The general argument that supports the existence of the soul is the idea that there is immaterial beyond the physical. This immaterial world holds concepts like objective right and wrong, the soul, perfect ideals, and humanness. These challenges in support of the immaterial domain is supported by religious doctrine, Plato’s theories, and analysis of realities where physical reductionist theories struggle. In this essay, I will attempt to present the most credible challenges from my opponents.…
Another possible solution to Putnam’s argument is to reject semantic externalism altogether. This debate however, extends into the broader realm of…
References: Hasker, W. (1983). Metaphysics: Constructing a World View. (1st ed.). Downers Grove: IL: InterVarsity Press.…
“The relationship between the object and the intervening spaces is not formal: it is always rooted in the context of a particular setting” Dalibor Vesely (in Brooker and Stone, 2007, p. 57).…
Incommensurability between propositional logic’s use of abstraction and the layman’s attachment to sentimental attachments to things such as pride, sense of self, etc. have always existed and continue to do so in the modern era. In some instances, this can be beneficial, as it forces logicians to look at the real world implications of their work and find disparities between their arguments and the actualities of the world. However, there are times when the opponents of abstraction are not merely pointing out its flaws, but are failing to comprehend how any individual could take out the sentimental aspects of the world, as abstraction does. This leads to an immense issue of incommensurability. This failure in communication has occurred throughout…
I believe Jackson’s ‘Knowledge Argument’ is a successful objection to ‘Physicalism’ (the doctrine that the entire world is physical), consequently proving it is false. I am of this view because the argument is successful in establishing the claim: ‘There are truths about consciousness that cannot be deduced from the complete physical truth’. In my view the ‘Knowledge Argument’ as it stands, is without an objection that entails its falsity, as Jackson and other supporters of the argument have been successful in there endeavors to defend the argument against its numerous objections. This paper will briefly discuss how the ‘Knowledge Argument’ (in its most simplistic form) successfully articulates its objection against ‘Physicalism’. The more…
When we consider psycho-physical identity statements about the mind and body, theoretically they should be analogous to type-identity statements in the external world. For instance when we discover that water is H2O, when presented with evidence, we do not feel inclined to ask why this is the case. However even after ample scientific evidence that pain is in fact c-fibres firing, we would still tend to raise questions as to why pain feels this certain way and not any other way. This impression that despite sufficient physical knowledge the relation is still unexplained is precisely what Levine points out in “Materialism and qualia: the explanatory gap”.…
The notion of Persistence gives way to several predominant theories; of which, attempt to account for many possible questions that arise from it. As in most cases of debate, when more than one account of such is held to be true, there will clearly be much disagreement. Two views that claim to account accurately for persistence that remain widely known are , that of an endurantist (Threeist) and that of a perdurantist (Twoist). The endurantist will hold that objects are wholly present at all times, a persistent object endures' over time. The conflicting view of a perdurantist claims that objects are actually composed of temporal parts, more precisely, proper temporal parts. Further, a Twoist (vs. Oneist), will say that a name most often refers to the sum of one's temporal parts, whereas a Threeist believes a name to refer to one who is wholly present during all times of its existence. The two opposing theories stated very simply, as above, give insight as to the nature of their arguments against one another. It does seem, however, that the Twoist's account of persistence gives an exceedingly useful notion in regards towards many more subjects of philosophy, as well as an explanation that accounts for much more in terms of the problems associated strictly with persistence itself.…
Ryle’s university is a “category mistake” in assuming that the university exists in the same way that libraries, museums, and laboratories do. Similarly, dualists make a category mistake in assuming that minds exist the same way as the body. Minds, like universities, are simply complex patterns of behavior.…
The 1967 film, The Graduate, staring Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft contains a plethora of human idiosyncrasies that would be of the utmost interest to the psychoanalytic minds of both Freud and Lacan. For this reading, I will focus on the theories of both Freud and Lacan in accordance with textual evidence to prove that Benjamin Braddock never achieves happiness in the end of the film, but has only just prolonged his quest to fight a miserable human existence.…
Proposition 1: Interpretivists do generalise and this is inevitable – though they may deny the possibility of generalisation, or ignore the issue.…
Early in the section of Churchland's essay entitled "Arguments Against Dualism," he poses the question, "Can the dualist tell us anything about the internal constitution of mind stuff? Of the non-material elements that make it up?" (Churchland, p.315). He goes on to reply that the dualists have made no such explanation. However, this interjection is begging the question since it involves the assumption that mind stuff consists of elements, and furthermore that such elements are comprehendible to the human mind.…
Luther’s position on the authority of the state was influenced by the teachings of morality by William of Ockham called Nominalism. Ockham teaches that the arbitrary will of God determines wrong from right, therefore, man must humbly submit to the unintelligible will of God; man takes no part in the work of achieving his grace and salvation. Luther, accepting this notion of morality, consequently developed the basis of his theological and political ideas.…
We link Durkheim with social fact, and Weber withVerstehen. Durkheim's writings led to functionalism while Weber's writing led to symbolic interactionism.…
According to Stephen Pepper(1942), provides a model for understanding phenomena, and it is often unconscious. He had six world views…