PHIL 1301 Introduction to Philosophy

1. The concept of dualism entails that there consist two essential sets of ideologies in a certain realm. In philosophy of cognizance, dualism is a principle that states that the somatic and spiritual are fundamentally different things

Throughout history, a number of philosophers have tried to argue and come up with various ways of describing the concept of dualism (Searle, 23). Rene Descartes, a more topical and recent dualist had a theory that there existed two sets of elements: mind, whose fundamental property is that it reasons and matter, whose basic property is its three-dimensional extension. Descartes viewpoint was more mechanical about substance properties; he believed that bodies are engines that work in accordance with their specific laws with the exception where the mind affects it. Apparently, the mind acted like a lever to a machine, which is the body that already has its operational codes. He argues that truly the mind does control the body, but the body is fully capable of prompting the coherent mind as is the case of crimes of passion (Baker & Katherine, 7).

Thomas Hobbes, another well-renowned philosopher, argued that motion is the foundation of all consequence but one general cause which is the outcome of all cause.

According to Alan Turing, the concept of machines being capable of thinking on their volition is too insubstantial and superficial even to be considered. Turing developed a test widely known as the Turing test where machines (digital computers) took part in a game he developed called The Imitation Game. The test would induce interactive tests for the manifestation of thought and intellect in entities which are artificial. (Turning 487)

A dualist would argue that even if a machine closely resembled a human to the extent that one was inclined to believe a machine was indeed a fellow human, the machine would still not be able to act like real men. Descartes, for instance, argued that even if a machine did something as well as humans did or possibly even much better, it would abysmally fail in other activities. That would show that they do not act upon their consideration and thoughtfulness but rather from the predisposition of their structures (Rozemond, 3). According to him, reason was the universal mechanism for which all circumstances were acted upon and that a machine could not possibly have enough parts in its structure to perform in all likelihoods in life the same exact way our human reason makes us act.

Works Cited

Baker, Gordon P, and Katherine, Morris. Descartes' dualism. Psychology Press, 2002.

Bennett, Jonathan. Thoughtful Brutes. 1988. Print.

Rozemond, Marleen, and Marleen Rozemond. Descartes's dualism. Harvard University Press, 2009.

Fosl, Peter. "Cavell and Hume on Skepticism, Natural Doubt, and the Recovery of the Ordinary." Conversations: The Journal of Cavellian Studies 3 (2015).

Hume, David. An inquiry concerning human understanding. Ed. Charles William Hendel. Vol. 49. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1955.

Hood, Francis Campbell. "The divine politics of Thomas Hobbes: an interpretation of Leviathan." (1966).

Turing, Alan, et al. "Can automatic calculating machines be said to think? (1952)." B. Jack Copeland (2004): 487.

Turing, Allan. “Computing Machinery and Intelligence.” Mind 49: 433-460. 1950 Searle, John. Minds, Brains, and Computers. California: University of California Press. 1992. Print