Mind , Body and Soul

• Body and soul


  The relationship between the physical body and the non-physical soul or mind
• When describing the body

  We tend to use possessive terms like 'my arm', 'my head'
• We consider our bodies as occupying a space which we do not share with anyone
• We recognise each other by our bodies but we do not say 'I saw your body in town the other day'
• We say 'I saw you in town the other day'
• Personal identity


  The problem of explaining what makes the identity of a single person at a time or through time, especially when there is a change in the person over time
• People change both mentally and physically, and yet these changes take place in the same person
• John Locke's solution


  The notion of self or personal identity is dependent on consciousness
• Personal identity


  Consists in consciousness and memory
• We are not to be identified essentially with our bodies
• When Vladimir Lenin died in 1924, Soviet scientists razor-sliced in brain to discover the secrets of his genius, but all they found was that it was just a brain
• The slices of Lenin's brain have been preserved, so in one sense Lenin lives for ever
• Mind-body problem


  Philosophical debate about what a person is and whether the mind and body are separate or united
• Main approaches to the mind-body problem

  • Dualist approach
  • Monist approach
• Dualist approach


  • Human beings consist of a body and soul
  • The soul is spiritual and the 'real me' which will survive after death
  • The body is less important than the soul as it will not live on
• Monist approach


  • The individual consists of one substance only
  • Materialists claim the mind cannot be separated from the body which produces it
  • Body and soul are united as one
  • Idealists propose that only the soul truly exists
• Mind-Body Problem


  Is the person and identity linked to our bodies? Or is it the soul which gives us personal identity and makes us who we are?
• Mind-body question


  • Considers how our thoughts and decisions relate to our bodies
• Dualists


  See the mind / soul and body as completely separate
• Dualists


  • Plato
  • Descartes
• Monists


  Argue that we exist in a physical world - the mind is simply the functioning of the brain and the brain is a physical organ in the body
• Materialist view


  The mind is simply the functioning of the brain and the brain is a physical organ in the body
• This materialist view accords with the way we experience the world around us
• We may experience pain in our bodies, but the experiences happen in our minds, so in many ways we do experiences ourselves as separate from our bodies
• Plato's dualist view


  The human person has different parts: the physical, body, the mind and the immortal soul
• Body


  • It is physical and in a constant state of change as is everything else in the material realm
• Soul


  • It is non-material and therefore unchanging and immortal as there is not complexity to it to break down and fail
• Platonic thought


  The soul is separate from the body. The soul and body are distinct in that the soul is immortal and the body is mortal
• The moment of death is seen as freeing the soul from the material cage of the body
• Plato (Phaedo): 'A person is a soul 'imprisoned' in a body'
• Aim of the soul

  To reach the world of Forms
• Soul's role


  It gives us real knowledge of the Forms, and when we learn anything what we are actually doing is remembering knowledge about the Forms that the soul has brought from the world of the Forms
• Body's role


  It distracts the soul from seeking knowledge of the world of Forms. The body is rather a nuisance needing food, getting ill and full of desires that take away all power of thinking
• Socrates: 'Never mind him, said Socrates. Now for you, my jury. I want to explain to you how it seems to me natural that a man who has really devoted his life to philosophy should be cheerful in the face of death, and confident of finding the greatest blessing in the next world when his life is finished.'
• Ordinary people seem not to realize that those who really apply themselves in the right way to philosophy are directly and of their own accord preparing themselves for dying and death.
• If this is true, and they have actually been looking forward to death all their lives, it would of course be absurd to be troubled when the thing comes for which they have so long been preparing and looking forward.
• The influence of the Pythagorean school of philosophy is clear with the stress on the spiritual soul or psyche and the material body with all its distracting needs
• Psyche


  The life principle that keeps a person alive (according to Plato)
• The philosopher would avoid bodily distractions and centre on gaining knowledge of the Forms
• Plato's tripartite division of the soul

  1. Chariot driver

  2. Two winged horses