Soul Man

Boy, is my C-fiber ever firing in quadrant D11 of cerebral cortex LP! Translation: today's assigned reading is making my brain overheat!

Dualistic Interactionism is defined as "the view that there are two types of substance or reality in conscious beings, mind and matter, and that these interact with each other, the body producing mental events and the mind leading to physical action" (282).

This explanation makes common sense. As Pojman points out, "Intuitively, there seem to be two different types of reality: material and mental...Bodies are solid, material entities, extended in three-dimensional space, publicly observable, measurable, and capable of causing things to happen in accordance with the invariant laws of mechanics...mental entities have no shape, weight, length, width, height, color, mass, velocity, or temperature...Yet, common sense tells us that these two entities somehow interact" (225-6).

Rene Descartes believed that "the mind interacts only with the brain" which is "the classic expression of dualastic interactionism" (230).

However, there are also some compelling arguments against Dualistic Interactionism. First, no one has identified how the mind/soul and brain interact or pinpointed where the exchange takes place. Secondly, it is not easily reconciled with physics. The third objection is philosophical in nature: "How can the idea of two realities, body and mind, be reconciled with Occam's Razor, the principle of simplicity (231)?

Materialism -- "the metaphysical view that only physical matter and its properties exist" (284) -- holds that "what we call a mind is really a function of the brain; that when the brain is injured...or diseased, the effect is seen in behavior and impaired mental functioning" (234). Medicine can present us with a number of these scenarios. Alas, the opposing view appeals to my common sense, too!

According to a Handbook of Theological Terms, "soul...in traditional Christianity, referred to the originative seat of reason and will in the human person. Created by God, it is regarded as a spiritual entity that survives physical death" (Harvey 226).

The soul/mind could easily be a function of the brain/body. As a Christian, I believe in a resurrection of my soul and body someday. Is that a simple and elegant answer or am I dodging the question?

WORKS CITED

Harvey, Van A. A Handbook of Theological Terms. New York: Touchstone, 1992.

Pojman, LouisP. Who Are We. New York: Oxford, 2006.