Bits of Dawkins

- Dawkins: Identity doesn’t survive death; the only part of us that “lives” on is genes and memes.

- Dawkins: Richard Dawkins would definitely argue that disembodied consciousness is impossible. He believes that the mind is not a separate entity, but instead a physical process that the body performs when our brain’s model of the world becomes so complete that it needs to include itself.

- Dawkins: Dawkins would say that the mind is just a physical process the body performs, and that it is not an ontologically distinct substance. He said that there is no “mystic jelly” driving us around, and that belief in the mind is a “dangerous myth”, as no scientific evidence supports it.

- Dawkins: As a physicalist, Dawkins would say that the mind is reducible to physical processes. He would say that we are completely physical, because the mind is just a process the body performs and is therefore not a separate substance. We are simply just bodies; there is no “mystic jelly”.

Dawkins (mind) – Dawkins was a monist who believed that the mind and body are not ontologically distinct. Dawkins believed that the mind is a product of the body and it is something the body does. Therefore as humans are no ontologically distinct, once dead, we will remain dead, as the mind is simply digital information.

Dawkins (body) – Dawkins was a monist who believed that the mind and body are not ontologically distinct. Dawkins further believes that once dead we remain dead, however believes that out genes and memes survive the death of our body.

Dawkins (personality/memories) – once dead we remain dead, yet our genes and memes live on.

1. Describe what Dawkins believes about the body in 50 words.

Richard Dawkins is a physicalist and so believes everything is reducible to physical processes, this means as a whole we are just a body with a brain and nothing more. Dawkins believes that our body dies and decays and the only thing that does live on is our genetic code.

2. Describe what Dawkins believes about the mind in 49 words.

Dawkins believes there is no such thing as a mind and it is not ontologically distinct from our body it is just digital information that describes what bodies do. The mind is not some mystical jelly that lives on after death and there’s no scientific evidence to believe so.

3. Describe what Dawkins believes about our self identity in 16 words.

It doesn’t live on in but memories of who we were may be remembered through others.

4. Describe what Dawkins believes about our disembodied consciousness in 45 words.

Dawkins believes there is no scientific evidence to suggest that we have some sort of mysterious, immaterial and eternal consciousness that lives on after death. Believing such things is dangerous to the human endeavour and can stop us as humans moving on as a species.

Dawkins on the mind – Dawkins believes that there is no such thing as a mind, or as it is sometimes referred to as the soul. However, he also states that the mind is just something the body does. Dawkins refers to the mind as mystical jelly, as he believes it just floats around. He’s a physicalist.

Dawkins on the body – Dawkins is a physicalist, which means he believes in the physical body being the main substance. As he is an atheist, he doesn’t believe that the mind lives on, but the physical body dies. Dawkins also says that we are carriers of genes and memes, which are memories.

Dawkins on self identity – Dawkins believes that our self identity dies with the body as there’s no personality in the mind.

Dawkins on disembodied consciousness – Dawkins believes that the mind is just something a body does, and this doesn’t make us, any more aware of the world around us than other animals. He believes that once the physical body dies, nothing is left behind as he calls the mind “mystical jelly”

Dawkins: When we die, our personality dies but our genes (genetic code) and memes, (ideas), survive us.

.Dawkins: He says there's no "spirit-driven life force, no throbbing, heaving, pullulating, protoplasmic mystic jelly", meaning there is no soul within us. Belief in the soul is "dangerous to human endeavour" This is because there's no physical evidence. It's just a bronze age myth.

DAWKINS -> MIND

Dawkins a 21st century monist thinks that belief in the mind or soul is dangerous myths that have no evidence to support them. He compared the mind to 'mystic jelly' inferring that there is no mysterious mind. To conclude the mind is just digital information, reducible to physical processes

DAWKINS -> BODY

Dawkins is a physicalist who believes everything is reducible to physical processes. He believes we are simply carriers of DNA and that mind and body are not separable. The mind is just a way of describing what bodies do. When our bodies die our genes and memes survive

DAWKINS -> SELF-IDENTITY

A sense of individuality is based on digital information, not the soul. We leave memes behind

DAWKINS -> SELF-AWARENESS

Dawkins is a evolutionary biologist who believes everything is reducible to physical processes. He rejected the idea of a soul or a 'mystic' mind. He believed the mind or consciousness arises when the brain's stimulation is so complete that it includes a model of itself

Dawkins – Self Identity
Dawkins believes that our self identity dies with the body

Dawkins – Disembodied Consciousness
Dawkins believes that when we die we are not conscious of things around us, because we are just simply carriers of DNA, and that we have no eternal soul. The only things we leave behind are genes and memes, the soul is just “mystical jelly.”

Dawkins – Mind
Dawkins believes that there is no such thing as the mind or as it sometimes referred to, as the soul. However he also states that the mind is just something the body doe. Dawkins refers to the mind as mystical jelly, as he believes it just floats around. He’s a physicalist.

Dawkins – Body
Dawkins is a physicalist, which means he believes in the physical body being the main substance. As he is an atheist, he doesn’t believe that the mind lives on, but the physical body dies. Dawkins also says that we are carriers of memes and genes, which are memories.

Dawkins on Consciousness - Dawkins believes that the conscience (which is the inner component of the human body showing awareness) dies at the same time as the body and will simply not continue to remain after the event of death. Similar to his concept of the personality, he states that it is not an immediate part of the human body that remains.

Dawkins on Personality - Richard Dawkins believe that the personality of a human body will certainly die in the event of death. He brands the personality as unexplainable (or to a certain degree) as the mind - which he entitles "Mystic Jelly". Similar to a Cartesian view, he appears vague with regards to after death.

Descartes on Consciousness - Descartes wholeheartedly believes that the consciousness (an awareness of the world around us) lives on past death and that it will continue to live on. Regardless of this statement, Descartes is quite vague with regards to what happens after. He mentions that this crucial awareness will most certainly remain past the event of the death of a body.

Dawkins on Body - Richard Dawkins believes that the body is a massively important part of life. We should trust in the body since, unlike the body, mind and soul, we have empirical evidence to prove we have one. He states that the body is the main component in life and that it will certainly not live on past death since we are witness to its falling and we can be certain of this. The body works mechanically and systematically and will fulfil its purpose of keeping us alive, its nature can be determined easily and therefore, it is the strongest representation of human

Bits of Descartes

Descartes – Self identity

survives death

Descartes – Disembodied consciousness

Descartes believes that we are constantly aware of everything around us; this is because our mind and personality live on after our physical body dies. He believes in a much more personal view on our rational mind. Descartes states that it is implied that our mind and memories carry on in an afterlife. He believes that once our body dies and decays the two substances of the mind and the body seperate. The body has extension and emotions compared to the mind which does not. Descartes is a rationalist.

Descartes: consciousness survives death.

Descartes: Disembodied Consciousness - As a substance dualist and the father of Cartesian Dualism, Descartes would argue that it is possible to have a conscious mind without a body, because mind and body are both ontologically distinct substances that differ in the very nature of their existence. When our ephemeral bodies die the eternal mind endures death and lives on, and is therefore still a conscious mind, but one without a body. For Descartes, this is our afterlife, and although his account of it is not very detailed, it is his example of disembodied consciousness.

Descartes (disembodied consciousness) – Descartes believes that the mind and body are ontologically distinct. The mind is non-physical and lacks motion, whereas the body is physical and has extension and motion. Descartes believes that once dead the rational part of out mind lives on.

Describe what Descartes believes about the mind in 77 words.

Descartes believes the mind is ontologically distinct from the body; they are separate because Descartes can have a clear and distinct idea of each one. The mind lets your body function through thought and that source of though comes from the rational part of our minds. He believes the mind is eternal and implies life after death for it but as he cannot prove it he does not say it will happen indefinitely. It’s also the soul

Describe what Descartes believes about the body in 43 words.

The body can influence the actions of the mind through the pineal gland because of the body’s passions. He also believes the body is like a machine as they have extension and motion but are subject to the laws of physics, nothing else.

Describe what Descartes believes about our self identity in 2 words.

Lives on.

Describe what Descartes believes about our disembodied consciousness in 91 words.

Descartes implies that our disembodied consciousness does exist and is eternal which means it shall live on after death. This is because Descartes was a Christian and so this has influences him because Christians believe that we as a person and what makes us us will move on to heaven of hell and exist there for eternity. So the only thing in Descartes theory that is not eternal is our body and that dies and decays as it is subject to the laws of physics but the rest does live on.

Descartes on self identity – It survives.

Descartes: Personality survives.

Descartes: As a substance dualist, Descartes believes the soul and body are two separate substances. This because Descartes says:

I can have a clear and distinct idea of the soul and body. Whatever I can think of as clear and distinct, god can create it clearly and distinctively so the soul and body must be ontologically distinct. Descartes believes that when we die our body dies, yet our soul is eternal and endures. As a christian, Descartes believes the soul is eternal and retains the personal identity but he can't prove this.

DESCARTES -> SELF-AWARENESS

Descartes, a 17th century rationalist and substance dualist believed that the mind and body are ontologically different, but they can interact. The mind has no motion or extension and does not follow laws of physics. Whereas the body has motion and extension and does follow the laws of physics. Descartes believed that the mind and soul survive after the death of the body but he never specified what happened to them after our death. Therefore Descartes believed that our mind lives on, possibly implying that we go to heaven, as well as our passions and consciousness

Descartes – Self Identity

They survive.

Bits of Plato

Plato-Self Identity
Plato believes that when our physical body dies our memories and personality go with them. However, our knowledge if forms don’t.

Plato – Disembodied consciousness
He believes that we are only aware of the physical world when we’re alive.

Plato (personality/memories) - Plato was a substance dualist who believed that once you’re your memories and personality are also lost; yet knowledge of the forms is reborn.

Describe what Plato believes about the mind in 67 words.
Plato believes the mind is ontologically distinct from the body, the body has completely separate qualities from the mind and so how can they be deemed as one thing? For instance the mind is eternal, immortal and imitable and so can exist after death. What happens when we die is our knowledge of the forms is reincarnated endlessly into other humans to be rediscovered forever and ever

Describe what Plato believes about the body in 92 words.
Plato believes the body is ontologically distinct from the mind and has no connection with it, however the body’s life processes can ‘clutter’ up the mind in a sense because our bodily functions take up our mind instead of our true knowledge of the forms which is what we are supposed to focus on. He believes our bodies exist in the physical world or ‘The realm of Shadows and Illusions’, basically saying that what our eyes perceive and our body’s feel are just illusions of the true knowledge of what’s real.

Describe what Plato believes about self identity in 20 words.
Plato feels our sense of our personal identity dies and decays with our body and our personal memories die too.

Describe what Plato believes about our disembodied consciousness in 9 words.
Our consciousness dies, our knowledge of the forms lives.

Plato on self identity – Plato believes that when our physical body dies, our memories and personality goes with it. However, knowledge of forms remain.
Plato: When the body dies, memories are lost and the personality dies. Our knowledge of the forms survives to be reincarnated.

PLATO -> SELF-IDENTITY
Half of mind is full of passions and memories of physical events that disappear when our mortal physical body dies

PLATO -> SELF-AWARENESS
All our physical memories die - as well as consciousness

Plato – Self Identity
Plato believes that when our physical body dies, our memories and personality goes with it. Knowledge of forms don’t.

Plato-personality
Personality dies with the body, only the knowledge of the forms lives on. The things that contain the mind must therefore live on as well. Plato also believes that the realm of ideas is the real world and that the physical world is just a shadow of the perfect world. Although Plato believes that the mind and body are separate he believes that personalities belong in the body, so die with it. The mind is reincarnated and is eternal whereas the body is mortal and ephemeral.

Plato clips