AQA A Level RE: Self, Death and Afterlife (philosophy) - Nature and existence of the soul
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- Created on: 16-03-20 16:32
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- Philosophy: Self, death and afterlife - nature and existence of the soul
- Plato
- 1) Allegory of the cave: there are to worlds, the one in which we live and the perfect world of forms
- 2) The soul is superior to and separate from the body and belongs to the world of forms
- 3) Soul is eternal, so does not die
- 4) Soul comes to earth and is imprisoned within the body, and at death, it escapes the body and returns to the Forms - either born into a different body or remains to contemplate the form of the good
- 5) Charioteer analogy shows that the soul is divided into three parts
- Spirited part (thumos) that includes emotions and character traits
- Rational, immortal part that searches for the truth and keeps the other two aspects under control
- Appetitive part - dies with the body and is concerned with basic drives
- 6) Role of the Charioteer (reason) is to keep in check and in balance the spirit and desires (horses)
- Evaluation
- Strength: views of many Christians
- Strength; supports the feeling that something has left a corpse
- Weakness: no evidence for the world of forms
- Decartes
- Substance Dualism
- Mind and body are distinct substances with different essential properties
- Sceptic about reality: sense experience and intellect-based ideas could be deceptive or mistaken
- Argument from Doubt
- 1) One could doubt the body's existence
- 2) The ability to doubt means one could not doubt their existence as a thinking being
- 3) Therefore, as a thinking being, one is not identical with their body
- Argument from divisibility and non-divisibility
- 1) all bodies take up space, so are divisible
- 2) Mental states do not and are different
- 3) This means minds are radically different from bodies
- Argument from Clear and Distinct Perception
- 1) He attributes his perception of two different things to God having created two different things
- 2) He has a CDP of himself as a thinking being and of his body as a non-thinking being
- 3) He and his body are distinct, and are therefore different
- Evaluation
- Weakness: Consciouness is a product of the brain - part of the body
- Weakness: neuroscience shows a correlation between mind and brain
- Weakness: third proof is a circular argument
- Substance Dualism
- Monism/Physicalism/Materialism
- View that the mind and body are one, and that the soul does not exist
- Aristotle
- Monist view rejecting Plato
- The soul is what gives something his essential nature: shapes and gives life to the body, all things have them to survive, only humans have the capacity for rationality (nous)
- Through reason, humans are able to make moral and intellectual development: soul develops an individual's skills and character. It is the principle of life. The soul is mortal
- Evaluation
- Weakness: Christian view that soul leaves body at death
- Strength: many people think of themselves as an integrated unity
- Plato
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