2. The nature of persons: dualism vs. physicalism

Death (PHIL 176)

Professor Kagan discusses the two main positions with regard to the question, "What is a person?" On the one hand, there is the dualist view, according to which a person is a body and a soul. On the other hand, the physicalist view argues that a person is just a body. The body, however, has a certain set of abilities and is capable of a large range of activities.

00:00 - Chapter 1. "Is There Life After Death?" Asking the Right Question
13:25 - Chapter 2. Ways to Conceptualize Self-Identity
21:18 - Chapter 3. Dualists: The Body-Soul Perspective
39:00 - Chapter 4. The Physicalists: The Body Is a Body and Conclusion

Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://open.yale.edu/courses

This course was recorded in Spring 2007.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• dualist
• immaterial
• interactionist
• dualism
• physicalism
• physicalist
• Plato
• soul