Spinoza On the Mind-Body Problem

Описание: Substance dualism is the view that the mind and body (or the mental and the physical) are not only two distinct things or "substances" with completely different natures, but that they causally interact with each other. The mind-body problem is thus the problem of how interaction occurs between these two alleged substances, seeing as they have nothing in common with each other, no means by which causation between them can "make contact" or be rendered intelligible. While conceding that the mind and body are distinct in kind, Spinoza addresses the problem by denying that mind and body interact because they are not really distinct things: they are just two different ways of understanding the same thing. In short, Spinoza proposes "parallelistic" monism, and explains the mental and physical as two attributes of the one substance that is everything (God). In our case -- like all finite things -- we are limited modes, modifications, properties, or states of this one substance -- "ways" that the substance is. How do our minds and bodies fit into this picture? On the one hand, our bodies are part of God's infinite "body" (the physical world); and on the other hand, our minds are part of God's infinite intellect (the mental world). Or in other words: one's mind is the (divine) idea of one's body.

Intro track: Rob Dougan, Clubbed to Death