Many philosophers for the past few centuries have debated on monism, dualism, and functionalism. These three concepts are philosophical views towards a human being. Philosophers have been debating whether or not an individual is made up of the mind, the body, or both. Monists believe that a person is made up of either the body or the mind, which allows one for a single self-consistent universe. Functionalism is the theory of the mental states and has been the most dominant theory in cognitive science since the 1970s.
Dualists presume that a person is made up of the body and the mind, including both the “physical and non-physical aspects.”Dualism allows us to view the world from two different forces that work together to build up the world or an object. It is separated into two different categories which include: physical and mental. The mind would be the mental aspect and the body would be the physical aspect. We require both “aspects to make us human.
” A person is physically and mentally different. Our body and our mind cannot be the same, since they are two different types of substances. “By substance, we mean the actual stuff that makes them up” (COGNITIVE SCIENCE edition 2 by Jay Friedenberg and Gordon Silverman, page 29). Dualism gives us the ability to see that the substances that make up our body are really just the physical part of our body. “Dualists are people who believe that knowledge, thought and, the self all exist in some way beyond the physical body.” According to Descartes, the mind and body exist through independent materials. However, he also claims that both factors do in fact, interact with each other through the “pineal gland” to make up a human being. The “pineal gland” is located in the centre of our brain.
Descartes believes that the “pineal gland” is situated in this specific location because that’s where the mind best influences the body.
