A satisfactory solution to the mind-problem should answer the two following questions: i) are phenomenal properties, the properties that characterize states of consciousness, physical? ii) how do phenomenal properties causally interact with physical properties? To a first approximation, physicalism and dualism are the two possible answers to the first question. There are three kinds of views re...

In this paper, I observe that Hobbesian physicalism on the one side, and Cartesian dualism on the other, have had a widespread cultural influence on the way we regard ourselves and on the way we behave toward one another. I argue that what we now need is a conceptual space within which we might forge a metaphysical alternative, an alternative that will give us some hope of overcoming the delete...

Dualism – The human brain and mind are separate. Known formally as Cartesian Dualism after it’s originator, the 17th century French philosopher René Descartes. Physical matter, including the body and brain, behaves according to the laws of nature, and is thus suitable for scientific investigation. The human mind (soul, self, or spirit), which controls human behavior, lacks physical substance--a...

The purpose of this review is to clarify and demystify a set of ideas and assumptions, which pervade the field of psychiatry and cause confusion and unfortunate consequences for the practice and teaching of psychiatry. These crystalize in the so-called mind/body problem or mind/body dualism. Mind/Body dualism has adverse consequences for psychiatry, such as stigmatization of mental illness, res...

The well-known and seductive idea of being a dual entity composed of a body with emotions and a mind with reason, with only tentative and uncertain connections between them, has been considered an instrinsic human feature in many academic fields. Decartes’ (i.e., Cartesian) dualism, which associates reason with mental and rational processing and emotion with body and feelings has influenced tho...

In his book The Emergent Self, William Hasker outlines his theory of emergent dualism. Here, I will attempt to prove that Hasker’s emergent dualism and certain phenomena involving hiatuses in consciousness are inconsistent. As I will show, even the best resolution of this inconsistency is highly problematic and calls into question the coherence of Hasker’s emergent dualism. According to Hasker,...