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Dualism (Property Dualism, Substance dualism)

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Encyclopedia of Neuroscience

Definition

Property dualism is the doctrine that mental properties are distinct from and irreducible to physical properties, even if properties of both kinds may be possessed by the same thing, such as the human brain. Substance dualism is the doctrine that the things that possess mental properties are distinct from and irreducible to the things that possess physical properties – for example, that the human mind or soul is distinct from and irreducible to the human body or any part of it, such as the brain.

Description of the Theory

The most famous proponent of substance dualism was the French philosopher and scientist René Descartes (1591–1650), who maintained that there is a “real distinction” between the human mind or soul and the human body [1]. According to Descartes, the mind and the body are distinct and separable substances. (By a “substance” in this context, Descartes means an individual thing or object which possesses properties.) Descartes held that the mind and the body...

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References

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Lowe, E.J. (2008). Dualism (Property Dualism, Substance dualism). In: Binder, M.D., Hirokawa, N., Windhorst, U. (eds) Encyclopedia of Neuroscience. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-29678-2_1629

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