Single Idea 21402

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

Full Idea

Zeno held that an incorporeal substance was incapable of any activity, whereas anything capable of acting, or being acted upon in any way, could not be incorporeal.

Gist of Idea

Incorporeal substances can't do anything, and can't be acted upon either

Source

report of Zeno (Citium) (fragments/reports [c.294 BCE]) by M. Tullius Cicero - Academica I.11.39

Book Reference

Cicero: 'De Natura Deorum and Academica (XIX)', ed/tr. Rackham,H. [Harvard Loeb 1933], p.449


A Reaction

This is substance dualism kicked into the long grass by Zeno, long before Descartes defended dualism, and was swiftly met with exactly the same response. The interaction problem.