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Single Idea 22105

[filed under theme 17. Mind and Body / A. Mind-Body Dualism / 1. Dualism ]

Full Idea

It is necessary to say that that which is the principle of intellective activity, what we call the soul of a human being, is an incorporeal, subsistent principle.

Gist of Idea

The human intellectual soul is an incorporeal, subsistent principle

Source

Thomas Aquinas (Summa Theologicae [1265], Ia.Q75 2c), quoted by Kretzmann/Stump - Aquinas, Thomas 10

Book Ref

'Shorter Routledge Encyclopaedia of Philosophy', ed/tr. Craig,Edward [Routledge 2005], p.39

A Reaction

Note 'subsistent' rather than 'existent' (capable of independence?). This identifies the immortal soul with the conscious mind. 'Principle' is an odd word, presumably with roots in Aristotle. It seems to be an Aristotelian 'form' [morphe].

The 22 ideas with the same theme [mind and matter are two quite different substances]:

3519 Man uses his body, so must be separate from it [Anon (Plat), by Maslin]
1710 Emotion involves the body, thinking uses the mind, imagination hovers between them [Aristotle]
13307 If everything can be measured, try measuring the size of a man's soul [Seneca]
21809 Our soul has the same ideal nature as the oldest god, and is honourable above the body [Plotinus]
21825 The soul is outside of all of space, and has no connection to the bodily order [Plotinus]
18458 The soul is bound to matter by the force of its own disposition [Porphyry]
22105 The human intellectual soul is an incorporeal, subsistent principle [Aquinas]
24028 The force by which we know things is spiritual, and quite distinct from the body [Descartes]
3608 I can deny my body and the world, but not my own existence [Descartes]
3613 Reason is universal in its responses, but a physical machine is constrained by its organs [Descartes]
2276 The mind is a non-extended thing which thinks [Descartes]
2298 Mind is not extended, unlike the body [Descartes]
3423 Descartes is a substance AND property dualist [Descartes, by Kim]
2303 The mind is utterly indivisible [Descartes]
5011 There are two ultimate classes of existence: thinking substance and extended substance [Descartes]
19409 Soul represents body, but soul remains unchanged, while body continuously changes [Leibniz]
5585 Soul and body connect physically, or by harmony, or by assistance [Kant]
22039 Geist is distinct from nature, not as a substance, but because of its normativity [Hegel, by Pinkard]
14802 Physical and psychical laws of mind are either independent, or derived in one or other direction [Peirce]
2620 Dualism is a category mistake [Ryle]
4069 Descartes did not think of minds as made of a substance, because they are not divisible [Crane]
8289 The idea that Cartesian souls are made of some ghostly 'immaterial' stuff is quite unwarranted [Lowe]