Hergé

Dualism vs Materialism The mind/body problem, the question of what is the relationship between the mind and the body, is commonly seen as a key issue in the philosophy of the mind (Sober, 2013, p. 204). The two categories of views discussed in Sober’s ‘Core Questions in Philosophy’ that attempt to resolve the mind/body problem are dualism and materialism. Dualism is the theory that the mind and the brain are two fundamentally different substances (Sober, 2013, p. 204). Conversely, materialism…

Past life regression is the process of going back in time to one's previous existence, while under hypnosis. Past life regression, also known as PLR fist became known in the case of Bridley Murphy in 1952. Virginia Tighe while under hypnosis reported a vision of a 19th century Irish woman named Bridley Murphy. Further investigations still have not determined if there ever was a 19th century Irish woman named Bridley Murphy. It is fact however, that Ms. Tighe as a child lived across the street…

Old conventions change slowly. For instance, severe social problems—religious groups’ pessimistic perspective on homosexuality or people’s unregenerate perspective of racism—cannot change within a few years. Likewise, old habits never go away from people’s unconscious routines, same as crumpling up a piece of paper with one hand. When most people believe that breaking habits is as hard as breaking a rock with a drop of water, Charles Duhigg, the author of The Power of Habit, claims that habits…

For Locke, personal identity does not subsist on the substance it is made of, be it of physical or spiritual nature (p. 16-17). For, if personal identity would rely on physical matter, it would mean that losing an arm or leg would constitute a new identity. Locke says that by seeing a person without an arm as the same person they were with the arm, is proof that “the substance whereof personal self consisted at one time may be varied at another” (p. 15). Thus, if the physical is not what…

The question concerning what makes up the self is an ancient one. From Early philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle, to modern philosophers such as Rene´ Descartes and David Hume as well as many others, that question is fundamental. Though several theories of what makes up the self exist, we find that one heavily argued theory is dualism. Hence, I will against Aristotle’s point of view of the self and dualism. TERMS First, however, it is important to establish certain terms and their meaning…

Looking at the picture of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, I can notice several things right away. The picture shows a cave that resembles a grave. People are living in the cave and there is an obvious contrast to the person and the world outside the cave. Life for those people in the cave looks dismal, pathetic and sad. It makes me have questions about them, like what happened? A small part of the picture shows a better situation. The allegory describes the people in the cave to be like…

As stated by the famous surrealist artist, Rene Magritte, “Everything we see hides another thing, we always want to see what is hidden by what we see”. Majority of his paintings were done during the surrealism movement. This movement began in the 20th century and it allowed artists and writers to tap into the unconscious minds of individuals through their creative works. Rene Magritte used common everyday objects in his paintings and transformed them into cryptic and thought provoking images…

Searle and Descartes being separated by nearly four centuries provides a rough landscape for a philosophical discussion to be conducted upon. Both Searle and Descartes have inherent biases based upon their location on the timeline, Searle with modern science and Descartes with religion and the church. Being that the two are opposed, I think that Searle is able to articulate effectively his positions and respond to Descartes’ claims properly. If positioned at the same location along the timeline…

When we fall asleep and we dream how do we distinguish if what we are seeing or imagining is real or not? How do we even know if we are imagining what we are seeing, or if what we are seeing is actuality? Based on The Matrix, humans are always in a dream-like state. The film depicts humans attached to a huge artificial intelligence system called the Matrix run by evil machines. This system controls the human mind and conveys it with virtual reality depicting life. In the film, after Morpheus…

Human beings are thinking creatures but they are more than that. They live their lives with different memories and experiences to guide them along the way. To prove that a person knows whom they are by proving that they think is nonsensical. Within Descartes’s meditation is the nature of humans will be shown through the thinking thing or cogito but this is not accurate at all because humans are more complex beings than just thinking things. First, I will demonstrate what the second meditation,…