Which great exponent of cartesian dualism resists the reduction of pyschological phenomina to a physical…?
Dualism is an ancient concept and deeply rooted in Greek thought. The Greeks held that a man’s soul was of an entirely different essence than his body. Furthermore, they held that these dual entities had no interaction with one another. Indeed, the Greeks saw them as alien to one another, the body being the prison house of the soul. Thus dualism means much more than a mere numerical designation. It implies the dichotomy of soul and body, an absolute split. Rene Descartes (1596-1650) marks the beginning of modern psychology. He was a remarkable individual: primarily a philosopher, he was also a scientist, physiologist, and a mathematician. He believed in an independent nonmaterial soul inhabiting and finding expression in a mechanically operated body. The reality of the body needed no proof, the reality of the soul did. Descartes used his famous aphorism as proof: cogito ergo sum, “I reflect, therefore I am.” It is a neat form of proof and seems unanswerable. We cannot doubt the existen
