Is Consciousness the Same as a Soul - Book Report/Review Example

1.For Nagel, consciousness is what makes a life form different from one another. He says some things are beyond the understanding of humans. Consciousness is basically awareness and they way a living being view the world depends on its consciousness. For him consciousness and subjective experience cannot be reduced to brain activity. According to him consciousness possesses a subjective character. For him every organism has its own mental state which is peculiar to them. He argues that subjective nature of the mind cannot be sufficiently accounted for by the reductionist science and its objective methods. He says that the physical theory of mind needs to be contemplated with the subjective nature of mind. As per ( Nagel,1974,pg.435-50 ) “Conscious experience is a widespread phenomenon. It occurs at many levels of animal life, though we cannot be sure of its presence in the simpler organisms, and it is very difficult to say in general what provides evidence of it” He says that the mind need to be studied with subjectivity and objectivity attached to it. For him, both the physical and mental has connection but cannot be understood appropriately. In the reductionism theory of Nagel it is assumed that the natural science has a common set of principles. Nagel says that the functioning of organism cannot be accounted for by same integrated scientific principles. He thinks the world is mostly materialist. For the author, the consciousness is the most mysterious aspect of life and it makes explain the relation between body and mind unexplainable. For him consciousness is outside the explanation of rationale and hence science cannot explain its nature and working. For him, consciousness is important because it is the reason for the awareness and mental existence in human begins. He reveals that phenomenology of mind and consciousness cannot be exemplified by scientific theories. For him considering the nature of consciousness explaining the working of mind and body is impossible. He suggest that no amount of scientific facts can produce phenomenal knowledge with relate to consciousness and it s connection with mind and body. He says neuroscience and psychology has nothing to do pertaining to it. The supernatural nature of consciousness further eludes the naturalist explanation of its phenomenon. He says without consciousness mind and body relation alone has no importance but with consciousness it becomes even more complex. As per ( Nagel,1974,pg.435-50) “While an account of the physical basis of mind must explain many things, this appears to be the most difficult.What Nagel is trying to put forward is that consciousness is not an aspect which can be proven by any scientific method. Consciousness is awareness and it can only be experienced but not proven by any means. The complex nature of mind and body cannot be reduced to science according to angel. He thinks that consciousness is what makes mind a mystery and as body works according to mind it is not easy to explain mind body connection by any science. The consciousness and its supernatural nature is what making the behaviour of human and animals so complex according to Nagel. The author thinks the scientific world is reducing the working of the mind to fewer complexes. 2.According to Aristotle soul is a substance which exists in the body which has life. According to him, it is the first actuality of natural body which has life. Soul is the essence of life and it has principles that all of the life has a source and is stable. The definition of soul as a substance is a fact because we know our soul is what makes us alive. Even after our death, we possess the body but what makes us living is the presence of soul in us. Life itself can be considered as the existence of soul in the body. Or consciousness and mind is connected to our soul. Soul is what makes us different from each other and it is link we have with nature. As per (Aristotle,2008,pg.15)“ Everything else they think is moved by soul but the soul is moved by itself”. The Aristotle is also right in saying that it is the first actuality of natural body as soul what proposes a body to grow and form. The soul exists in the body of a baby at the initial conception stage. It is what influences conception and growth in a life form. If souls are not present then the formation of life is impossible. Soul is also the essence of life as it gives substance and spirit to life. The driving force behind human and animal is soul. Every moving living being possess soul and the life form die as soon as the soul escapes from their body. Aristotle divided beings into two groups the plants and animals. The beings with red blood and others without red blood. According to (Stewart, 2008, pg .9) “Aristotle divided all animals into two main categories: animals with red blood and animals without red blood”. He also divided them as flying, walking and swimming. The plants, micro organism, worms and insects belong to those beings without blood. All other animals have body with blood. The other classification are animals like birds which fly, cats and dogs which walk and fish which swims. However, there is some discrepancy with his classification. Some animals and plants do live both in water and land. Like frogs live on land and water and can swim and hop. Some plants live on water and land and so do animals like alligator and duck live on both land and water. Both Nagel and Aristotle have same perspective view on mind and body problem. They have a dual aspect theory on life and do not separate substances on the basis of interaction. For them mind and body interacts and work in a unified manner. They both think that the memory and personality is the identity of a person. They think soul is immortal and it is stable thorough the life forms. They think that soul and body interacts as respond to the outside world with the aid of mind. So there is no difference between the concepts of Nagel and Aristotle on mind body problem. 3.Aristotle has explained that soul is one but has five groups of faculties. These are vegetative, appetite, sense perception, locomotive and reasoning faculty. The vegetative faculty is concerned with the maintenance and development of organic life. The appetite faculty means the tendency to do well. The sense perception faculty means the soul’s ability to experience the sensory feeling. The locomotive faculty means the one which presides over the bodily movements and the reasoning faculty means the function of logical ability. This means the soul and body are united in as a complete one substance. The soul has experience with all the faculties of thy and mind. Ultimately the soul carries all the experience with it and discards the body .Aristotle has given much explanation on the sense of touch. According to him, the sense of touch and taste are related. So he says nutrition needs only taste and touch but locomotion needs other sensory channels. The principles of touch and thinking must correspond according to Aristotle. He states that the connection between touch and intellection harbor a deeper problem. For him, without touch we would not have consciousness and would know nothing. The touch is our way to tangible quality and which give us a feeling that we are deeply rooted on earth. It helps us to perceive the world and things around us more profoundly; According to Aristotle all sensory perception are grounded in the sense of touch. And for him it is the noblest of the senses. For him, it is a sense with lot of potentiality and to the action of sensible objects. For him, the sense of touch gives an idea to people what is the sense of object in actual manner. Sense becomes aware of the sensible object by the means of sense of touch. The sense of organ for touch is defined because Aristotle wants to focus upon its condition. As the sensible object is taking the sense organ and sense and it can be considered that organ for the sense of touch can be regarded as the sense of object itself. As per (Anton,1991, pg.110) “Touch is the crucial scene, in Aristotle’s view because the properties of nourishment- hotness, coldness, wetness, dryness – are the proper objects of that sense”. For example flesh being a sensory apparatus and as body it will have some definite hardness and temperature and this hardness can prevent it from perceiving what has about the same hardness and temperature. The touch apparatus cannot completely lack the tangibility and tangible. The touch is a sense which makes a person aware of the sensible differences by interfacing with and being affected by the differences. For him common objects are also the actual objects of perception. For him we sense and by means of its form. Work Cited Aristotle, . (2008). De Anima (2ndnd ed., p. 15). New York: Cosimo Inc. Anton, J. P. (1991). Essays in Ancient Greek Philosophy IV: Aristotles Ethics (p. 110). New York: State University of New York Press. Nagel, T. (1974). What Is It Like to Be a Bat? The Philosophical Review, 83(4), 435-450. Stewart, M. (2008). Classification of Life (2ndnd ed., p. 9). Minneapolis: Twenty First Century Books. Read More