I’m not sure I completely understand either Descartes’s or Armstrong’s views. It is very interesting. I do believe we all have a soul that can exist without the body and goes to another place once it’s time on earth is done. Armstrong’s criticism of Descartes’ “divisibility argument” has some valid points. For instance is the mind and body equal or subclass of the other? I believe that the mind and body are not equal but that the body cannot survive without the mind. Is the mind housed in the body or is the body a belonging to a specific mind? I do think that a mind is put in a certain body for a certain amount of time and once that time is up, the mind goes to another place. Is the mind able to be taken from a body and put in another body and work? I don’t believe that the mind can be taken from one body and put in another body and work the same. Who would get the body that the mind goes into? Would the owner of the mind’s family get the whole body or would the body’s family get the whole body? I believe that would be confusing for all the families involved. I really don’t think that would work. What happens to a body that is born with two heads? Is there two souls and two minds? What would happen if one head dies? I would assume they would both die but here is an instance that Descartes and Armstrong would find impossible to define. So I’m not sure what I should believe. I do think the mind and the body is separate. I think the mind (soul) goes on to heaven and the body just housed the mind. So the body cannot survive without the mind but the mind can survive without the body. It is weird how the mind controls the body. How it can manipulate the body to do so many different things. Learn a new language or trade. How the mind can make the body compensate for the loss of an arm, leg, speech or eye sight. The mind and body complement each other but the mind does not die. I don’t think the mind can be put into another body and continue on. At this point I believe the mind is housed in the brain and works with the brain and putting the brain in another person body I don’t think the mind would follow. The mind has no mass so how can it be transferred to other bodies without any mass. I don’t think that is possible and don’t know that it that will ever be possible, but I guess we never know what is possible. There’s is minds out there that have brilliant ideas and could one day find a way for minds to be transferred to other bodies.
Work Cited
Armstrong, D.M. (1999). The Mind-Body Problem: An Opinionated Introduction.
Boulder: Westview Press.
Descartes, Rene, (1640/1991). Selections. In Rosenthal, D. (ed.), The Nature of Mind,
(pp.21-37) New York: Oxford University Press.
For advice about how to cite other
Cited: Armstrong, D.M. (1999). The Mind-Body Problem: An Opinionated Introduction. Boulder: Westview Press. Descartes, Rene, (1640/1991). Selections. In Rosenthal, D. (ed.), The Nature of Mind, (pp.21-37) New York: Oxford University Press. For advice about how to cite other
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