Compare And Contrast Materialism And Dualism

The mind-body problem is a severely complex issue of metaphysics. The two most prominent solutions to this issue are materialism and dualism, both of which are seemingly the most different of the stances that one could possibly take on the problem. Materialism sticks to an extremely strict viewpoint that a person and his or her identity, mind, and entire being consists of his or her body. On the other hand, dualism suggests a more mysterious and, at times, religious or spiritual approach where the body and mind are two separate entities that somehow interact with each other. Personally, while I find the idea of dualism fascinating and even comforting, and prefer the idea of some middle ground like with double aspectism, I find materialism to
This viewpoint contends that the mind and the body are distinct entities with the ability to interact and affect each other. One phenomenon that seems to support this view is the occurrence in quantum physics where the observation of an event from a conscious mind seems to have an effect on the outcome of said event. This seems to provide some potential evidence for the possible existence of a nonphysical mind since the perception of something is nonphysical as well. One substantial argument against dualism is a direct response to one of its own arguments for it. Richard Taylor refers to it as “argument from introspection” in his own breakdown of dualism. This argument essentially consist of the fact that “when you center your attention on the contents of your consciousness, you do not clearly apprehend a neural network pulsing with electrochemical activity” (Taylor 162). Possibly the most solid argument against dualism is simply that a nonphysical mind cannot be proved and to argue that it may exist even if it cannot be proved does not provide any considerable support to the