The Soul
- Created by: Bigboi_Butterz
- Created on: 06-04-18 17:43
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- The Soul
- Personal Identity: To evaluate both views on LAD & The SOUL we must consider what constitutes personal identity. Personal identity means the same person persisting over time. For some this is physical, others this is mental & constitutes memory etc.
- SUBSTANCE DUALISM (the belief body & soul are 2 separate substances):
- PLATO:
- The soul existed before birth as well as after death.
- Soul is in three parts 1) Reason, 2) Emotion/Spirit, 3) Desires.
- Used analogy of a Charioteer (guy who controls the Horses) and two horses: Reason = Charioteer who controls the two other horses (spirit and desires)
- The soul survives death and lives on in the World of Forms eternally.
- The body is a prison for the soul to liberate from.
- Two arguments/ evidence:
- 1. The soul and body are opposites; just like light and dark are known together they are still opposites.
- 2. Theory of knowledge; we have recalled knowledge from the WoF therefore showing the soul is eternal & has been there.
- Support for Plato:
- We do experience ourselves as thinking beings different from our bodies.
- Reports of Near Death Experiences show proof of a separate existence form the body.
- Criticism of Plato:
- There is no evidence that death is an opposite state to life.
- Locke: Tabula Rasa- We are born as a blank slate. Therefore, cannot have knowledge from before.
- His view of immortality of the soul depends on WoF existing.
- DESCARTES:
- + Rejected everything and said that only certain thing is that “I think, therefore I am” that’s what makes “I’”, whenever I think there must be something that is thinking. Proves I am more than just a body.
- TWO ARGUMENTS:
- DOUBT: I can doubt my body but I cannot doubt my mind. There could be an evil demon deceiving me into thinking I exist in a physical world. Therefore, they are two separate things.
- DIVISIBILITY: My body is divisible & my mind is not. Things with different properties must be different things. Therefore, the mind and body are distinct objects.
- PLATO:
- Aristotle’s soft materialism
- A property dualist; someone who believes in the properties of mind and body but they are all one substance.
- The soul is not additional to the object [i.e. body].
- Soul = formal cause. Body = Material cause. They are both needed to exist. The Soul gives thebody life. Without the material there would be no soul.
- Aristotle’s examples; Axe = if body was axe, soul = ability to chop, Eye = body is eye, soul = ability to see. Etc. Wax= The stamp created cannot be removed from the wax.
- Everything has a soul, but there are categories, we have a human soul made up of rational andirrational parts.
- Irrational parts = things plants and animals can do, vegetative and appetite elements. Plants = only vegetative. Animals = vegi and appetite – includes movement and desires. Humans = all three.
- No LAD but thinks the ability to reason lives on after death.
- JOHN HICK:
- John Hick; Christian soul is not real, all it is = mental characteristics. The soul is the value ofourselves, not something separate. We use the term soul because we give ourselves special value.
- SOS: When we say SOS we are not asking for some ghost like substance to be saved. Instead we are asking for ourselves to be saved – our physical bodies & person. HICK accepts this because of Christian teachings especially on resurrection of Jesus.
- MATERIALISM (the belief body & soul are one substance)
- Aristotle’s soft materialism
- A property dualist; someone who believes in the properties of mind and body but they are all one substance.
- The soul is not additional to the object [i.e. body].
- Soul = formal cause. Body = Material cause. They are both needed to exist. The Soul gives thebody life. Without the material there would be no soul.
- Aristotle’s examples; Axe = if body was axe, soul = ability to chop, Eye = body is eye, soul = ability to see. Etc. Wax= The stamp created cannot be removed from the wax.
- Everything has a soul, but there are categories, we have a human soul made up of rational andirrational parts.
- Irrational parts = things plants and animals can do, vegetative and appetite elements. Plants = only vegetative. Animals = vegi and appetite – includes movement and desires. Humans = all three.
- No LAD but thinks the ability to reason lives on after death.
- Arguments for the soul (against materialism)
- Feeling love can’t just be a physical thing.
- NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCES: Pam Reynolds on operating table ‘left body’and could tell her doctors accurate info.
- Paranormal activities = prove soul
- QUALIA- the subjective nature of our experiences shows we are not just physical. As otherwise we would all have the same experiences.
- NAGEL – supports Qualia argument.We cannot know what it feels like to bea bat.
- Zombie argument – zombies lack something humans have. Thus suggesting the thing missing is the soul which is clearly separate!
- Arguments against the soul (for materialism)
- Gilbert Ryle – Category error to say there is a soul. To talk of a soul is like a “Ghost in the machine”.Like asking “where is the university?” or “where is the team spirit?”
- Interaction: How can the mind and bodywork together, how can something immaterial affect the material?(Descartes’ response: meet in pineal gland)
- Brain damage: When brains are damaged this often changes their personality. What we would normally associate with a soul is actually the brain (Phineas Gage)
- Brain scans: What we normally associatewith the soul is actually just the brain.
- Aristotle’s soft materialism
- RICHARD DAWKINS:
- A Hard Materialist - Richard Dawkins; rejects immortal soul. Humans are nothing more than a total of their DNA. Life is a result of evolution and not creation. Only human genes are passed on to the next generation.“Life is just bytes and bytes of digital information”.
- We survive death through the memories of others and the legacy we leave behind.
- Humans consciousness has evolved because of the survival advantage it gives.
- Soul is a myth created to explain the mysterious of consciousness.
- Talks of soul in metaphorical sense. Soul one = traditional view, Soul two = intellectual power, high development of mental faculties, deep feeling and sensitivity – this is a good way to talk about us, so long as it doesn’t talk about a separate entity. Soul one is nonsense & killed by science (because of brain scans etc)
- MATERIALISM (the belief body & soul are one substance)
- Arguments for the soul (against materialism)
- Feeling love can’t just be a physical thing.
- NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCES: Pam Reynolds on operating table ‘left body’and could tell her doctors accurate info.
- Paranormal activities = prove soul
- QUALIA- the subjective nature of our experiences shows we are not just physical. As otherwise we would all have the same experiences.
- NAGEL – supports Qualia argument.We cannot know what it feels like to bea bat.
- Zombie argument – zombies lack something humans have. Thus suggesting the thing missing is the soul which is clearly separate!
- Arguments against the soul (for materialism)
- Gilbert Ryle – Category error to say there is a soul. To talk of a soul is like a “Ghost in the machine”.Like asking “where is the university?” or “where is the team spirit?”
- Interaction: How can the mind and bodywork together, how can something immaterial affect the material?(Descartes’ response: meet in pineal gland)
- Brain damage: When brains are damaged this often changes their personality. What we would normally associate with a soul is actually the brain (Phineas Gage)
- Brain scans: What we normally associatewith the soul is actually just the brain.
- Arguments for the soul (against materialism)
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