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Single Idea 3409

[filed under theme 17. Mind and Body / A. Mind-Body Dualism / 2. Interactionism ]

Full Idea

Since Cartesian dualism implies causation from outside of the physical domain, this means there can be no complete physical theory of the physical domain.

Gist of Idea

Mental substance causation makes physics incomplete

Source

Jaegwon Kim (Philosophy of Mind [1996], p.147)

Book Ref

Kim,Jaegwon: 'Philosophy of Mind' [Westview 1998], p.147


A Reaction

This, I think, should be taken as a very strong argument against dualism, rather than as bad news for physics. Some exception might make the closure of physics impossible, but the claim that our brain is the exception looks highly suspect.


The 18 ideas with the same theme [mind and matter mutually affect one another]:

All the emotions seem to involve the body, simultaneously with the feeling [Aristotle]
The soul (or parts of it) is not separable from the body [Aristotle]
Only bodies can touch one another [Lucretius]
The contact of spirit and body is utterly amazing, and incomprehensible [Augustine]
Things must have parts to intermingle [Gassendi]
The soul must unite with the body to have appetites and sensations [Descartes]
Interaction between mental and physical seems to violate the principle of conservation of energy [Rowlands on Descartes]
The pineal gland links soul to body, and unites the two symmetrical sides of the body [Descartes, by PG]
Descartes discussed the interaction problem, and compared it with gravity [Descartes, by Lycan]
Mind and brain don't interact if they are the same [Searle]
Mental substance causation makes physics incomplete [Kim]
Cartesians consider interaction to be a miracle [Fodor]
Semantics v syntax is the interaction problem all over again [Fodor]
Body-spirit interaction ought to result in losses and increases of energy in the material world [Teichmann]
The very concept of a substance denies the possibility of mutual interaction and dependence [Scruton]
Maybe dualist interaction is possible at the quantum level? [Chalmers]
Supervenience makes interaction laws possible [Chalmers]
If causation is just regularities in events, the interaction of mind and body is not a special problem [Heil]