianism, Gnosticism, and Manichaeism influence three main religions.

Throughout history, people around the world have had many different views on Jesus Christ. Some people are devoted Christians and claim He is the one who came to save the world from the fall of man introduced by Adam. Other people are not sure who He is and have been trying to figure out who Jesus Christ is. While others just do not believe in the teachings and the life of Jesus Christ. Secular historical texts and looking into the Bible, there is evidence that Jesus Christ was here on earth and not just a made up fictional character. Jesus is God and, in the flesh, came to save the human race from this sinful world.

We as human beings struggle constantly to find meaning in our existence. There are complex stories of how we came to be, as well as many religions that we believe in and follow in order to find a place in this world. Philosophers all over the world tend to encourage us to give thought to antithetical concepts such as how we came to be or even concepts like good vs evil, love vs hate and even first world vs third world. We distinguish between the opposing terms because we want one rather than the other. That sounds abstract, but such dualities are actually quite tricky for us to defend. If, for example, wealth is extremely important to me, then I am also concerned about avoiding poverty. If is important to live a pure life, then I need to be engrossed with avoiding impurity. We cannot take one lens without the other and such lenses filter our experience in

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