Dualism

Question: In dualism about the mind and body a more plausible view than the view that we are purely physical beings? Give reason for your answer.

Dualism is the view that you consist of a body plus a soul, physicalism is the view that your mental life consists of physical processes in your brain. I hold the position that Physicalism is more plausible than dualism, my argument will be to look at Nagel's opinions of both the philosophies and then draw my own conclusion about which is more plausible and finally consider the possibility about whether or not there is an option that a combination of the two could stand with a valid argument.

In considering the view that dualism is a more plausible view than the view that we are purely physical beings, it helps to take regard the writings of various philosophers. Reading the work of other philosophers and using it to come to a conclusion is important when comparing two types of philosophy and which is more plausible. This is because they have spent their lives studying the subject which means that the premises used are more likely to be sound. Thomas Nagel starts by explaining what can be scientifically proved about knowledge between consciousness and the brain.

Ð''Everybody knows to what happens in consciousness depends on what happens to the body. If you stub your toe it hurts. If you close your eyes you can't see what's in front of you. If you bite into a Hershey bar you taste chocolate.'

This putting forward the basic view that most people hold true as a belief. It is the start of an argument which philosophers would use to support the idea of physicalism. It puts forward examples which suggest for anything to happen in your mind or consciousness something has to happen in your brain. This idea physicalism is the view that mind and body are connected via the brain. However Nagel then goes on to state, Ð''we don't know what happens in the brain when you think' , this statement is vague but important, it is key in the argument that dualism is a more plausible philosophy than physicalism. This being said, science can prove how the brain affects the mind and how the mind affects the brain in some cases. Nagel gives the example, Ð''stimulation of certain brain cells near the back of the head produce visual experiences.' This shows that it is easy to prove that the brain does have a connection with the body however for philosophical question about the relation between mind and brain still exists, are the brain and mind one and the same? If not what is the relation?

Using the example of biting into Hershey bar, it can be assumed that your nervous system is sending a message to your brain which creates electrical impulses that give you the sensation of the taste of chocolate. However another person cannot experience your experience, even if someone else were to examine your brain whilst you are receiving a sensation of the taste of chocolate it would not give them the same sensation. Also what happens in your mind is contained there and a person may give a description of what their tasting but this will not provide the same sensation as actually tasting it. So, if it is impossible for a person to experience the same sensation of taste by examining the brain and it is also impossible to experience the same sensation via the person experiencing it describing it, then it is therefore impossible to see how the two interact. Nagel suggests,

Ð''One possible conclusion it's that there has to be a soul, attached to your body in some way which allows them to interact. If that's true then you're made up of two very different things.'

This view is called dualism, it believes in mind and brain but holds the view that they works separately and are connected by something else. Dualism states that the connection between the mind and the brain takes form one of what might be called a soul. The mind is a separate entity which cannot be shared or experienced, and one person's experiences are their own. The brain is a separate entity which is connected to the body; it reacts in certain ways which caused certain effects which can be seen as electrical impulses. Therefore the brain and the mind are separate entities, Therefore there is nothing that can be seen which could lead us to believe that the mind and brain are connected. Therefore we can only speculate what might be there. Dualism provides a rational explanation in the form of a soul. However some people my doubt this and prefer to rationalise thinking more, the idea as Nagel explains is that if life has evolved thus far by coincidence then it is entirely possible for the mental link between mind and brain to have also developed by itself. This is the basis of physicalism. The mind is part of the brain and thinking and feeling is a physical response of the brain. Nagel uses the example that, Ð''diamonds are composed of carbon, the same material as coal; the atoms are just differently arranged. And water, as we all known, is composed of Hydrogen and oxygen, even though the two elements are nothing like water when taken by themselves.'