Socrates and Descartes on Dual Essay Example

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. In the Phaedo, Socrates argues that the body is attached to the soul but that the soul can exist independently of it. In fact, as the body drags the soul around, it only confuses the soul with its senses and does not allow the soul to obtain truth and wisdom. The only way the soul can find pure knowledge or reality is to become separate from the body since "the soul reasons best when none of the senses troubles it… but when it is most by itself, taking leave of the body… in its search for reality" (Plato 102). In the pursuit of knowledge, the only way to discover reality is to separate the body from the soul. This freedom from the body is called death. This does not mean that one should live in a state close to death, but one should not fear death. Socrates explains that " our souls… existed apart from the body before they took on a human form" (Plato 115). Since our souls were alive before we existed, then according to Socrates, our souls exist after death also. Souls exist in two ways after death. If a person is good and follows the practices of philosophy, then their soul will "make its way to the invisible, which like itself, the divine and immortal and wise" (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