...the mind/soul can survive the death of the body (18) The soul is a defining essence that runs through one or more lives said to be an eternal part of a person that makes them individual. The body is the physical part of a person, which is alive when they are alive. It is debated whether anything can survive the death of the body and many different religions have different beliefs on this matter. Christians believe that the soul is the part of God that remains with a person eternally therefore; the soul survives the death of the body and remains with the person forever. However Buddhists believe that once a personal dies they are re-entered into the cycle of samsara unless you attain enlightenment, your karma stays with you and is carried on in each life, not a soul or the same body. An embodied existence is a soft materialist view where the body is representation in a material form, something that is a whole; the mind cannot survive without the body. A disembodied existence is a dualistic view where life after death may be disembodied (separate from the body) the soul and body are separate. The soul is the spiritual, emotional part of a human being regarded as immortal or sometimes is believed to survive death and makes a person who they are and how they act. Each religion has a variety of beliefs on what they believe a soul to be. Dualism is the beliefs that refers to the mind and body as two separate things and that the soul survives the death of the body. Plato...
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...through experiential insight, while the rationalism assumes that knowledge is gained through one’s practical understanding. During the early Greek times, the vast majority of the Greek philosophies and theories were composed of empiricism and rationalism. Questions that relate to human existence; mind and body, as we will see, were developed on the assumption that knowledge comes from experience. Some theories were so powerful that they have been moulded and manipulated to fit into the faculty of various religious beliefs and practices. The contributions of Socrates (500 BC) still remain to this day, and are studied in great depth such as the “Republic of Plato” which was written by Plato. Socrates, one of the world’s most influential philosophers, who was seemingly ahead of his time, shaped elegant theories which illuminated many of the puzzling aspects regarding life and death – body and soul. In the following narrative, we will describe the main differences, properties, and functions between the body and the soul, according to Socrates. Accompanying will be an explanation of what Socrates sought to be the underlying characteristics interacting within the body and soul. The ways in which Socrates describes the characteristics is what makes him so fundamentally different from any other philosopher. The following information is based on an exceptional piece of literature titled, “Phaedo” which was originally written by Plato, and more recently translated by G.M.A. Grube (2000)...
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...Descartes but the intricacies of his philosophical views, particularly as a critical review of his substance dualism. The core tenants of Cartesian dualism are (in brief) that; 1) There exists only two distinct types of substance; material substances (of the body and the physical realm – that is extended spatially) and immaterial substances (that make up the mind, rationality and the soul.) 2) In relation to the body – Descartes is a mechanist; such that the body operates like a machine, according to internal laws, reactivity to external stimuli. The soul or mind is capable of diverting these automated principles; such that we see the distinction between human reason and action, and the behaviour of animals....
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...opposite. Life and death are in a perpetual cycle such that death cannot be a permanent end. The soul is what animates us: we are alive because we have a soul. That concept suggests that the soul is connected to life. Since the form of life does not in any way include its opposite; death, the soul cannot in any way be overcome by death. Socrates concluded that the soul must be immortal. Socrates argues his theory of recollection by stating that learning is essentially an act of recollecting things we knew before we were born but then forgot. He is basically saying that our souls have existed in a previous life or prior to birth. I feel that he is saying that in a way our souls are recycled. I feel that if you already have your instincts before your birth, then you already acquired them from a previous form. Socrates continues by saying that the soul’s life extends beyond the body and is “immortal.” Socrates goes on to say that “death” occurs when the soul and the body “detach” themselves; so the body is dead but the soul will keep on living. A soul that is not properly detached from the body will become a ghost that will long to return to the flesh, while the philosopher’s detached soul will dwell free in the heavens. The distinction Plato draws between the body and the soul was revolutionary in his day; today this is called dualism. Dualism is the idea that the soul and body are distinct and considers them opposites. Plato...
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...Immortality of the soul. Introduction. Humans have refused to accept that this life is all we get for thousands of years. As a result of this refusal, humans have developed various theories to explain that when our bodies cease working, there is some kind of existence that takes place after this. Obviously, before getting into this debate, it is important to agree on what is meant by the word ‘death.’ ‘…when respiration and other reflexes are absent; consciousness is gone…an absolute and total loss of the brain function that cannot be reversed.’ This is a medical definition and is based upon medical methods of determining physical (brain) death. These methods are generally the use of an electroencephalograph (EEG) to determine brain function, an examination of pupil size and reaction and obviously, a check of blood flow (pulse), heart beat and respiration. It is generally accepted that once a body exhibits brain stem death, i.e. that there is no activity in the most primitive part of the brain, that death has occurred. What makes a human being? Theories concerning life after death are all interested in whether or not there is a part of the human body which survives the death of all the physical parts and where (or indeed when) it goes. There are a number of theories exploring what makes up a human being, but the basic distinction that you need to be aware of, is the distinctions between the materialist, monist and the dualist approaches. The distinction was basically...
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...St. Augustine’s Criticism on Plato and Platonism St. Augustine is one of the towering figures of medieval philosophy. Augustine had a huge influence on the modern period with people including Descartes and Malebranche. One of the main focal points in his life comes in 387 AD, when his conversion to Christianity takes place. In Augustine’s conversion to Christianity, he evolved a different approach to thinking. When Augustine writes about the Manicheans, he tends to focus on their materialism, substantive dualism, and their identification of the human soul as a particle of the Light. These three key qualifications from Platonism provide Augustine with a philosophical framework for both the medieval and modern periods. In the Confessions, Augustine gives his most extensive discussion of the books of the Platonists. In the Confessions, he makes clear that his previous thinking was dominated by common- sense materialism. It was the books of the Platonists that first made it possible for him to conceive the possibility of a non-physical substance. It did provide him however with a non- Manichean solution to the problem of the origin of evil. In addition, the books of the Platonists provided him with a framework where he plotted the human condition. According to Augustine the framework for Platonists can account for the difficulties with which life brings about to us, in the same aspect it offers a theory that the highest ethical goal is happiness and personal well- being. In...
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...The soul (psyche) is the structure of the body - its function and organization. This was the word Greeks gave to the animator, the living force in a living being. For Aristotle the psyche controlled reproduction, movement and perception. In contrast Aristotle regarded reason (nous) as the highest form of rationality. He believed that the ‘unmoved mover’ of the universe was a cosmic nous. Aristotle thought that the soul is the Form of the body. The soul is simply the sum total of the operations of a human being. Aristotle believed that there exists a hierarchy of living things – plants only have a vegetative soul, animals are above plants because they have appetites, humans are above animals because it has the power of reason. Aristotle tries to explain his understanding of the distinction between the body and the soul using the analogy of an axe. If an axe were a living thing then its body would be made of wood and metal. However, its soul would be the thing which made it an axe i.e. its capacity to chop. If it lost its ability to chop it would cease to be an axe – it would simply be wood and metal. Another illustration he uses is the eye. If the eye were an animal, sight would have to be its soul. When the eye no longer sees then it is an eye in name only. Likewise, a dead animal is only an animal in name only – it has the same body but it has lost its soul. What is important for Aristotle is the end purpose of something – an axe chops, an eye sees, an animal...
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...The debate regarding the existence of the soul is ongoing even today. In two articles, “You Don’t Have a Soul” and “Has the Large Hadron Collider Disproved the Existence of Ghosts,” the discussion of the existence souls continues. Both articles argue that such beings cannot exist based on the lack of scientific evidence. However, souls exist even if individuals cannot see them. Souls exist based on the distinction between material and immaterial things in the world. Material means physical matter, changing, and the senses pick up on them, like a tree or body. immaterial, in contrast, means non-physical and constant (). An example of an uncompounded form is justice. Everything on earth contains both aspects of material and immaterial, including...
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...Kant's distinction between guardians and minors is based on the propensity of people to dwell in their own immaturity and let others take care of them. Both guardians and minors are victims of this propensity; only, they are placed on the opposite poles. Neither guardians nor minors dare to think for themselves. However, minors almost entirely give up their intellectual potential, indulging in their own laziness of the mind. They rely on different types of guardians. For example, priests are the guardians of their souls; physicians are the guardians of their bodies; politicians are the guardians of their social order, etc. Basically, they are lulled in their comfortable positions of non-thinkers. We have to say, though, that Kant doesn't judge...
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...Plato Review Plato’s distinction between body and soul in the foundation unit so that you can make comparisons with the thinking of Hick and of Dawkins. John Hick Philosophy of Religion (1973); Death and Eternal Life (1976) • The soul is a name for the moral, spiritual self formed by the interaction of genes and environment. The human is a psychophysical person with a divine purpose. • The person shall be resurrected through a divine act of recreation or reconstitution in resurrection, rather than reincarnation as Plato would have it, through God’s creative love. • The new body is not the old one brought back to life but a spiritual body inhabiting a spiritual world just as the physical body inhabited a physical world. • Hick conducts a thought experiment with a hypothetical person called John Smith. Smith disappears from the USA and reappears in Calcutta, India. He is physically identical with the same memories, emotions, fingerprints, and so on. People would agree he was Smith. If he died and reappeared in this world, again identical, people would agree he was Smith. If he died and reappeared in another world with other resurrected people, he would be Smith. This is called the replica theory. • God is not restricted by death and holds man beyond natural mortality. • Martin Luther wrote: Anyone with whom God speaks, whether in wrath or mercy, the same is certainly immortal.’ Richard Dawkins The Selfish Gene (1976); River out of Eden (1986);The Blind Watchmaker...
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...------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- A2 PHILOSOPHY REVISION NOTES ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- The Body and Soul Introduction * Materialism is the view that the mind cannot be separated from the body * Idealism is the view that the mind is the only reality and the body is unreal. * Dualism is the view that the mind and body both exist and are linked in some way. Plato Review Plato’s distinction between body and soul in the foundation unit so that you can make comparisons with the thinking of Hick and of Dawkins. John Hick Philosophy of Religion (1973); Death and Eternal Life (1976) * The soul is a name for the moral, spiritual self formed by the interaction of genes and environment. The human is a psychophysical person with a divine purpose. * The person shall be resurrected through a divine act of recreation or reconstitution in resurrection, rather than reincarnation as Plato would have it, through God’s creative love. * The new body is not the old one brought back to life but a spiritual body inhabiting a spiritual world just as the physical body inhabited a physical world. * Hick conducts a thought experiment with a hypothetical person called John Smith. Smith disappears from the USA and reappears in Calcutta, India. He is physically...
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...against the immateriality of the soul, despite rejecting the Cartesian claim that personal identity being attached to the soul (Heide 06 Apr). His own account of personal identity, while compatible with there being immaterial souls, does not depend on such entities existing. Instead, he connects personal identity to continuous consciousness, or memory, a position which does not rely on the soul to do any explanatory work. This paper will first explicate René Descartes's view of personal identity, and it will be argued that Locke's critique provides compelling reason to reject the argument that personal identity as tied to an individual soul. Locke's...
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...------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- A2 PHILOSOPHY REVISION NOTES ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- The Body and Soul Introduction * Materialism is the view that the mind cannot be separated from the body * Idealism is the view that the mind is the only reality and the body is unreal. * Dualism is the view that the mind and body both exist and are linked in some way. Plato Review Plato’s distinction between body and soul in the foundation unit so that you can make comparisons with the thinking of Hick and of Dawkins. John Hick Philosophy of Religion (1973); Death and Eternal Life (1976) * The soul is a name for the moral, spiritual self formed by the interaction of genes and environment. The human is a psychophysical person with a divine purpose. * The person shall be resurrected through a divine act of recreation or reconstitution in resurrection, rather than reincarnation as Plato would have it, through God’s creative love. * The new body is not the old one brought back to life but a spiritual body inhabiting a spiritual world just as the physical body inhabited a physical world. * Hick conducts a thought experiment with a hypothetical person called John Smith. Smith disappears from the USA and reappears in Calcutta, India. He is physically...
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...Revision - Philosopher’s and their views A.J Ayer weak verification, “mountains on the other side of the moon” Hick -eschatological verification “we’ll know at the end” -epistemic distance between us and God -Universal salvation -Replica theory -traducianism (soul inherited from parents) -Price’s mental world= consistent Price -“mental world” in which we live Karl Popper -falsification principle, true until proven otherwise Antony Flew -parable of the two gardeners, death of a thousand qualifications - historical evidence, tested experience -God could have made us free, but do the right thing R.M Hare -bliks, lunatics Basil Mitchell -resistance leader, rel people may accept points, but view won’t change Maimonedes -via negative avoids anthropomorphism of God! Scotus -analogy as a means of describing God= vague Aquinas -Analogy of attribution(good bread=good baker)/ analogy of proportion (it’s all relative) -God cant do “non actions” like 2+2=5 - God is timeless, REASON, we get his nature via revelation Tillich - symbols unlock things from God Bultmann -demythologising stories Wittgenstein -picture theory of language, language games James -physcology, empiricism,pluralism, pragmatism -passive, ineffable, noetic, transient -Philosopher/ Phychologist -rel exp has mental dimension, not just this -truth is in the results! Otto -Wholly Other Schliemacher -emotional experiences Buber -I thou relationship Feuerbach - God is man...
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...Dawkins’ views on body and soul identity. (35) The mind-body problem is an ongoing problem in the philosophy concerning the nature of the relationship between the mind, or consciousness, and the physical world. It questions how our mental thoughts are linked to our physical activities. In religion and philosophy, the soul is considered the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being, which is often considered to be synonymous with the mind or the self. In theology, the soul is further defined as that part of the individual which is thought to survive the death of the body. However, this view point isn’t taken by all. Viewpoints on the soul can be separated into monism, dualism and materialistic views. Aristotle is a monist believing that the body and soul are not linked, whereas Dawkins is a hard materialist believing that biology is the key. Aristotle defined the soul, or psyche, as the ‘first actuality’ of the body and argued against it having a separate existence from the physical body, unlike other philosophers such as Plato. Aristotle’s belief was that the difference between a live body and a corpse is the presence of the soul. When the soul dies, so does the body. In his book, De Anima he stated that “the soul does not exist without a body and yet is not itself a kind of body. For it is not a body, but something which belongs to a body.” In Aristotle’s view, full actualisation of a living thing is its soul. The soul is the form and shape of the body. Aristotle argued...
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