PHILOS 1E03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: René Descartes, Hypotenuse
8 Dec 2014
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Document Summary
Here are a few possibilities: our mind is a distinct thing from our body; perhaps it is able to exist without a body. Known as dualism: our mind is just the brain and central nervous system. Known as mind-brain identity theory: our mind is something our brain and cns produces or does (e. g. difference between hardware and software) The view that the mind and the body are distinct entities. Sometimes also called cartesian dualism after rene descartes. Substance dualism has been enormously influential: probably most widely held view among the public today, and has deep roots in many religious traditions. Crucially, the possibility of a personal afterlife seems to depend on the truth of some kind of substance dualism: our bodies seem to be as finite and destructible as any other matrial thing. An immaterial entity distinct from our body might carry on after our death.
