Compare And Contrast Plato's Theory Of Substance Dualism

Dualism has been the centre theory for the philosophy of mind since the adaptation of Plato’s original ideas about the world and the metaphysical world. However, with the fast paced development of modern age Science and further post enlightenment philosophy. There have been a number of challenges to Descartes’ position; such as the ontological reduction of the mind to the brain proposed by Mind-Brain Identity Theory. Descartes’ is known for his enlightenment, rationalist philosophy. Perhaps his most significant theory is his modern adaptation of Plato’s doctrine of antitheses. Plato supposed that the body belongs to the physical universe made of imperfect changing material, whereas the mind/soul exists in a metaphysical realm made of perfect ideas.
Similarly, Descartes claims that there two kinds of substances: the physical matter (E.g. the body) and the metaphysical (E.g. mind/soul). He then concluded that because these substances are separate, they must have distinct essential properties to one and other. The body can be seen as physical, within space time, doubtable and the body decays. In contrast, the soul can is considered metaphysical, a non-temporal substance, not within space time and incapable of decaying. This led to the …show more content…
Cartesian Dualism is unable to account for how the mind is divisible should it be an immaterial substance. Whereas the mind being divisible gives very strong evidence to Mind-Brain Identity theory, as it seems to indicate that physical processes on the brain affect the mind pointing to the mind being physical and at least, within or apart of the mind. Despite this, one could not take the research far enough to state that the mind is the same as the brain, but at least is ontologically reducible to the