Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
#29
|
|||
|
|||
VE
In article ,
Jangchub wrote: On Thu, 12 Jun 2008 05:46:07 -0700 (PDT), Chris wrote: From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dualism...osophy_of_mind) "The central claim of what is often called Cartesian dualism, in honor of Descartes, is that the immaterial mind and the material body, while being ontologically distinct substances, causally interact. This is an idea which continues to feature prominently in many non-European philosophies. Mental events cause physical events, and vice-versa. But this leads to a substantial problem for Cartesian dualism: How can an immaterial mind cause anything in a material body, and vice-versa? This has often been called the "problem of interactionism". Descartes himself struggled to come up with a feasible answer to this problem. In his letter to Elisabeth of Bohemia, Princess Palatine, he suggested that animal spirits interacted with the body through the pineal gland, a small gland in the centre of the brain, between the two hemispheres. The term "Cartesian dualism" is also often associated with this more specific notion of causal interaction through the pineal gland. However, this explanation was not satisfactory: how can an immaterial mind interact with the physical pineal gland? Because Descartes's was such a difficult theory to defend, some of his disciples, such as Arnold Geulincx and Nicholas Malebranche, proposed a different explanation: That all mind-body interactions required the direct intervention of God. According to these philosophers, the appropriate states of mind and body were only the occasions for such intervention, not real causes. These occasionalists maintained the strong thesis that all causation was directly dependent on God, instead of holding that all causation was natural except for that between mind and body." Chris It was the statement, "Caught in Cartesian dualism are ye? Good luck. You gave the rocks a good chuckle though, good on you ;o)" which I was questioning. Cartesian dualism was nothing new to eastern philosophy, as it shows in the definition. The historical Buddha of the Shakya tribe figured dualism out long before Descartes did. The cup has tea in it. If you break the cup, it will no longer be a cup. It will be a pile of shards or whatever you choose to call it, but the tea is still the tea. So the body is a vessel for the mind. It is not part of the brain. The brain functions as a local powerhouse to charge the physical body to operate, but it has nothing to do with the mind. Emptiness, as Buddhism discusses, is the complete lack of dualistic properties...and everything is inter dependant, tied together by cause and effect. Karma is a very complex discussion and far too many people are not willing, nor are they interested in the least about its workings. Certainly not here in rec.gardens. http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/history/bstatt10.htm I find it interesting that Buddha is not going over well in India. http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-priori...e.do?id=104102 4&n1=3&n2=30 Bill -- Garden in shade zone 5 S Jersey USA Neat place .. http://www.petersvalley.org/ |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Forum | |||
Spork - half fork half spade | United Kingdom | |||
Half Apricot and Half Plum grafted tree -- Growers in Southern California ?? | Gardening | |||
Half Apricot and Half Plum grafted tree -- Growers in Southern California ?? | Edible Gardening | |||
Half Apricot and Half Plum grafted tree -- Growers in Southern California ?? | Edible Gardening | |||
Better Rabbit trap for those with rabbit problems | Plant Science |