In Defense Of Mind-Body Dualism Summary

389 Words2 Pages
In Gertler’s essay, “In Defense of Mind-Body Dualism”, she uses the concept of pain to defend her views on the mind and the body being separate entities. As a dualist, Gertler argues for the mind being separate from the body. She proposes that physicalism is flawed and so argues against the identity thesis that pain is not equal to the firing of C-fibres. Gertler makes her arguments clear and is able to counter any argument from physicalists. In defence of dualism, she puts forth a thought experiment: The Disembodied Argument. She argues that if you are able to conceive of pain while disembodied, then pain is not identical to any physical state. From her thought experiment, she revises her premises to use only concepts that are sufficiently comprehensive. The concepts used must be sufficiently comprehensive to avoid creating false conclusions and invalid arguments. An example Gertler gives to us is one where a geometry student is able to conceive of a right triangle that violates the Pythagorean Theorem because the student did not have the correct concept of a…show more content…
Once clarified, our concepts will satisfy the requirements to be utilized within a thought experiment. Gertler argues that our concept of physical will ultimately affect how you go on with the Disembodied Argument. As per Gertler, to be physical is to have no mental properties and to be inanimate. From this definition, Gertler concludes that to be disembodied is to have no mental properties. Now onto the concept of pain. Pain, as per Gertler, has no hidden essence and to know that you are in pain does not require any investigation. If you feel that you are in pain, then you are in pain. Gertler defines pain as a "hurting sensation". Gertler concludes from these definitions that disembodied pain is conceivable and so disembodied pain is

    More about In Defense Of Mind-Body Dualism Summary

      Open Document