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Single Idea 6153
[filed under theme 17. Mind and Body / A. Mind-Body Dualism / 2. Interactionism
]
Full Idea
It is often argued that any interaction between the physical and the mental - as defined by Descartes - would require a violation of the first law of thermodynamics, the principle of conservation of energy.
Gist of Idea
Interaction between mental and physical seems to violate the principle of conservation of energy
Source
comment on René Descartes (Meditations [1641]) by Mark Rowlands - Externalism Ch.2
Book Ref
Rowlands,Mark: 'Externalism' [Acumen 2003], p.11
A Reaction
This would be because consciousness is adding energy to the system (in order to generate movement) without it having come from anywhere else in the physical system. A good objection, which only a miracle could overcome.
The
18 ideas
with the same theme
[mind and matter mutually affect one another]:
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24039
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All the emotions seem to involve the body, simultaneously with the feeling
[Aristotle]
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24056
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The soul (or parts of it) is not separable from the body
[Aristotle]
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5695
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Only bodies can touch one another
[Lucretius]
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6683
|
The contact of spirit and body is utterly amazing, and incomprehensible
[Augustine]
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3400
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Things must have parts to intermingle
[Gassendi]
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3616
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The soul must unite with the body to have appetites and sensations
[Descartes]
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6153
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Interaction between mental and physical seems to violate the principle of conservation of energy
[Rowlands on Descartes]
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3654
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The pineal gland links soul to body, and unites the two symmetrical sides of the body
[Descartes, by PG]
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6553
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Descartes discussed the interaction problem, and compared it with gravity
[Descartes, by Lycan]
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3469
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Mind and brain don't interact if they are the same
[Searle]
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3409
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Mental substance causation makes physics incomplete
[Kim]
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2446
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Cartesians consider interaction to be a miracle
[Fodor]
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2445
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Semantics v syntax is the interaction problem all over again
[Fodor]
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9293
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Body-spirit interaction ought to result in losses and increases of energy in the material world
[Teichmann]
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3911
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The very concept of a substance denies the possibility of mutual interaction and dependence
[Scruton]
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2409
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Maybe dualist interaction is possible at the quantum level?
[Chalmers]
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2411
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Supervenience makes interaction laws possible
[Chalmers]
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4590
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If causation is just regularities in events, the interaction of mind and body is not a special problem
[Heil]
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