Substance Dualism

Rene Descartes (1596-

1650)
Minds and bodies are different entities
The universe is made up of mind and matter
Bodies are physical substances that are
located in space and time and are subject to
the laws of physics
Minds are non-extended thinking substances.
Arguments for Substance
Dualism The question is whether
1. Near-death
minds can exist separate
experiences from the body
There are many similar
reports of near death
1. If substance dualism is false, experiences.
then my mind cannot exist http://www.youtube.com/wa
independently from my body tch?v=QavlsCL79k8
2. My mind can exist
independently from my body
3. Therefore substance dualism is
true
This deductive argument is a
valid one
if the premises turn out to be
true.
However, it has been
argued that...
They are visions and
hallucinations caused by
the brain being starved of
oxygen.
Or by the patient being
given anaesthetic drugs
like ketamin.
Moreover in a recent study
neurologists studying NDEs
found that a patients brain
known as the angular
gyrus was very active
during these experiences.
This suggests a biological
explanation for the NDEs
and not that the mind has
in some way left the body.
 2. The Conceivability
Argument
X is identical to y
I believe George Bush
is Dan Quayle.
You may not believe
me but how can you
refute me.
Need to apply Leibniz s
law x and y are
identical to each other
only if they have all
all properties in common.
If Bush is 2 inches taller than Dan than
this is enough to refute the theory
and my conspiracy ideas are false.
If we apply this law to Descartes
Substance Dualism and find one
property that minds and bodies do not
have we can conclude that minds and
bodies are not one and the same thing.
1. I can conceive that I exist without a
body
2. I cannot conceive I exist without a
mind
Therefore
3. My mind is more intimately
connected to me than my body, thus my
mind has a property that my body lacks
4. If my mind has at least one different
property than my body, then my mind
cannot be identical to my body.
Therefore my mind is not identical to
my body.
What is the problem with this argument?
Arguments Against Dualism
- The problem of interaction
Taken it as given that there is a relationship
between the mind and the body and that they
What would be a
both influence each other in human behaviour.
According to Descartes theory it would seem

- response to this
impossible for the two to have any connection at
all.
problem?
In reality is it possible to do Jedi mind tricks and
move physical objects with the mind alone. Consider the
Watch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2yKze0iu-U
theory of
In deductive form parallelism
1. Assume that substance dualism is true
2. If substance dualism is true then the mind is
an immaterial, non-extended thinking substance
and the body is an extended physical substance.
3. Immaterial non-extended substances cannot
interact with extended physical substances.
Therefore substance dualism is false.
Gilbert Ryle and the
Categorical Mistake?
Oxford Philosopher G. Ryle (1900-
Defenders of dualism can accuse
Ryle of simply begging the
1976) question.
Argues dualists put the term mind By insisting minds should not be
into the wrong logical category and
thus commit a category mistake. classified as substances, Ryle
seems to assume what he is trying
If I were asked by a parent to see the to prove.
school and I showed them the
canteen, gym, study rooms and
library They may argue that they
never saw the school. They only saw
aspects or instances of the school.
Ryle applies this idea to show how
dualists attribute properties to minds
that we would only normally attribute
to separately existing physical things.
When they say something like the
mind can leave the body or the mind
can cause the body to move they
are really saying something like Love
is my best friend.