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Nature Of The Person
A Synoptic Study Of Philosophy
of Religion and Buddhism
Dualism
Dualism
• Dual – Duo – concerned with 2 things
• Concerned with the relationship between
mind and matter
• Substance Dualism – what we’re
bothered about
1596 - 1650
Descartes
• Substance Dualism suggests;
• Mind and Matter are distinct
and separate.
• Body = machine
• Mind/Soul = operator
• Body can influence mind however; acts of
passion etc.
Descartes' Doubts
• Can doubt so many things, e.g. body
could be a dream
• Cannot doubt that we doubt
• Mind is more important as cannot be
doubted.
• “Meditations on First Philosophy”
The Pineal Gland
• Descartes thought the mind/soul existed here
• Pineal gland actually produces a powerful
antioxidant melatonin used mainly to protect
nuclear and mitochondrial DNA.
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Plato
ca.428 – ca.348 bce
• Student of Socrates and tutor of Aristotle
• Like Descartes – gave more importance to the
mind than the body.
• Chariot Analogy
• Cave Analogy
• Theory of the Forms
• Tent Analogy
Chariot Analogy
• Presented in his dialogue “Phaedrus”.
• Black horse represents the appetitive part of
the soul
• White horse represents the spirited part of the
soul
• The charioteer represents the rational mind.
• In an enlightened soul Plato believes the
charioteer will have full control over the horses.
Plato’s Cave Analogy
• We are as prisoners at the bottom of a cave
watching shadows on a wall and believing them to
be real life.
• The quest for truth is long, painful and must be
made alone. Others may not believe the
conclusions because they are still in the cave.
(Republic Book 6 Chapter 7)
Plato’s Theory of the Forms
• The Realm of the Forms is the realm of all true
knowledge and perfections.
• All Souls originate here and return here after
death
• Common misconception; Socrates came up with
the idea of inherent knowledge.
• Our world is a fuzzy reflection of the world of
the Forms
Forms
• One definition of a Form could be the “-ness” of
something, e.g the “roundness” of a ball.
• Nothing outside the Realm of the Forms can be
perfectly round, but can hint at roundness.
• Hierarchy:
FORM OF ROUNDNESS
Our Perception Of Perfect Roundness
Actual Roundness of a Ball in our World.
Tent Analogy
• This is a little hazy, but sometimes Plato seemed
to believe in multiple rebirths before reaching
the Realm of the Forms
• Each body is a new and improved style of tent:
384 - 322 bce
Aristotle
• 4 Causes:
• Material cause – what it’s made of
• Efficient cause – what it’s made by
• Formal cause – what gives it the shape by which
it is identified
• Final cause – reason for existence
Final cause is obviously more difficult for human beings.
Materialism
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Materialism
• A form of physicalism which holds that the only
thing that can be said to exist is matter.
• Totally opposite to Descartes thinking.
• Interesting point - Buddhists don’t believe in a
soul, and yet matter is not the important
substance either – rather becoming one with the
universe – Atman (Hindu concept)
1941 –
Richard Dawkins
• “The Selfish Gene” (1976)
• There is no soul, everything comes down
to our biological wish to survive and
breed.
• Not much more to say; belief is similar to
Descartes’ view of the body but without
the mind as a separate entity.
John Hick
Idealism
• The opposite of Materialism.
• Everything is composed of Mind-stuff, all
apparent matter is brought into and kept in
being through the mind.
• Can be associated with Plato and certainly
Descartes.
• Many Buddhist school are characterized by
idealism
1724 - 1804
Immanuel Kant
• German Philosophy
• Founded “transcendental idealism” – idea that
reality conforms to our understanding of it and
does not exist separately.
• Wrote “Critique of Pure Reason” (1787)
• Theory Of Perception
Kant’s Theory of Perception
• We can know things about the world through
analytic and synthetic means as well as
empirical means.
• Analytic = 1+1 = 2
or “all spinsters are unmarried”
Synthetic = “Ecclesbourne blazers are burgundy”
Buddhism - Anatta
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3rd Mark of Existence alongside Dukkha and Anicca.
“atta” – Hindu word for “self/soul”, “an” implies negative
Only world religion with this teaching
Closely linked with Anicca (impermanence) because
constant change means the lack of an essential self.
The 3 Fires of Akusala create a false image of the self.
The Chariot Analogy
Self (or lack of self) is made up of the 5 Skandhas.
Whilst false image of self exists, Samsara cannot be escaped.
Akusala
• Greed
• Hatred
• Delusion
Kusala
• The 3 Positive Drives
• These combat Akusala and destroy the false
image of the self
• Faith
• Wisdom
• Discursiveness (non-attachment)
The (Buddhist) Chariot Analogy
• A monk named Nagasena visited King
Milinda of Bactria and demonstrated
through dismantling a chariot that there is
no one thing that names an object or person
as itself . Composite sections form a whole,
and so one cannot point out the part of a
chariot amongst dismantled parts that is the
chariot in the same way one cannot identify
a person’s self or soul.
The 5 Skandhas
• Rupa • Vedana detect light
mind detects thoughts
- physical, e.g. eyes ears etc
- non-physical – name
- the way the body picks things up e.g. eyes
- neutral, pleasant or unpleasant.
- mind counts as a sense in Buddhism
• Sanna - the recognition of sensation
• Sankhara - only volitional acts register Karma
- in Buddhism moods, longing etc count as
volitional however, as Buddhists believe they can be controlled.
- 52 mental activities with karmic affects
• Vinanna - the accumulation on the previous 4 Skandhas.
The Tibetan Wheel Of Life - Samsara
Yama turner of
the Wheel
of Life
Inner Circle –
the 6 Realms
Outer Circle –
the 12 Nidanas
which keep us in
the cycle or
birth and
rebirth
Akusala
Samsara – The 12 Nidanas
• Also known as “dependant origination”,
“conditioned genesis”, “Paticcasamuppada”,
these are the nature of causation!
• These are the things that prevent realisation
of Anatta and keep us in Samsara.
• If He Concentrates Like Six Concentrating
Fish, Can George Buy Blue Dungarees?
The 12 Nidanas
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Ignorance – blind man
Habits - potter
Consciousness – restless monkey
Life Force – man (mind) in boat (body)
Six Senses (includes the mind) – house with 6 windows
Contact – couple kissing
Feeling – man who has been shot in the eye with an arrow
Craving – a sweet drink
Grasping – a man picking fruit who already has a full basket
Becoming – copulating couple
Birth – labour/mother & baby
Death – funeral pyre.
Rebirth!
A candle being lit from one that’s just going
out.
Not water being transferred from one bowl to
another.
The Synoptic Bit
• There is an old Chinese proverb that reads “Am I a man
dreaming I’m a butterfly or a Butterfly dreaming I’m a man?”
This is used in Buddhism to broaden the mind and epitomises
Descartes doubts in “Meditations on First Philosophy”.
•Anatta could be compared with Materialism, as the lack of soul
suggests this, however it seems more like Idealism when
concerned with metaphysics given than many schools of
Buddhism believe existence is in the mind.
•There are similarities between Aristotle’s 4 causes and the 5
Skandhas in Buddhism.
•Although not particularly similar in content, comparisons
can be drawn between Plato’s chariot analogy and the story
of the monk Nagasena and King Milinda.
•Plato’s belief in rebirth correlates with the Buddhist
concept of the Tibetan Wheel of Life.
•In some ways the Buddhist teaching of Anatta can be
identified with Dualism, Materialism and Idealism!!!