What Is Substance Dualism

I. Introduction

Philosophy itself is a complex topic, which has many integral parts that make up what it is. Philosophy is defined as the love of wisdom. The study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence, especially when considered as an academic discipline. It tries to explain many aspects in everyday life. The three main branches of philosophy are metaphysics, which asks the question of what is reality or the nature of reality? Epistemology, which asks how we know what we know? Finally, Ethics, which asks how we should live in light of what we know about reality? Each of these branches contribute to answering the many problems and questions humans have had over their whole existence. One of the biggest debates that
The questions which arise from this topic, is whether the mind and the body are of the same nature? How are the mind and body related? Do the mind and the body interact with each other, or does each one do its own thing? If they do interact with each other, then how is that possible? Are the mind and the human body, or better yet the brain, made of the same substance?

A. Dualistic Views

In respect to the mind-body problem there is two types of dualism. The first one is substance dualism and the second one is property dualism. Substance dualism states that two types of substances exist, the mental and the physical. The mind harbors our consciousness and our thoughts, while the physical body has the brain, hormones and neurotransmitters. While property dualism says that there is only one substance in our head but it has two totally different sets of properties.

1. Substance
The world is made up of both physical and mental things. Minds are their own separate thing. They are nonphysical substance that cannot be explained in terms of physical things such as brains. Both things do not interact with one another. But human beings are the exception. The human being incorporates both distinct substances. These are the material body and the immaterial mind. Both of these substances actually interact with each other inside humans. This is known as interactionism. Where two entities, in this case mind and body, can have an effect on each other. For example, when someone makes up their mind go to the gym, they have to compel their body to drive to the gym and lift weights. Likewise, our bodies are also able to affect our minds. When somebody gets bitten by a dog, they might get traumatized and thus in the future when they encounter a dog they develop a panicked state of mind. This interaction between both substances brings up the problem of how a purely nonphysical mental thing is able to have an effect on something purely physical like our body.

A strong supporter of substance dualism is Rene Descartes. Famous for his line "Cogito ergo sum" (Descartes). Which when it is translated into English means "I think therefore I am" (Descartes). Descartes believed that he could doubt the existence of his body, but not of the mind. The fact that he was able to doubt one but