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The Mind-Body Relation: Ancient Western Views

Explore the evolution of the mind-body relation from ancient Western views to modern philosophical perspectives such as dualism and proposed solutions. Discover how different philosophers, including Democritus, Plato, Descartes, and more, have grappled with the complex nature of consciousness and existence.

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The Mind-Body Relation: Ancient Western Views

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  1. The Mind-Body Relation: Ancient Western Views Democritus (fl. 450BCE) Lucretius (94-55 BCE) • Materialism: all things (including minds/souls & mental events) are bodies in motion • Dualism: the soul is an immortal life force distinct from the body; its search for truth is moral desire Plato (427-347 BCE) • Aristotle: the soul is the form of a body: the life of plants, the sensation/motion of animals, the mind of human beings (384-322 BCE)

  2. The Hindu Self • The experienced part of person (the conscious self and body) differs from the all-pervading divine Self, which is not known or reasoned to • Sankara: The phenomenal world (including selves) does not exist (788-820) • Ramanuja: The phenomenal self is a modification of the inner self (God/Brahman) (1077-1157)

  3. Mind-Body Dualism (1596-1650) (1637-78) • René Descartes: human beings are composed of a material body and an immaterial mind that are distinct but linked through the pineal gland • Problem: Interaction. Proposed solutions: • Anne Conway: bodies are not really different from souls; both express different degrees of how reality is organized and expressed

  4. Other Proposed Solutions to Mind-Body Dualism (1646-1716) (1632-77) • Baruch Spinoza: mind and body are simply different ways in which God is expressed (dual aspect monism) • G. W. Leibniz: mental and physical events happen independently of one another but are harmonized by God (parallelism)

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