dualism

• the philosophers for dualism are Plato and Descartes
• dualists claim that the soul exists independently + is superior to the body
• Plato's idea of the Forms:

  • he believed that existence was made up of the empirical world of sense experience + the perfect world of the Forms
  • for every particular object in the physical realm, there exists a universal form in the external, perfect, timeless, metaphysical realm
• Plato believed that the soul was superior to + separate from the body, and belongs to the world of the Forms

  • therefore, the soul is eternal - unlike the body, it does not die
  • it comes to earth + is imprisoned within a body
  • at death, it escapes the body + returns to the world of the Forms, after which it is either born again into another body or remains
• Plato's charioteer analogy - shows the soul is divided into three parts:

  • 2 horses (will and appetite) are controlled by the charioteer (reason)
  • Plato believed that unless the charioteer kept control on the reins, will (weaker horse) would be dragged in the direction that appetite (stronger horse) wanted to go
• 3 parts of the soul: (from the charioteer anaology)

  • rational part: immortal, searches for the truth, controls to two other aspects of the soul
  • spirited part (thumos): corresponds to emotions + desires
  • appetitive part: dies with the body + is concerned with the basic human drives for sex, food, drink, etc
• Descartes was a substance dualist
• Descartes argued that:

  • the mind + body are distinct substances with different essential properties
  • he began from a standpoint of absolute scepticism about reality: sense experience could be deceptive + intellect-based ideas could be mistaken