Metaphysical Dualism
A discourse on the existence of body and soul
The existence of human metaphysical duality is one of the most fundamental questions asked in ontological philosophy. The questions stem from the natural skepticism of our own selves, leading us to ask the following questions:
- Is it true that an external me resides within my body?
- Is it true that I will go on living without being physically present in this world?
- If we are only physical humans with wired connections of neurons with some preconception, where do we get the ability to generate new ideas without a change in the chemical nature of our own physical existence?
Where do these questions arise from? It doesn’t take long for us to conclude that it's from our intelligence.
How do we define intelligence?
Intelligence is an immaterial entity in nature that exists in humans. Nobody can see, touch, or taste intelligence but can only realize its presence in ourselves. It allows us to realize and formulate universal truths and function rationally.
It has the unique ability to comprehend and play with intangible ideas. Most importantly, it recognizes and distinguishes the fundamental nature of objects and implies it universally to create schemas and concepts that are essential to human function.
Metaphysical dualists make distinctions between body and soul. They claim that because intelligence is immaterial and immaterial is eternal, we exist as metaphysical entities that cannot vanish. According to them, we are composed of a body and a soul where the body might disappear after a certain time, but the soul is eternal and will continue to exist.
How do dualists use human intelligence to prove our metaphysical existence?
Let’s take an example of our ability to recognize the tree. When we look at a tree, we might not know its genus or species, but we would be very confident that what we are observing is a tree. It could be an Oak Tree, Red Maple, Sequoia, Scarlet, etc., but we know it’s a tree because of our intelligence's schema.
A question arises: what is that “treenes”? How do we recognize it? How is intelligence taking that “treeness” and registering it as a schema?
The “treenes” is the immateriality of the tree. In other words, the tree’s nature is essential for it to be a tree. This immaterial existence of a tree or “treenes” is what our Intelligence recognizes and creates into a schema.
These schemas or the immateriality of objects are eternal. What makes it eternal? It’s universality. There is no variation in the concept of things that exists, only their forms. Universal concepts are concepts, by definition, that are always true at every place simultaneously and are eternal. They can never die or vanish (although they might get forgotten, which is vastly different from vanishing).
For example, “treeness” can only be “treeness” and can never be something else. A tree can never become a cat or a dog. There can be different trees, but they will all live and die as a tree. Therefore, as “treeness” is a universal concept because it is within all the trees at the same time at all places, it is eternal.
So, because “treenes” is immaterial and “treenes” is universal; therefore immaterial things are universal, hence eternal. In the same way, intelligence is immaterial; therefore, it is eternal.
This conclusion is the fundamental belief of dualism which distinguishes between the physical aspect of humans and the immaterial aspect of humans.
Types of Dualism
Different philosophers have presented different theories of dualism. Some of the famous theories of dualism consist of Plato’s Soul- Body Dualism, Descartes’s Mind- Body Dualism, John Lock’s Dualism, Moral Dualism:
- Plato’s and Descartes’s theory of dualism share the belief in the existence of soul/mind and body. The soul/Mind is an independent entity closely related to the human body but distinct from the body. The immaterial aspect of the human being makes us the person. The human body is the animal-human made into being when an immaterial soul/ mind is attached to the physical body. Because the soul/mind is immaterial, it continues to live on even after the death of the physical body of a human.
- Lockean Dualism argues that a human is only a person when he/she can practice and exercise his/her consciousness. So, this differentiates between a human and a person. A person is a human, but a human can or cannot be a person.
- Moral Dualism argues that a human is only considered for moral respect and given basic human respect when he or she is cognitively capable of earning that moral respect.
These were just some of the more popular theories of dualism. Other renowned philosophers have also tried to answer the question about the metaphysical of human existence. Some argue for the concept of dualism, while others for a unified being. However, the answer to human existence remains conflicted as different ideologies give different perceptions. You can read more about dualism here.
Nevertheless, apart from all these theories, one thing we can all be assured of is that we humans practice our natural faculties in a fascinating manner. We intertwine the immateriality of the world with its physical form to create an understanding of the world. Sometimes we go one step forward and bend these immaterial concepts to generate truly unique, original, genuine concepts of our own, which become a tool for us to enhance our experiences in our lives.
References:
- Hofweber, T. (2017, October 11). Logic and ontology. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved July 21, 2022, from https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/logic-ontology/#Ont
- Robinson, H. (2020, September 11). Dualism. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved July 21, 2022, from https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/dualism/
- Internet encyclopedia of philosophy. (n.d.). Retrieved July 21, 2022, from https://iep.utm.edu/dualism-and-mind/
- Cressman, C., Angell, N., & Blum, P. R. (2019, September 10). Substance dualism in descartes. Introduction to Philosophy Philosophy of Mind. Retrieved July 21, 2022, from https://press.rebus.community/intro-to-phil-of-mind/chapter/substance-dualism-in-descartes-2/
Faizan Anwar 2022
