I challenge you to a Dual(ism)!

Hello,

Dualism is a theory about the link between mind and matter. It starts by saying the events in the mind (ie when we think) are not physical, this means the mind exists outside of the body, giving the mind a soul like quality. Dualism theories apparently started as far back as Plato and Aristotle, which is a key reason why to many, this theory as wrong. They think this due to the incorrect understanding of the anatomy. Because of there lack of understanding Plato and Aristotle argued, that humans intelligence (to them the 'mind is the seat of all knowledge') could not be explained with the physical body.

The most well known example of dualism came from Descartes, he also like P&A stated that the mind is nonphysical. Descartes was the first to show the mind was connected with awareness of our own existence; because of this he was able to formulate the Cogito ergo sum this was a huge breakthrough, but he sort of spoiled when he then said the mind was different to the brain. Dualism is the biggest problem with Descartes and since his work was published it is often the starting point of philosophers picking holes in his work.

One argument against Dualism is called Causal Interaction, this states that how come if the mind is non-physical we can have memories from touching physical objects, for example: "you never forget how to ride a bike" or muscle memory; when a song you used to know on the piano comes back to you, even if you haven't played in a while. So for Dualism work in these situations it must therefore must still be capable to effect the physical world - despite not being apart of it. The main answer to this solution was provided by Arnold Geulincx was that Causal Interaction was simply that it's a miracle. To be honest I'm not that convinced.

I think that the reason Dualism was so popular when Aristotle and Plato were around was simply they did not have the knowledge of anatomy to have any better ideas. The picture below is an illustration by Descartes, in which he explains how the body reacts to pain...

The fire (no, it's not a cabbage) moves the skin, this action then opens a pore causing the 'animal spirit' of the fire flow through the tube in the diagram this tube then inflates, causing swelling in the leg muscle this results in the moving of the foot out of danger. Nothing to do with nerve endings or pain receptors.

A more modern argument for Dualism is the Zombie Argument, yes that's it's name. It was a thought experiment by (psychologist) David Chalmers, in which he says that zombies can act as humans, by for example saying 'ouch!' if they bang their knee even if they don't feel the pain. It's a long shot but I could be a zombie, you wouldn't know, because I act exactly like you. This experiment aimed to show how things can still be human with out a mind. Similar to the brian in the vat; accept the negligible possibility but then move on.

Dualism is the opposite of Monism where the mind is the brain, it's what most people think know as dualism is generally accepted as a big mistake, by Plato, Aristotle and Descartes, apart from that they were all right.