Peter van Inwagen on the Mind-Body Problem

It's video time again! Yea!

Here's Peter van Inwagen on the (so-called) mind-body problem. We'll be reading van Inwagen soon enough, so to prepare it might be nice for you to hear him talk through this issue just a bit.

Note particularly his comments on dualism and (more specifically) his brief remarks on whether appealing to theism will help dualism.

So, your task: Talk through what you take to be some of his key claims. Does he make some good points? Can you think of any decent criticisms?

Here's the link: http://www.closertotruth.com/video-profile/Why-a-Mind-Body-Problem-Peter-van-Inwagen-/150

Videos of Zimmerman and Plantinga on Dualism

I have some interesting, relevant (short) videos for you to watch.

First, we read Dean Zimmerman's essay where he lays out a taxonomy of dualisms. Here's Zimmerman discussing these matters in an interview format:

http://closertotruth.com/video-profile/Can-a-Person-be-a-Soul-Dean-Zimmerman-/599

Second, we have considered Alvin Plantinga's "Materialism and Christian Belief". Here's a video where Plantinga presents his anti-materialist argument in an interview format:

http://closertotruth.com/video-profile/Is-the-Person-All-Material-Alvin-Plantinga-/593

Watch these brief videos and respond to them. You might consider what Zimmerman said and affirm it, object to it, raise questions about it, etc. Just be sure to say what reasons you have for affirming, objecting, or questioning it. And the same for Plantinga's argument. Affirm it, object to it, question it, etc. Just be sure to say what reasons you have for doing what you're doing.

And interact with each other!

Varieties of Dualism

In class we are working through the Zimmerman piece to try to get a handle on the big-picture varieties of dualism one might endorse. As you consider those varieties, do any strike you (at this very early stage in the game) as being more plausible than the rest? Or do they all strike you as being equally plausible (or, perhaps better, implausible)? And, of course, why?

Note that by favoring one dualist view over the others, you are not thereby committing yourself to actually accepting that dualist view. You may think one dualist view is more plausible than the other dualist views, but also think that none are more plausible than (one or more of) the non-dualist (or materialist/physicalist) positions.

Be sure to interact with each other!

Welcome to Metaphysics!

Welcome! This is the blog for Metaphysics. My hope is that each of you will participate thoughtfully and graciously in the conversations on this blog. The topics addressed in this course are crucial to our shared Christian commitments. Consequently, we may be unwilling to consider carefully and charitably views that are different from our own or to take seriously objections to our beliefs. This is unfortunate. I should hope that on this blog we practice listening carefully to each other, expressing clearly and rigorously our positions, and handling graciously criticisms raised against our beliefs. Doing so should help us all think harder and better about who God is and how he interacts with the world, and who we are and how we are to interact with the world. I look forward to joining in conversation with each of you.