Are the body and soul inseparable, only intended to intervene?

Death

‘The complete and permanent cessation of all vital functions in a living creature, the

end of life”

... Or is it?

Body or Soul?

There are two main theories of human nature that have implications of meaningful survival

after death:

• Materialism – the theory that our minds are inseparable from our bodies

• Dualism – the theory that there exist both bodies and minds, distinct from one another, but linked together in some way

Materialism

• Those who support materialism do not accept that there is a separate part to the human body called the ‘soul’.

• An individual is a living, physical body, and nothing more

• At death, the body dies and therefore the whole person ceases to exist

What do you think...?

Something to think about...

Are our body and soul two separate realities, or are we one complex, integrated psycho-

physical system?

Is the mind the same thing as the soul?

Is this all there is to it?

Is there something more?

Gilbert Ryle ‘the concept of the mind’

Ryle argued that the idea of the soul –which he described as

‘the ghost in the machine’- was a ‘category mistake’.

He argued that it was a mistake in the use of language. The

mistake was that it resulted in people speaking of the mind

and the body as different phenomena – as if the soul was

something identifiably extra within a person...

Ryle’s Analogy:

He used the example of a foreigner watching a cricket game and asking ‘But where is the

team spirit?’ The foreigner expected ‘team spirit’ to be something identifiably extra to the players etcetera... This is the same as people

mistaking the idea of a soul

Well, what is meant by the soul?

• The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy defines the soul as...

“The immaterial ‘I’ that possesses conscious experience, controls passion, desire and

action, and maintains a perfect identity from birth (or before birth) to death (or after).”

Something to think about...

Do you consider yourself to be more than ‘a body with a nervous system’?

Is an emotion more than a chemical reaction in your brain?

How do you know your opinion is right?

Hard Materialist

Hard Materialists do not accept that an individual’s

characteristics are anything more than physical ones. Any

idea of consciousness is nothing more than brain activity. The

mind cannot be separated from the body. When the body dies,

then so does the brain.

Soft MaterialistSoft Materialists do not

accept that all characteristics are

physical ones. Consciousness is more

than just a brain process. The mind and body are related and do not act independently of each other. Still however,

there is no believe in an identifiable, extra soul

Three Categories

Hard Materialist:• No Spiritual self• No emotional self

things like love are just a chemical reaction in the Brain

• Only a physical self

Soft Materialist:• No Spiritual Self• There is an emotional self• There is a physical self• Only emotions and the physical self are present

Religious: • There is a spiritual self• There is an emotional self• There is a physical self• All three ‘selves’ are present

The Replica Theory

If you disappeared from the classroom, but then a different ‘version’ of you reappeared in

Australia with the same appearance, memories, experiences, ways of thinking and

opinions as you currently have, is this still you?

‘Un Mundo’ (A World) – Angeles Santos

Dualism, notes

• A dualist approach to mind and body argues that it is the mind that determines our personality, and that the body is an outer shell for the real self.

• The body is contingent and therefore is destined for decay, but the mind, associated with the higher realities, such as truth, goodness and justice, is immortal

• If a man’s life is spend in contemplation of these higher realities, then his soul can enter eternity after the death of the physical body

• This belief is called the immortality of the soul

“An immortal soul temporarily lodged in a physical body”...

• The soul lives on after the death of the body• The soul is only in the body for a limited time,

it’s temporarily lodged there• Therefore, the body isn’t who we are but it’s

just something that gives our true-self (our soul) a physical existence

What does it mean?

Something to think about...“I am dying of a heart condition. I am informed that the

technique exists to transplant my brain into the body of someone who has died of a brain tumour. I agree and my brain is transplanted into this new body. The body works perfectly and all my memories are intact, but I look totally different. My friends and family no longer

recognise me, while the friends and family of the person into whose body my brain has been

transplanted greet me in the street. Who am I? Am I the person who died from a brain tumour or the person

whose brain was transplanted? Could I be a new identity all together?”

It’s quite long, but fascinating to think about...

What is ‘I’?

• To tackle the dilemma on the previous slide, we have to think about what is ‘I’...

• Does anyone have any ideas what ‘I’ could be?

What could ‘I’ be?

The way people recognise you – your physical self

Your personal way of thinking

Your own opinions

Just everything about you

The actions you commit

Things that we are interested in, for example, philosophy!