Overview of the Concept of Dualism - Essay Example

?Dualism Overview of the concept of Dualism Dualism has generally been accepted as a philosophy of the mind. It basically concerns the perception of the mind that to certain given concepts that concerns human life, there are two dimensions or two forms. A typical example may be given as the perception that there exists both good and evil and that each of these concepts possess an independent orientation over human existence. Dualism has over the years been associated with several philosophers, thinkers and religious leaders. Prominent among these are Socrates, Plato, St. Augustine, the Hindu religion and Prophet Zoroaster. Each of these personalities and groups take dualism from a different perspective but they all seem to arrive at one major understanding that two all concepts of human existence, there are two forms. One key feature about dualism also has to do with the fact that greater percentage of the commentators who have discusses or written about the subject before appreciate dualism from the mind-body perspective. There seem to be this uniformity of agreement among the commentators because the mind-body perspective of dualism is considered to be the basis or history behind dualism whereby “humans have (or seem to have) both physical properties and mental properties” (Howard, 2011). In the following sections, the subject of dualism as presented from selected view points is discussed. Platonic Dualism The perspective of Plato’s dualism is related to the human life as well but Plato tackles the entities of body and soul instead of mind and body. Generally, Plato’s points and arguments on dualism are considered as the oldest. In his opinion, the body and soul of humans are two different entities that live for two different purposes. As such, Plato asserts that when one of the entities departs or dies, the other lives on. The College of Letters, Arts & Social Sciences (2001) posits that Plato’s view on a separation of the body from the soul (in such a way that they are two different entiries) is perfectly backed by the Torah. The debate between Plato’s assertions that the soul lives after live is however challenged by the scholars of the Torah. This is because the latter argue that “when God communicates with the Hebrews in the Torah, his covenant explicitly references rewards in this life, not an afterlife” (College of Letters, Arts & Social Sciences, 2001). This means that contrary to Plato’s beliefs that the soul lives after the body dies and that the souls faces reward or punishment based on the actions it performed when the body lived, scholars of the Torah refute this Socrates’ perspective of Dualism Socrates also holds a dynamic view of dualism with a lot of similarities with the views shared by Plato. Actually, Socrates confirms that the body and soul are two independent entities of live and those they are the central point of human dualism. Idealistically, Socrates may differ from Plato in the sense that whereas Plato advocates total independence of the body from the soul and sees them as two individuals who never depend on the other, Socrates argue that the soul has a lot of relation and dependence on the body and that the body actually imprisons the soul as long as the body lives. To this end, “Socrates argues that death is a good thing because it frees the soul from the body in which it was effectively imprisoned” (Clark, 2010). The implication that is got from this assertion is that the soul is a representation of truth and wisdom and thus as an entity living in the human being, that is all that the soul seeks to champion. However, the body, which is more directed towards evil and lies is too powerful that if often times overcomes the soul and so hardly allows the soul to operate independently till death separates the two. St. Augustine’s Dualism St. Augustine takes the subject of dualism to a more religious perspective than just being philosophical. From St. Augustine’s perspective therefore, dualism is debated more as a doctrine than a philosophical phenomenon. The background to this new development is that Manes (216-276) developed Manichaeism, which according to Rank (2008) fused elements from Christianity with the dualism of Zoroastrianism. The basic belief behind Manichaeism was that the line of dualism was drawn between light and darkness, whereby humans were perceived to have been created with the seeds of light. However, this seed was not known to man till the coming of Jesus Christ, who came to give unto man the knowledge to liberate himself from darkness unto light. St. Augustine comes into the discussion as a person who opposed Manichaeism. His opposition was basically from a point where he refused to admit that Christianity had any basis in dualism of Zoroastrianism. St. Augustine therefore wanted the issues of dualism from the perspective of Zoroastrianism to be treated separated from the Christian faith. In reality therefore, St. Augustine was not against the core beliefs underlying light and darkness as two separate entities that formed a dual but that he wanted the Christian perspective of dualism to be separated from other perspectives though he was into Manichaeism himself in his youthful days. Hindu Dualism The Hindu perspective of dualism is viewed with reference to Brahman and Atman. Actually, Hindus do not believe in dualism as far as the subjects of Brahman and Atman are concerned. Rather, they preach of the non-duality of the two subjects. In Hindu, Brahman is the Supreme Being whiles Atman is the Spirit of Man. The belief is that Atman is made to be a perfect being just as the Brahman and so they cannot possibly exist as two different entities. Dualism in old Persia 6th and 7th century Prophet Zoroaster In the 6th and 7th century of Prophet Zoroaster, there was a doctrine of dualism that arose concerning the salvation program of the prophet. The prophet’s salvation message centered mainly on the transition from the worship of the devil to the worship of God. The line of dualism in view of the prophet is there the devil and God. According to Zoroaster, one either belongs to the devil entirely or belongs to God and that there cannot be any middle lines. Zoroaster was therefore an advocate for the transition from devil worship to God’s worship and this he transcribed as salvation. Demonstration of Personal understanding of Dualism On a personal note, dualism is seen as “a doctrine positing two equally powerful and antagonistic metaphysical principles, which are constitutive of the world” (Rank, 2008). In most cases however, these metaphysical principles are contrasting according to right and wrong or darkness and light or good and bad. It should therefore take individual judgment of people to be bold with their selection of which of the choices to belong to. Though the debate of whether or not there is life after death continues to persist amidst diverging religious opinions, it is just right that the issue be treated from a social and more philosophical perspective. If that happens, it would be easier for people to appreciate that at least it is important for them to live peaceably with their neighbors and treat them well and so they would always have to opt for good instead of bad. REFERENCE LIST Clark, John. Socrates, Dualism, and Science. 2010. Web. April 08, 2012. Rank, J. Dualism - Challenges to Dualism, Bibliography. 2008. Web. April 8, 2012. Robinson, Howard. Dualism. 2011. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Web. April 8, 2012 . The College of Letters, Arts & Social Sciences. Platonic Dualism: Splitting the Body and Soul. 2001. Web. April 8, 2012 Read More