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Single Idea 7840

[filed under theme 17. Mind and Body / A. Mind-Body Dualism / 8. Dualism of Mind Critique ]

Full Idea

We may never be able to know whether any material being thinks; it being impossible for us, by contemplation of our own ideas to discover whether Omnipotency has not given to some systems of matter fitly disposed, a power to perceive and think.

Gist of Idea

For all we know, an omnipotent being might have enabled material beings to think

Source

John Locke (Essay Conc Human Understanding (2nd Ed) [1694], 4.03.06)

Book Ref

Locke,John: 'Essay Concerning Human Understanding', ed/tr. Nidditch,P.H. [OUP 1979], p.540

A Reaction

Leibniz attacked this vigorously, but I have to agree with Locke. We now see that it is just as mysterious for 'mental' substance to think as it is for physical substance. If in doubt, apply the Razor, and stick with the substance you know.

The 32 ideas with the same theme [view that dualism is impossible or incorrect]:

2170 Homer does not distinguish between soul and body [Homer, by Williams,B]
24049 Thinkers place the soul within the body, but never explain how they are attached [Aristotle]
1514 Early thinkers concentrate on the soul but ignore the body, as if it didn't matter what body received the soul [Aristotle]
24050 If soul is separate from body, why does it die when the body dies? [Aristotle]
21402 Incorporeal substances can't do anything, and can't be acted upon either [Zeno of Citium, by Cicero]
6028 Bodies interact with other bodies, and cuts cause pain, and shame causes blushing, so the soul is a body [Cleanthes, by Nemesius]
2628 Why would mind mix with matter if it didn't need it? [Cicero]
3625 The 'thinking thing' may be the physical basis of the mind [Hobbes on Descartes]
2552 Knowing different aspects of brain/mind doesn't make them different [Rorty on Descartes]
4305 Descartes gives no clear criterion for individuating mental substances [Cottingham on Descartes]
4861 Does Descartes have a clear conception of how mind unites with body? [Spinoza on Descartes]
6540 Even Descartes may concede that mental supervenes on neuroanatomical [Lycan on Descartes]
7733 Superman's strength is indubitable, Clark Kent's is doubtful, so they are not the same? [Maslin on Descartes]
23222 A soul with physical extension is more likely than an immaterial soul that moves bodies [Elizabeth]
4308 Mind and body are one thing, seen sometimes as thought and sometimes as extension [Spinoza]
4846 We are incapable of formulating an idea which excludes the existence of our body [Spinoza]
7840 For all we know, an omnipotent being might have enabled material beings to think [Locke]
7645 When falling asleep, the soul becomes paralysed and weak, just like the body [La Mettrie]
5589 Neither materialism nor spiritualism can reveal the separate existence of the soul [Kant]
5630 Our concept of an incorporeal nature is merely negative [Kant]
19596 The whole body is involved in the formation of thoughts [Novalis]
14867 It is just madness to think that the mind is supernatural (or even divine!) [Nietzsche]
5171 The supposed 'gulf' between mind and matter is based on the senseless concept of 'substances' [Ayer]
3359 Cartesian dualism fails because it can't explain mental causation [Kim]
7365 Dualism wallows in mystery, and to accept it is to give up [Dennett]
3513 How does a dualist mind represent, exist outside space, and be transparent to itself? [Papineau]
4982 Dualism implies some brain events with no physical cause, and others with no physical effect [Kirk,R]
2955 If mental events occur in time, then relativity says they are in space [Lockwood]
5343 People largely came to believe in dualism because it made human agents free [Flanagan]
6527 If energy in the brain disappears into thin air, this breaches physical conservation laws [Lycan]
6528 In lower animals, psychology is continuous with chemistry, and humans are continuous with animals [Lycan]
4912 Out-of-body experiences may be due to temporary loss of proprioception [Carter,R]