Philosophy Paper on Dualism (Essay Sample)

Student’s Name Professor’s name Course Date Dualism According to Cartesian dualism, humans are made of two distinct substances: the body and the mind (Thibaut 3). Dualism claims that the body and mind are different but not separated. The body belongs to the mind, which is the thinking process. As such, the two are referred to as substance dualism. Another scholar remarks that the psychical and mental elements belong to the person hence the property dualism. A person has the two types of properties, mental and physical. Moreover, Nigel, a philosophical scholar, strengthens the dual aspect theory advocating for the two elements where the body has physical features and experience while the mind processes experience and mental states. Conversely, physicalism or materialism defends one element, the body. Per materialism, mental experiences and brain are identical since mental can be reduced to physical (Thibaut 8). On the contrary, dualism suggests there are only the body and brain processes with physical features and mental properties, states, and experiences; hence, something is not physical cannot be reduced to physical. Rene Descartes, a philosopher, argued in favor of dual concept theory. He suggested that the mind is purely independent of the body, and the body is completely independent of the mind. A person can sense dualism by saying, "My mind has a body.” In that statement, the self will exist in consciousness, and the body will be the machine controlled by the mind. Notably, in dualism, one can support the body and mind being different by considering the two elements' divisibility. The human mind is free and indivisible. On the other hand, the body is divisible, and the physical universe's laws determine in infinite divisibility of the body. Besides, the consideration makes the body and mind appear as separate entities. Consequently, dualism appeals to the mind indivisibility (Brooke 19). If people rely on their consciousness, that may imply the body can die, and consciousness prevails. Descartes recognizes a problem with dualism. The issue within dualism is noted as a mind-body problem (Brooke 11). The core is how the mind relates to the body. Someone can ask if my body and mind exist independently, what connect them? Observably, my mind controls my body. If I sign up for lunch at noon, my body usually shows up at noon, right on time. I can assert that it is not by coincidence that my body shows up for lunch at that time. If the body and mind were separate entities, then consciousness and physicality should not connect. The question remains, how...