Tutorial #1. Mind -Body Dualism. Discussion Questions

After having read the relevant sections of Descartes' Meditations (II and VI), think about the following questions. Make sure you have understood what 'a priori', 'a posteriory', 'conceivability', and 'possibility' mean.

• Think about some example of mental and physical aspects of the world.
• Consider a situation where you are dancing, what are the mental aspects of this situation?What are the physical aspects? Are these aspects the very same thing? Or can you find any substantial difference?
• How does Descartes conceive of the essences of mind and body?
• Do we know better the properties of the mind, or the properties of the body?
• Consider the wax example (Meditation ii). If there were no minds to attend the wax, would the wax have a certain color, say white?
• According to Descartes, can a mind exist without a body?
• Is Descartes' concevability argument sound?
• Can you conceive a square circle? What can you conclude about its existence? Can you conceive a living human being without a brain?
• “When we stand in need of drink, there arises from this want a certain parchedness in the throat that moves its nerves, and by means of them the internal parts of the brain; and this movement affects the mind with the sensation of thirst, because there is nothing on that occasion which is more useful for us than to be made aware that we have need of drink for the preservation of our health.” What is the role of the mind here, and what is the role of the body?
• Can a non-physical mind be investigated "scientifically"?
• If mind and body are radically different types of stuff, how can they interact with each other?
• If all physical effect is fully caused by physical causes, then can the mind have a causal influence on anything physical?
• Can dualists provide a satisfactory account of the causal interaction of mind and body?
• Does the mind affect the brain? Make examples.
• What are the arguments for the distinct existence of mind and body? What is the best? Why?
• What is the difference between substance and property dualism?