The Concept of Dualism in Philosophy - Essay Example

Dualism Can one reasonably be a dualist in this day and age? The word ‘dualism’ has wide and variety of meanings as far as the human life and thought is concerned. We can see dualist nature in every aspects of human life. The belief in Good and Evil or God and Devil, that both are equally powerful in controlling the activities of the world, can be attributed to a dualist belief in terms of religion, or theology. In social life, we often come across with people who appreciate us for something, turns to our critiques in the absence of us. As far as politics is concerned in India like countries, we can see lot of political leaders, whose declared policies in favour of secularism has been sacrificed seriously to win the elections, by approaching the secular communal forces for votes. We can see the difference in policies of US, in dealing with Israel and Iran in terms of nuclear experiments are concerned. So dualism is universal and can be visible everywhere. In philosophy the word dualism refers to the activities of mind. Dualism is the measure of loss in the world. “In dualism, ‘mind’ is contrasted with ‘body’, but at different times, different aspects of the mind have been the centre of attention”(Stanford encyclopaedia of philosophy-Dualism). Dualism is a set of views, which explains the relationship between mind and matter. The origin of philosophy of dualism can be attributed to the famous philosopher Rene Descartes who believed that mind is a non physical substance. He clearly differentiated the brain and mind. In his opinion brain is the origin of intelligence and the mind, the origin of consciousness and self awareness. In the dialogue ‘Phaedo’, Plato elaborated more on dualism through his Theory of Forms. In his opinion our perception of distinct and immaterial objects are nothing more than shadows. One problem with Platos dualism was that, though he speaks of the soul as imprisoned Dualism 2 in the body, there is no clear account of what binds a particular soul to a particular body. Their difference in nature makes the union a mystery. There are different interpretations of dualism like radical dualism. “By "radical dualism" I mean the view that mind and matter denote separate domains of nature which, nevertheless, interact with one another at certain critical points. Radical dualism thus stands in opposition to the view that mind is no more than an aspect of, a function of, an attribute of, certain brain activity. (Para psychology and Radical Dualism.) Dualism means this strict distinction between spirit and matter. Plato (and later Descartes) is perhaps the greatest example among philosophers whose idea is dualistic. He had a real distinction between the "Ideas" and the visible world. The ideas were the ultimate reality and the visible world less real (Gabriel Bar-Sawme) “Dualism very simply means ‘two’. To any aspirant to wisdom it becomes immediately obvious that there is something wrong here. What is wrong is the contradiction that the word dualism suggests to the universal constant that is the anchoring principle behind all wisdom, ‘all is One’ - all is one & never two? All includes everything, nothing is left out”( Philosophy of Dualism & Wisdom). The whole universe is made up of energy which cannot be created or destroyed as per the scientific principles. Though energy cannot be destroyed it can be transformed from one form into another as seen in the case of electric bulbs where the electrical energy transformed to the light energy. Dualism is nothing but energy which can be positive and negative. We can consider wisdom also in this group. Our wisdom drives our attitude and deliberate activities. In every interaction we can see the positive and negative energies. The Dualism 3 difference in opinions of such interactions can be termed as the potential difference just like the case of energy. In order to transfer the energy this potential difference is required and we should not be bothered about the amount of potential difference. It should be considered as a relative difference to cause the transfer of energy or dualism. So in our daily life we come across with lot of people with different opinion and we often confused in facing such situations. If we consider such interactions just like the way explained above, it will not cause any damage to our self or ego. Our wisdom which is an entity in the dualism package along with energy will assist us in such cases. It is reasonable to assume that in the state of wisdom there is no energy - no life as we experience it. We can see a ball rolling on an inclined plane come to rest when it reaches the normal plane. We call it as equilibrium of the ball. Every object in the universe will stay in the equilibrium condition, unless it is compelled by an external force. It is necessary for us to bring equilibrium to our activities which are initiated by so many external and internal forces in our life. Bringing the dual events happening in the life to equilibrium is not an easy task because of the difference levels of our wisdom. If we were perfect in our wisdom level, we would have disappeared from earth since there will not be any more dualism to sustain the energy flow. Dualism actually creates the energy differences which required, to flow the energy from one place to another. Concentration of energy or power at one place will create big problems as we have seen in the case of US. Now after the cold war era everybody complains about the power concentration or energy concentration on US which is harmful to the world. If USSR were not destroyed by the Dualism 4 reformation process, critiques argue that the equilibrium of power could have been sustained. But at the same time as per the principles of dualism the high difference in energy levels or power levels will cause the much higher energy flow which can be utilized. So dualism in normal life is an essential entity to drive the life further ahead. Everybody knows that wisdom is required for human life. But attaining absolute wisdom, which is theoretically impossible, will make us disappear is disconcerting to believe. I think it is better to cite the story of a person I know, who has married the only daughter of a ‘teacher parent’ family, to conclude this topic. She was also a teacher brought up under strict moral and religious backgrounds. After the marriage she went to Dubai along with her husband and got a teacher job there. She could not adjust with the multicultural atmosphere there and also find it difficult to tackle the trends of modern education there. The management, co-teachers and the students asked her to help the students in the examination which she denied due to his strong belief in ethics and morality. She continued in her profession without any interest and gradually started to develop some delusions. She feared the co-teachers, management and the students looking at her suspiciously and started to think negatively. Finally her emotions were broke down once and had to undergo the treatment of a Psychiatrist there. She has to undergo several sessions of Psychoanalysis treatment under a famous Psychologist before regaining her mental stability completely. The life philosophy of this lady was something rarely seen in the modern life. Since she was brought under strict moral and religious values, she was very much adamant on her views and thoughts, and it was very difficult for her to adjust with the principles of dualism. The psychologist made her aware that it is impossible to live in the current Dualism 5 world without following the principles of dualism. He told her a student who secures 60 answers correct out of 100 will get first class even though he has committed 40 wrong answers. He told her that angels who live in heaven where the environment is different from that of the earth, can lead an absolute life without dualism whereas on earth only humans can live who might be forced to follow dualism. Dualism 6 Sources 1. Stanford encyclopaedia of philosophy-Dualism-Retrieved on 21/11/08 http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/dualism/ 2. Philosophy of Dualism & Wisdom - Retrieved on 21/11/08 http://www.onepositive.com/dualism.htm 3. John.Beloff - Para psychology and Radical Dualism - Retrieved on 21/11/08 http://moebius.psy.ed.ac.uk/~dualism/papers/radical.html 4. Gabriel Bar-Sawme Retrieved on 21/11/08 -Ethnocentrism, Dualism and Manichaeism June 16, 2008 http://gabeseminary.blogspot.com/2008/06/ethnocentrism-dualism-and-manichaeism.html 5. Read More