The following is an explanation and exposure of two flaws within Al Ghazali’s argument for mind and body independence. Ghazali’s argument is that one can be aware of oneself, yet not be aware of their physical body because the mind/spirit is independent of one’s physical being. By closing one’s eyes and shutting out the physical existence from the mind, one is still able to think and be aware of onself’s existence. Since one’s mind/spirit is able to have awareness without knowing a physical existence, the mind and body must be independent. He concludes that the self is not a body. Ghazali writes “When a person reflects well upon this, he will come to know something of the afterlife”; this reiterates the partitioned existence of the mind and body by asserting that the physical body does not have an afterlife, yet the self does. If the two are dependent on each other, then the body would have an afterlife with the self, however bodies remain corpses on Earth.
Two objections I have about the …show more content…
If the self and body are independent, then when a sperm fertilizes an egg, and a new human is being grown, then that human should have a somewhat working self, according to Ghazali. However, we know that self/mind development is a process that takes work and time starting at conception. As the material brain in a fetus develops, so does their conscious, it is not just intrinsically aware of self. If the mind and body are independent, then self should be intrinsic and not dependent on the growth of a brain. However, fetal activity does not begin until the brain is developed; this has been tracked and shown by MRI’s. If a “mind” is independently present before the development of the brain, then there should be some activity to be seen on an MRI beforehand, but the only evidence of a conscious within fetuses are electrical pulses after the brain is
Two objections I have about the …show more content…
If the self and body are independent, then when a sperm fertilizes an egg, and a new human is being grown, then that human should have a somewhat working self, according to Ghazali. However, we know that self/mind development is a process that takes work and time starting at conception. As the material brain in a fetus develops, so does their conscious, it is not just intrinsically aware of self. If the mind and body are independent, then self should be intrinsic and not dependent on the growth of a brain. However, fetal activity does not begin until the brain is developed; this has been tracked and shown by MRI’s. If a “mind” is independently present before the development of the brain, then there should be some activity to be seen on an MRI beforehand, but the only evidence of a conscious within fetuses are electrical pulses after the brain is