Readings on Mind/Body Dualism
for the Logos Unit
English 399: Rhetoric of Religion - Mary Baker Eddy
Instructor: Karen D. Austin * kaustin@shepherd.edu
Shepherd College, Shepherdstown, WV 25443
Mary Baker Eddy's religious texts focus primarily on the relationship between the mind and the body. Metaphysicians have struggled for centuries to describe the mind (or spirit) and its relationship (or lack thereof) to the body (or matter in general). Consequently, there are several terms to describe these two concepts, and there are several positions on their relationship. In an effort to introduce the concept, I can oversimplify the theories as belonging to one of three camps:
First camp: The body (matter, physicality, temporality) is primary. It's more important than the mind. Maybe it's even the only reality! People perceive from the body first. Maybe even the ideas people claim come from the mind or the spirit are really just products of the body and the senses after all.
Second camp: The mind (spirit, thoughts, imagination) is primary. It's more important than the body. Maybe it's even the only reality! People perceive through their spirit first. Maybe even the physical sense people claim to have are really only products of the mind (or spirit) after all.
Third camp: The mind and the body work in tandem. They both contribute equally to people's experience and perceptions. Maybe neither the mind nor the body can exist without the other. Maybe it's impossible to experience the body without the mind to perceive and process experience; maybe it's impossible to think without having a body to house the thoughts and enact on the thoughts. For example, depression is both a physical state (involving chemicals moving around, neurons firing, heartbeats slowing, etc.) and a mental state (a cognitive process that involves participating in schema identified as depression).
Your reading assignment involves going on a Web Quest. Surf these pages and others involving the mind/body relationship so that you can refer to these readings when placing Eddy within one of these "camps" concerning the mind/body dualism.
Entry for the Mind-Body Problem from the Dictionary of the Philosophy of the Mind
Entry for Dualism from the Dictionary of the Philosophy of the Mind
Entry for Mind-Body Problem from Xreferences
Entry for Dualism for the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Entry for Dualism from the Catholic Encyclopedia, framing the debate in religious terms
Overview of the Mind-Body Problem from a Psychology Point of View
A List and Explanation for Several Types of Dualism
A Short Essay Discussing the Problem with Using Old Terms for the Relationship between Mind/Body
A Graphic Demonstrating the History of Dualism (not very academic, but worth a peek).
A Cool Graphic that Charts the Position Various "Camps" Take on the Mind/Body Problem