Essay Socrates And Descartes On Dual - 693 Words

Socrates and Descartes on Dualism Dualism means the complete separation of the mental world and the physical world. In philosophy, it is the theory that the universe is explicable only as a whole composed of two distinct and mutually exclusive factors: the mind and the body. Socrates and Plato are called dualists because they think that mind and body are separate and distinct substances. Mind is conscious and non-spatial and body is spatial but not conscious. While separate, these two substances interact. Both Socrates and Descartes argue that the mind and body are separable and immortal. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; In the Phaedo, Socrates argues that the body is attached to the soul but that the soul can exist independently of it.†¦show more content†¦Souls exist in two ways after death. If a person is good and follows the practices of philosophy, then their soul will quot;make its way to the invisible, which like itself, the divine and immortal and wisequot; (Plato 120). Here it will exist free of human ills such as ignorance, confusion, and fear, and spend its time with the gods. However, if a person thinks they know what they do not know and does not follow the practices of philosophy, then their soul will wander aimlessly until it is forced to its proper dwelling place. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Descartes agrees with Plato that the mind and body are separable and infinite by using his method of doubt to show that he could not doubt the existence of his mind. As doubting involved thought, and thought needs a consciousness to think it, Descartes was sure that he could not doubt his mind existed: cogito ergo sum quot;I think therefore I amquot;. He claims to know what a thinking think is, and he regards himself as a thinking thing. Although Descartes generally agrees with Plato on this subject, he disagrees that there is necessarily a physical body at all. Descartes did think that it was possible to doubt the existence of his body. 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