Soul, mind and body

• Plato was a dualist because he believed that the soul could be separated from the body.

  The body, which is mortal and mutable, is a prison for the immutable and unchanging soul, which longs to return to the realm of forms.
• Plato believed that harmony in your soul can be achieved through being driven by reason, rather than emotion, which is similar to contemporary stoic views.

  The soul harbours innate knowledge from the realm of forms, which is recalled via anamnesis.
• Plato's view of the soul is demonstrated in the Socratic dialogue 'Meno'

  which was published in 380 BCE.

  In the dialogue, an uneducated slave boy is able to answer a maths question. Plato thinks this is proof of the soul recalling knowledge.
• Aristotle had a hylomorphic view of the soul, which is the belief that living things consist of physical and spiritual matter.

  The body is the material cause, and the soul gives it characteristics, so is the formal cause.

  When the body dies, the soul cannot be separated, so also dies.
• Aristotle compared his view of the soul to a wax seal; the seal gives the wax characteristics, but cannot be separated from it.

  He also gave the example where you compare a dead chicken to a living one. The material cause is the same, but the dead chicken no longer has a formal cause, because it lacks characteristics such as walking and clucking.
• Aristotle also classified souls into three categories.

  Vegetative - The ability to grow.

  Appetitive - The ability to fulfil desires and needs such as that for food and reproduction.

  Rational - Only found in humans.
• Rene Descartes was a 17th century French philosopher and mathematician who developed the idea of substance dualism.

  He believed that is body is physical and non-thinking, where the mind is non-physical and thinking. This was published in his 'Treatise on Man' in 1662.
• Descartes concluded that, even if an evil demon was tricking him into believing his body was real, he would know his person was real, due to him thinking. So, our minds hold the essence of ourselves - 'cognito, ergo sum'
• Descartes thought the pineal gland was the link between the body and the mind. This is where imagination and common sense are found.
• Gilbert Ryle was a British ordinary language philosopher, who published 'The Concept of Mind' in 1949. He argued that problems and false assumptions develop when we distort the meaning of words. Our constant use of the word 'mind' had led us to believe that the mind exists as its own distinct thing. He called this misconception 'The ghost in the machine.'
• Ryle argued that the mind is a feature of behaviour. It is a description of what it means to be a conscious, thinking being.

  He gave the analogy of someone touring different buildings and campuses of a university and then asking 'Where is the university?' - It is not its own separate thing.
• Daniel Dennet is a materialist verifactionist philosopher, who believes that consciousness is a by-product of a combination of physical processes in the brain.

  Brain scans reveal that many areas of the brain are used for imagining, thinking and remembering. He believes that scientists will soon be able to trace what causes consciousness.
• Identity Theory is a materialist view which believes that all mental activity is centred in the brain. The brain is a physical organ, which can be altered by the physiological effects of drugs, which alter our personality mood and behaviour. Dualists believe that linked to the non physical soul.

  Mental events such as emotion can be correlated with physical events in the brain.
• Richard Dawkins is a British biologist who rejects the belief of the soul, and believes that consciousness is an evolutionary advantage. Physical existence is all there is

  He distinguishes between two versions of the soul.

  Soul One - The first and oldest meaning of the soul, which can survive death. Humans created this 'mystic jelly' to give meanings to things they did not yet understand.

  Soul Two - Intellect and emotion. Believes this will soon be explained through DNA.
• Psychologist Susan Blackmore believes that consciousness is a delusion, because we are describing something separate which does not exist. The soul is not a non-material thing, but a metaphor for personhood and identity.

  When we use the word 'soul' we are actually referring to physical processes. She thinks it is probable that scientists will soon be able to use brain scans to identify what processes cause consciousness.
• David Chalmers is an Australian philosopher and cognitive scientist, who published 'the conscious mind' in 1996. Although he is a dualist, he does not believe in a soul.

  He argues that materialism cannot explain consciousness, so it must be a non-physical fundamental property, which abides by psychophysical laws. This is because all mental states are not reducible to physical processes. He could be classified as panpsychist because he states that all information bearing systems contain a level of consciousness
• John Searle is an American philosopher, who published 'The Rediscovery of the Mind' in 1992. He states that the argument between materialism and dualism is a false dilemma, and assets Biological Naturalism.

  This is the view that consciousness is a real subjective experience, caused by brain processes.