Soul,mind and body

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Platos beliefs

  • Soul comes from the world of the forms 
  • dualist - body and soul unite at birth and soul survives after death 
  • temporary and essential
  • 2 horses and chariot - irrational desires, moral impulses and intellect 
  • philosophers souls live on in a state of wisdom 
  • Offers a rational argument for an existence of another reality - Stephen evans 
  • infleunces later christian thought 
  • evidence suggests the mind is dependent on the brain as drugs have an effect. Bernard willaims 
  • contradicts christian ideas that god created the soul as plato argues it already exists 
  • relies on the idea that our senses cannot be trusted 
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Aristotle’s belief

  • soul and body cannot be separated 
  • believes only humans have the Faculty of intellect and reason. 
  • Believes souls do not interfere with personality 
  • soul gives living things their essence 
  • gives bodily matter its form, effiency and telos 
  • thought the soul was a substance 
  • Uses empirical evidence and reflections from the natural world 
  • Supported by aquinas 
  • although aristotle doesnt have concrete evidence 
  • arguable that animals do have the faculty to reason 
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Aquinas beliefs

  • Animates and gives the body life 
  • soul = anima 
  • soul survives death and cannot be separated 
  • although contradicts himself and says it is temporarily separated for judgement at purgatory 
  • Develops aristotles ideas 
  • christians integrated this teaching into their theology 
  • contradicts himself 
  • responds to contradiction saying body replaces atoms every 7 years
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Descartes beliefs

  • Substance dualist 
  • identity comes from ability to think or reason 
  • mind cant be within the brain as the brain relates to sense experience which is mistaken 
  • material body and immaterial soul which lives on 
  • If the mind is non physical how can it cause things to occur ?
  • Ghost in the machine Ryle 
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Hick beliefs

  • Body and soul cannot be separated 
  • replica theory - replicated version of us replicates in replica world after death 
  • soul = our entire selves
  • Extremely vague theory 
  • not everyone gets replicated 
  • no empirical evidence 
  • unsupported
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Dawkins beliefs

  • No part of us which isn't physical 
  • consciousness cannot be separated from the brain 
  • no need for existence of souls 
  • hard materialist 
  • genes distinguish us not souls
  • modernised and scientific research 
  • counters religious perspectives 
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