OCR A Level Religious Studies - Soul, Mind, and Body

belief in two separate elements - body and soul

the body and soul are wholly different substances

greek for mind/soul

the body and soul are one material substance

everything can be reduced to statements about physical bodies

all mental states are learned behaviours

subjective qualities of experience

the non-physical essence of a person

a problem of language that arises when things are talked about as if they belong to one category when they in fact belong to another

a questioning approach which does not take assumptions for granted

used against dualism - the simplest solution is most likely the right one

the question that - if a ships parts are gradually replaced over time until none of the original parts remain, is it still the same ship? regards how personal identity sustains itself over time

the soul consists of three horses (parts) - reason, will, and desire - each seeks different things, and the charioteer (person) must work out which goals are best to pursue

a form of materialism that argues mental states can be reduced to and are identical to brain states

rene descartes argues that his existence is definitely true since his ability to think proves that there must at least be a thinker

gilbert ryle's title for descarte's theory. there is no mind which exists separately to the body and so to search for one is a category mistake.

where plato believes the soul pre-existed the body and where it will return after the body dies p

learning is just a matter of remembering what the soul has already seen and already knows

two substances are identical if they share the same properties

the mind and the body share different properties (substance dualism)

issue with dualism: how can immaterial mental states cause physical reaction?

defends the idea that humans have distinct souls which survive after death. uses near-death experiences as proof of life after death.

the soul is non-material and separable from the body. it is indestructible but deformed through association with the body. the soul is the form of the body

the soul is material and inseparable from the body. when the body dies, the soul dies with it.

when heated wax is imprinted with a seal, the two cannot be separated. much like how the soul is imprinted on the body. also, when the wax breaks (body dies), the seal breaks with it (body also dies)

no explanation of physcial processes can explain what it is like to undergo conscious experience (qualia). physical explanations miss how it truly feels to undergo an experience such as sadness