Questions tagged [dualism]
107 questions
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Why is mind interacting with matter any more problematic than matter interacting with matter?
So there's this supposedly an 'interaction' problem for substance dualism, that isn't there for physicalism or idealism. I've never understood this.
So as Hume pointed out, we see event a followed by event b. We don't see a link connecting event a…
Ameet Sharma
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How can substance dualism survive the arguments from neuroscience?
On the Wikipedia page for Mind-body dualism, one of the arguments against dualism is neuroscience.
In some contexts, the decisions that a person makes can be detected up to 10 seconds in advance by means of scanning their brain activity.…
Noah
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What is the modern solution to the mind-body problem for those who still hold the mind is separate?
René Descartes gave us the problem of how the mind interacts with the body in its modern formulation. Essentially, he asked how the incorporeal mind was able to influence the material body. He also pointed out that the mind was influenced by the…
Jon 'links in bio' Ericson
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Can someone be an atheist and subscribe to substance dualism at the same time?
I consider myself to be firmly in the atheist camp. None of the arguments for the existence of a higher being or prime mover convince me, let alone attempts at proving the existence of the old God of the Bible and Quran.
However, recently I have…
Alexander S King
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The demarcation problem and the materialism/dualism debate?
Presumably the end game of dualist philosophers is to definitively prove the existence of ontologically separate mental states which cannot be reduced to brain states. If they succeed in doing so, then we would be able to make testable and…
Alexander S King
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Why does Chalmers' argument about "the hard problem" not entail idealism?
Chalmers famously argues in Facing Up to the Problem of Consciousness:
At the end of the day, the same criticism applies to any purely physical account of consciousness. For any physical process we specify there will be an unanswered question: Why…
David Lewis
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Contemporary proponents of Cartesian dualism
I have to find examples of contemporary philosophers who accept Cartesian dualism. Who would be the most important proponent? While philosophers who reject physicalism (e.g. David Chalmers, Thomas Nagel) aren't uncommon, they usually don't find…
user223635
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Are there any philosophical writings/works about Fourier transforms?
I am interested in reading about possible meaning and implications of the time-frequency duality in Fourier transforms and the uncertainty principle (not necessarily the usually discussed Heisenberg Uncertainty in the philosophy of physics although…
ali
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For Kierkegaard, how does being "animal" and "rational" compel us to invent meaning?
I'm working through "Alienation and Freedom" by Richard Schmitt right now.
In explaining alienation and it's precondition, he posits:
"The need for infusing one's life with meaning arises, as Kierkegaard
understood, through the duality of human…
Cameron Hurd
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The Emperor's New Mind and Free Will
A good few years ago I read The Emperor's New Mind by Roger Penrose. Having recently read some philosopy primers I was wondering about the links between this book and the question of free will.
From what i remember the final (speculative) argument…
Crab Bucket
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What are the problems with the argument for the mind-body dualism from immateriality of thoughts?
I have started studying philosophy of mind and I am currently reading an introduction to the field. The first topic that is presented in the book is dualism of the Cartesian brand, and the case for it is made, roughly, thus:
Material objects are…
Nicol
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How do modern dualists explain the mind-body interaction?
A serious challenge for dualism is explaining how mind and body interact if they are made of ontologically different substances, and more specifically how mental phenomena can causally drive bodily events and reactions. Even Descartes, who…
Alexander S King
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Physicalism versus dualism: is it reasonable to assign a burden of proof to one party?
I've been watching some video lectures online, and in some of the videos, the professor argues essentially as follows:
Both the dualist and the physicalist believe in the body. This is
status quo. The dualist then expresses a belief in the…
Imean
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How did Kant "undermine the soul"?
In the beginning of William James' 1904 paper "Does 'Consciousness' Exist?" he states the following:
At first, 'spirit and matter,' 'soul and body,' stood for a pair of equipollent substances quite on a par in weight and interest. But one day Kant…
Alexander S King
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Are there philosophies that call for things which are not mind nor matter?
Physicalism is the idea that everything is matter. Idealism is the idea that everything is made up of a mental substance. Dualism claims that there are both matter and mind in the universe.
It appears a large portion of philosophy seems to be…
Cort Ammon
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