These larger questions of the soul and the mind and their existence beyond human death has been debated and explored throughout time. Yet, we lack hard evidence to support the idea of the existence of the soul and its continued ‘life’ beyond the death of the body. Individuals have not returned from the grave to transmit this knowledge in any manner that can be tested, studied, and deemed true. What a soul is and why we have it is unique to the human experience. The Abrahamic traditions defines the soul as the “I” that lives within our body and acts through it. The soul is what makes each individual unique according to theologian Thomas Aquinas. Noted philosophers Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, all argued that the psyche or, the soul, was the “crown of the logical facilities”. Yet the mind is responsible for processing our human experiences and storing them as learned experiences that shape and mold our continued existence.…
Examine and comment on the claim that the mind and body are the same, with reference to the topic you have investigated.…
Humans seem to be an entity made up by a combination of both physical properties and mental properties. Folk psychology of soul proposed by Bering (2006) suggested “common-sense mind-body dualism” is a cognitive adaptation that evolved through natural selection. According to this quote, it is believed that individual is fundamentally constituted of body, mind and volition. For centuries, people have tried to discover what makes an individual from philosophical, psychological and physiological perspectives. At different stages of this knowledge in understanding human beings, behaviourism, humanism and the study of consciousness will be critically evaluated in this discussion.…
Descartes said ‘ My essence consists solely in the fact that I am a thinking thing’. This, if true, implies that our consciousness is separate from our bodies and so we must be able to exist without said bodies. This of course would then falsify the statement as disembodied life after death would be possible. Indeed, there are many who dispute this argument and one who would agree with the given statement is Bernard William who claims that characteristics and memories can be falsified. He would argue that because our memories can be lost and altered with certain drugs, accidents and illnesses such as Alzheimer’s; the main part of what makes us- us is the link between our minds and our physical form (our bodies). It would then follow that the only plausible after-death-existence would be embodied. It is the first point made by Descartes and many others which this essay will lean towards as it will be argued that disembodied existence is as philosophically plausible, if not more so than embodied.…
The ________________ are located at the top of the brain and contain the somatosensory cortex, which receives information about pressure, pain, touch, and temperature from all over the body.…
The Synopsis: Star Trek Episode “The Measure of a Man” deals with the thought that android could have physical and mental properties. In order to fully understand or evaluate this we have to have a clear understanding of the Mind/Body Problems and solutions. Humans are material objects consisting of physical and mental properties. Physical properties examples are height, weight, color, shape or size and mental properties are awareness, consciousness, feeling, thinking, emotions and senses. The problem arises because these properties interact where intentional or unintentional continuously. Hasker discusses several mind/body solutions such as idealism, materialism, behaviorism, dualism, and emergentism.…
One definition of death is the the complete and permanent cessation of all vital functions in a living creature, the end if life. All philosophers agree that our earthly life in our physical form will end; however philosophers disagree on the meaning of end of life as many people agree on death as the end of our existence however while others argue that we continue in some form after death. Many ideas relating to our existence after death include; the continuation of our genes thought our descendants, immortality of the soul, resurrection of the body, reincarnation and the idea that we live on in memories of others. Many religious beliefs are based on the idea that humans possess a "soul" or "spirit" which exists independently of the body. The notion of life after death is therefore of central concern to religious believers and it is important to establish what surviving death exactly means. There are two main theories developed for the meaningful survival after death: materialism and dualism.…
Many theories have been challenged throughout the history of psychology. Mind vs. Body is one of the most important issues that has formed the basic foundation in this field today. One of the central questions in psychology and philosophy concerns the mind-body problem: Is the mind part of the body, or the body part of the mind? If they are distinct, then how do they interact? And which of the two is in charge? (McLeod, 2007). Philosophers have examined the relationship between the two and have proposed a variety of approaches to support their arguments.…
Since the dawn of history, people have pondered the idea of what happens after death. The questions and beliefs surrounding ‘after death’ have profound implications for the values, faith and behaviour of most people.…
Death is a dreaded word. It is a word that many people would not want to talk about. Death is considered a morbid word and many would not find this as an engaging topic. According to Patricelli (2007), “[d]eath remains a great mystery, one of the central issues with which religion and philosophy and science have wrestled since the beginning of human history. Even though dying is a natural part of existence, American culture is unique in the extent to which death is viewed as a taboo topic. Rather than having open discussions, we tend to view death as a feared enemy that can and should be defeated by modern medicine and machines”. There are also people that have negative connotations about death, rendering life even meaningless because of it. Death appears to render life meaningless for many people because they feel that there is no point in developing character or increasing knowledge if our progress is ultimately going to be thwarted by death (Augustine, 2000). But the author contends that there is a point in developing character and increasing knowledge before death overtakes us: to provide peace of mind and intellectual satisfaction to our lives and to the lives of those we care about for their own sake because pursuing these goals enriches our lives. From the fact that death is inevitable it does not follow that nothing we do matters now. On the contrary, our lives matter a great deal to us. If they did not, we would not find the idea of our own death so distressing--it wouldn't matter that our lives will come to an end. The fact that we're all eventually going to die has no relevance to whether our activities are worthwhile in the here and now: For an ill patient in a hospital a doctor's efforts to alleviate pain certainly does matter despite the fact that 'in the end' both the doctor and the patient will be dead (Augustine).…
Death is a necessity to culture and society therefore it is irrational to fear the unenviable and the necessary. Death whether physical or non-physical will always cause change. The change that is caused by death does not always have to be direct but can manifest itself as an indirect change. Throughout time societies have risen and fallen, times changes, nothing is ever going to stay the same. Death is a factor that will impact everyone who is alive as they will meet death. As society’s change and cultures evolve so do the people; to keep change occurring death must ensue for creation to occur. Society’s and cultures depend on death. Death is the drive of progression which drives society’s and cultures to get farther from the unetible death.…
Throughout all recorded history mankind has battled to find answers to each and every one of life’s questions and to some avail found quite a few; still, one question that has yet to be answered pertains to the possibility of life after death. Some argue that the idea of survival of consciousness without a body is extremely impractical and out of the question; however, when relying on only practical evidence alone it is hard to formulate a concrete theory. On the other hand, when we look at things such as cross-cultural studies on near death experiences and their underlying similarities we can utilize them as clues to suggest the possibility of an afterlife. Using both logic and intuition we should be able to gain some insight on the matter.…
“Social psychologists are interested in who we are. Our sense of self is affected by what we know about the self and by the people around us. The self is a powerful force. The self affects how we feel, what we think we can do, and what we in fact do.” (pg. 32).…
Philosophers have been debating for centuries the relationship between the mind and the body and whether they are separate entities, or if they are one. This is known as the mind/body problem. If the mind being our consciousness and the body being our brain is separate parts, do they relate to each other or work together? If they are one, do they depend on each other? The idea that the mind and body are one is called monism. The idea that the mind and body are separate is called dualism (Newall, 2005).…
In this paper I will argue that the mind is better known than the body. There are two main reasons I can say this according to Rene Descartes: meditation 1 all I know is that I don’t have knowledge and meditation 2 I know that I exist because I think.…