Preview

Dualism Compare And Contrast

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
973 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Dualism Compare And Contrast
People are monists, dualists or pluralists depending on whether or not they believe that reality is composed of one, two or more substances. These positions may be represented as here indicated.
Hindus, Buddhists and Animists are for the most part monists. They believe that reality is one and that everything that exists is a functioning part of that whole which is spirit. Western man for the most part may be called a monist also as he believes that God is dead and matter is the only substance to reality. Bible believing Christians would be pluralists.
In philosophy of mind, monism is usually contrasted with the dualist position that mind and matter are deeply different. Thus, monism is the claim that mind and matter essentially the same. However, this 'sameness' has come in a number of different and contradictory varieties. For example, Hobbes felt that the mental is merely and epiphenomena of the physical, thus the physical is the one real substance (Contemporary materialism is also a form of physicalistic monism (see Churchland, 1996). In direct contrast, Berkeley postulated that the physical is just a
…show more content…
Monism is thus opposed to both dualism and pluralism. Three basic types of monism are recognized: materialistic monism, idealistic monism, and the mind-stuff theory. According to the first doctrine, everything in the universe, including mental phenomena, is reduced to the one category of matter. In the second doctrine, matter is regarded as a form of manifestation of mind; and in the third doctrine, matter and mind are considered merely aspects of each other. Although monistic philosophies date from ancient Greece, the term monism is comparatively recent. It was first used by the 18th-century German philosopher Christian von Wolff to designate types of philosophical thought in which the attempt was made to eliminate the dichotomy of body and

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    vi. Mentalism – the view that only the mind really exists and the physical world could not exist unless some mind were aware of it.…

    • 3216 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Vocabulary Week 1 Hum/130

    • 354 Words
    • 2 Pages

    |7. Monistic |One that believes that all that is alive was created by one person or thing |…

    • 354 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Biological psychology as a scientific discipline later emerged from a variety of scientific and philosophical traditions in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In philosophy, the first issues is how to approach what is known as the "mind-body problem," namely the explanation of the relationship, if any, that obtains between minds, or mental processes, and bodily states or processes. Dualism is a family of views about the relationship between mind and physical matter. It begins with the claim that mental phenomena are, in some respects, non-physical. In Western Philosophy, some of the earliest discussions of dualist ideas are in the writings of Plato and Aristotle. Each of these maintained, but for different reasons, that human "intelligence" (a faculty of the mind or soul) could not be identified with, or explained in terms of, his physical body. However, the best-known version of dualism is due to René Descartes (expressed in his 1641, Meditations on First Philosophy), and holds that the mind is a non-extended, non-physical substance. Descartes was the first to clearly identify the mind with consciousness and self-awareness, and to distinguish this from the brain, which was the seat of intelligence.…

    • 607 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Descartes argues the mind is seperate from the physical body. With advances in nueroscience and the contious brain injuries gives strong evidence in supporting materialism. Defining what Cartesian dualists mean by the brain, mind, body and soul, an argument by Cartesians dualists may be reached. Responding to evidence confronting brain injuries from claims that the brain is only ‘an instrument of the soul’. Concluding there is a simultaneous support for materialism resulting from neuroscience and the Cartesian dualism argument, may be wrong.…

    • 227 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Polytheism: Belief system in which multiple deities are revered as creators and arbiters of all that exists in the universe.…

    • 936 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    For example, the mind provides functions such as thinking, doubting, hating, or desiring. In contrast, the body or brain are mere physical extensions, and simply represent how a person is shaped or the color of their skin. The body and brain do not provide contributions to the mental functioning of a being, and simply provide a physical platform under which the mental, and its own capacities of thought and contemplation, may be housed. As an extension, all things in the universe may be qualified as a body, a physical entity, or a mind, a thinking entity. Additionally, a mind does not need a body to provide it shelter, and regardless of ever having a body, a mind will exist for eternity because it lacks the characteristics of a physical entity, which cause it to degenerate. In conclusion, Substance Dualists perceive the mind and body as separate and distinct substances due to their unique abilities and…

    • 616 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Myth Study Guide

    • 5321 Words
    • 22 Pages

    * Polytheism: The belief and acknowledgement of many gods. Polytheistic cultures include the Greeks, Canaanites and Babylonians.…

    • 5321 Words
    • 22 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Pantheists: A theory that says that a supreme being is everywhere and that everything in the universe contains the spirit of this being.…

    • 464 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    re key words

    • 926 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Theist - Belief in the existence of a god or gods, especially belief in a personal God as creator and ruler of the world.…

    • 926 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Compare & Contrast

    • 2289 Words
    • 10 Pages

    After reading a book and then watching the movie based on that book, generally people will say they feel disappointed because the movie lacks its heart and substance. Even though the movie The Scarlet Letter, directed by Roland Joffé, is based on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, it offers different characters and plot than the novel. However, the book captivates people more. In both, the story takes place in Boston, Massachusetts, in seventeenth century. The Scarlet Letter is about Hester Prynne, a beautiful, young married woman from England who commits adultery with the respected minister Arthur Dimmesdale. When Hester’s husband, Roger Chillingworth comes to Boston after two years’ absence, he finds his wife has been unfaithful to him, and now has a baby, named Pearl. Furious about the betrayal, Chillingworth plots his revenge. The Puritan society is angry at Hester, and pressures her to confess her lover’s name, but she refuses. To punish her, they constrain her to wear the scarlet letter A. In the movie, Demi Moore stars as the pretty woman who commits adultery, Hester Prynne. Gary Oldman plays the admirable Minister Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth is played by Robert Duvall. The Scarlet Letter of Nathaniel Hawthorne is an amazing novel but Roland Joffé’s movie does not catch the essence of the novel, and the changes in characters and plot alter the message of the novel.…

    • 2289 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Appendix E: Part One

    • 372 Words
    • 2 Pages

    * Throughout most of U.S. history in most locations, what race has been the majority? What is the common ancestral background of most members of this group? The majority race in U.S. history was the Caucasians. The most common ancestral background of the Caucasian group is European. There were many other ancestral backgrounds but European was the most common in the United States at the point in time.…

    • 372 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The dualism and monism has so many strengths and weaknesses points to argue by many famous philosophers and scientists. It is because of the mind and body problem still is hard to explain it. The reason is because of different people have different views to see these two theories. For example, the Christian philosophers will agree the dualism, because they believe that our body is "wrapping", and it will be "retired". But our soul will exist after we died. In the other hand, most scientists will believe monism by science's way. It is because they believe that mind and body can't be divided into two separate substances. Because of both of those two substances will affect each other. Also, most of them will not believe that soul will exist after we died.…

    • 1561 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Ap Psychology

    • 13137 Words
    • 53 Pages

    Dualism: the division of the world and all things in it into 2 parts: body and spirit…

    • 13137 Words
    • 53 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Compare & Contrast

    • 871 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Do you want to reduce your stress, improve your health, and get in shape? Are you unsure of what your options may be? Zumba and yoga are two popular fitness classes that you can take to have fun and get in shape. Choose yoga if you want to increase your flexibility and strength while burning fat, or choose Latin dancing Zumba for more focus on your cardio fitness. They are both beneficial in different ways, physically improving you as well as providing great health benefits.…

    • 871 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mind Body Debate

    • 614 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Monism is a scientific approach. In this theory the mind and soul are separate from the physical body. Everything is physical so the mind only influences the body.…

    • 614 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays