Materialism versus Dualism
Sara Worley
The Encyclopedia of Clinical Psychology January 23, 2015 DOI: 10.1002/9781118625392.wbecp486 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | The text outlines the debate between materialism and dualism: dualists hold that minds are non-physical and not subject to natural laws, supported by arguments from free will, life after death, and the difficulty of explaining consciousness physically. It also notes major problems for dualism, including the interaction problem and the contention that materialism is the simpler theory. |
Abstract
Abstract: Materialism is the doctrine that the world is entirely physical, whereas dualism is the doctrine that there are two fundamentally different kinds of things in the world: mind and bodies. Dualists say that minds are not made out of physical stuff, and they are not subject to the laws of nature. There are a number of arguments for dualism, ranging from concerns about free will, to religious concerns about life after death, to the difficulty of explaining consciousness in physical terms. However, there are also serious problems with dualism, including the problem of explaining how the mind and body interact, and the fact that materialism seems, overall, the simpler theory.