Dualism and Materialism: A Philosophical Analysis

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Topic - How does dualism and materialism differ?
Introduction
“I think, therefore I am”, is arguably one of the most prominent quotes in philosophy.
Originated from René Descartes, the meaning translate to the mind as the only assured existence.
Descartes uncertainty of knowledge led him to examine the existence of the physical world,
where he concludes with the human body made of both physical and mental substances. This
fundamental difference is known as the mind-body problem which relates to dualism. The mind-
body argument created a long-standing debate, that have been discussed for many years with
famous philosophers arguing for and against. Philosophers who supported the mind-body
argument are known as dualists, while others who are against are known as materialists.
Materialists believe there are only one reality which is matter, which completely doubts the mind
and body as being two different substances.
Dualism meaning
Dualism is a philosophy branch of metaphysics with many types. The main types are
substance dualism, property dualism, and predicate dualism. The foundational concept of
dualism asserts two realm within reality where the mind and soul is two completely different
entities. A physical and spiritual; the physical being our body is believed to be separate from our
spiritual self, known as our consciousness. Consciousness is one of life biggest mystery as many
often wondered, how it works since every human body is built the same. Somehow, we all think
and act differently and have what separate us from others which is our consciousness. Scientists
for many years appealed to chemistry and physics in an attempt to discover how consciousness
work in the human body. With links to neurology they believe electric neurons play a critical

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role in the networking of our brain. Despite many research done, they still cannot pin point
exactly how consciousness works.
Substance dualism is the most popular type of dualism. It contains the main components
with slight difference compared to other types. The belief of substance dualism states that there
are two foundation, the body and mental. The other type of dualism is property dualism. The
view of property dualism is similar to substance dualism but instead of two complete different
foundation of the body and mental. There is only the physical substance with mental properties,
such as beliefs, desires, and emotions that inherent in the brain. The last type of dualism is
predicate dualism.
Materialism meaning
Materialism sometimes known as physicalism, is the opposite of dualism. It is the belief
that everything is made of various forms of matter and energy and that everything can be
explained in relation to it. Materialism is not exactly the same as physicalism as physicalism
evolved with new advancements of physical sciences. Both terms are often used mutually, but is
usually distinguished when talking about physics, more specifically when discussing on more
than just matter.
When discussing materialism, it should be taken into consideration that there are certain
levels. Hard and soft; hard-materialists are people who completely believe the world is built on
the basis of matter and that our body is one physical substance. The conscious being our
chemical reactions and our brain activity; when the body dies, along goes the brain and there is
no survival after death. Soft-materialists on the other hand, are people who accept that not all

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characteristics of the body are physical. They believe some physical objects have mental
properties to it, that our brain and consciousness are more than just one.
Dualists positions
Plato was an early proponent of the concept in his theory of forms. Plato theorised there
is an alternative reality which he calls the realm of forms. All the imperfections of the physical
realm resembles that of the realm of form where the most perfect are held.
René Descartes was another proponent philosopher of dualism; he doubted the existence of his
body believing there are a major difference between the human mind and body. This type of
dualism is known as substance dualism.
The classical emphasis of the position of the dualist originated in ‘Phaedo’ by Plato. According
to the description by Plato, true substances are actually not the physical bodies that are
ephemeral but the bodies with eternal forms are the major imperfect copies1. Within the context
of dualism, the philosophers that is the dualist projected that mind is generally contrasted with
the body with different aspects of the mind that have been the centre of attention. One of the
challenge of the dualist approach of Plato was that there has been n clear account regrading what
bind a soul to a body. The differences within the nature actually makes the union a wide mystery.
The idea related to the dualist thinking and situations includes the fact that there lies both
god and an evil way for being; which the things and people should be categorized. This needs to
be done as per the specific meets of standards regarding the idea of the purity of thoughts and
1 Robinson, W. S. (2018). Dualism. In The Routledge Handbook of Consciousness (pp. 51-63) |
Routledge.