Soul and Body

2019 ◽  
pp. 65-99
Author(s):  
Edward Slingerland
Keyword(s):  
Personal Identity ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Mortuary Practices ◽  
Material World ◽  
Physical Body ◽  
Textual Evidence ◽  
Afterlife Beliefs ◽  
Qualitative Distinction

This chapter presents traditional archaeological and textual evidence against the strong soul-body holist position—that is, the claim that the early Chinese lacked any sense of a qualitative distinction between an immaterial soul and a physical body. This evidence includes afterlife beliefs as gleaned from mortuary practices and textual evidence drawn from both the received corpus and archaeologically recovered texts. The early Chinese appear to have distinguished between a relatively corporeal, physical body and a relatively incorporeal soul (or set of souls). The former was part of a material, visible world and was viewed ultimately as peripheral to the essence of one’s personal identity. The latter was the focus of ancestor cults, sacrifices, and oracles, and partook of an invisible, numinous world, qualitatively distinct from our own. The “specialness” of the next world and the beings that inhabited it lent to them, and to items and practices associated with them, a degree of numinosity that is not at all alien to conceptions of the holy or sacred in Judeo-Christian traditions. The chapter concludes with the argument that soul-body dualism is ultimately parasitic on basic mind-body dualism, which sees mental states or consciousness as somehow qualitatively distinct from the material world of things.

Vagueness

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kit Fine
Keyword(s):  
Personal Identity ◽  
Mental States ◽  
General Idea ◽  
Sorites Paradox ◽  
Local Phenomenon ◽  
Intrinsic Feature

The book is about the problem of vagueness. It begins by discussing some of the existing views on vagueness and then explains why they have not been thought to be satisfactory. It then outlines a new account of vagueness, based on the general idea that vagueness is a global rather than a local phenomenon. In other words, the vagueness of an expression or object is not an intrinsic feature of the object or an expression but a matter of how it relates to other objects and expression. The development of this idea leads to a new semantics and logic for vagueness. The semantics and logic are then applied to a number of issues, including the sorites paradox, the transparency or luminosity of mental states, and personal identity. It is shown that the view allows one to hew to a much more intuitive position on these various issues.

The Metaphysics of Jonathan Edwards’s “Personal Narrative”: Continuous Creation, Personal Identity, and Spiritual Development

2019 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 184-206
Author(s):  
Christopher Woznicki
Keyword(s):  
Personal Identity ◽  
Spiritual Development ◽  
Personal Narrative ◽  
Jonathan Edwards ◽  
Textual Evidence ◽  
Continuous Creation ◽  
Historical Figures ◽  
The One

Summary Central to evangelical piety is the theme of “conversionism”. Among historical figures who embody this characteristic of evangelical piety one finds that Jonathan Edwards plays an important role, in part, because of his 1740 “Personal Narrative”. In this essay I examine the metaphysics underlying Edwards’s view of conversion in his “Personal Narrative”. Special attention is given to Edwards’s doctrine of continuous creation and to a feature that underlies his understanding of spiritual development, namely the One-Subject Criterion. I weigh two options for how Edwards may coherently hold to continuous creation and the One-Subject Criterion: Mark Hamilton’s relative realism/endurance account and Edwardsean Anti-Criterialism. I conclude that given the textual evidence Edwardsean Anti-Criterialism is to be preferred over Hamilton’s view.

scholarly journals Emergent Individuals and the Resurrection

2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy O'Connor ◽  
Jonathan D. Jacobs
Keyword(s):  
Personal Identity ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Christian Doctrine ◽  
Orthodox Christian ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Number Of Authors

We present an original emergent individuals view of human persons, on which persons are substantial biological unities that exemplify metaphysically emergent mental states. We argue that this view allows for a coherent model of identity-preserving resurrection from the dead consistent with orthodox Christian doctrine, one that improves upon alternatives accounts recently proposed by a number of authors. Our model is a variant of the “falling elevator” model advanced by Dean Zimmerman that, unlike Zimmerman’s, does not require a closest continuer account of personal identity. We end by raising some remaining theological concerns. 

Composite Subjectivity and Psychological Subjects

2019 ◽  
pp. 229-269
Author(s):  
Luke Roelofs
Keyword(s):  
Personal Identity ◽  
Dissociative Identity Disorder ◽  
Psychological Theory ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Everyday Experiences

This chapter is about how to combine subjects of experience as they are understood by the psychological theory of personal identity (Neo-Lockeanism). On this theory subjects are not the systems which generate mental states, but are instead constructs defined by the patterns of continuity among mental states. This requires considering how component and composite subjects can be individuated from one another, how they can develop self-consciousness, and how they can display agency. This results in a combinationist account of what is going on in everyday experiences of inner conflict and in dissociative identity disorder—an account which can recognize the conflicting or dissociated parts as subjects in their own right, but also as forming a composite subject with a greater or lesser degree of unity.

scholarly journals KONSEP DUḤKHA DAN MOKṢA DALAM CHĀNDOGYA UPANIṢAD SEBAGAI PEDOMAN MENCAPAI KEBEBASAN

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 32
Author(s):  
Ni Made Sumaryani
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Bound State ◽  
The Body ◽  
Material World ◽  
Physical Body ◽  
To Come ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Chāndogya Upaniṣad ◽  
The Way

<p><em>Chāndogya Upaniṣad</em> is a holy scripture which also a part of <em>Veda Śruti</em>. Usually every <em>Upaniṣad </em>contains teaching about <em>Brahman, Ātman </em>and the Universe. <em>Chāndogya Upaniṣad</em> is a mean to realize that there is no difference between jivātman (self’s soul) and <em>Paramātman </em>(Source of the Soul). The main objective of this scripture is to do the inquiry deep into the last home truth which reaches a step when a person became rather wise and mature to disconnect him/ her from all karmas. <em>Chāndogya Upaniṣad</em> texts have been chosen to be examined in this research because this scripture explain clearly about the consept of <em>duḥkha</em> and <em>mokṣa</em>. The problems which will be investigated on this research are: 1. how is the concept of <em>duḥkha </em>and <em>mokṣa</em> in <em>Chāndogya Upaniṣad</em>? 2) How is the way to be apart from <em>duḥkha</em> to attain <em>mokṣa </em>based on <em>Chāndogya Upaniṣad</em>?</p><p>Related to the research question above, this research only use one theory to analyze it, which is the Gadamer’s Hermeneutic Theory. Hermeneutic theory is the scalpel on interpreting the meaning which consists on texts. This is a qualitative research, therefore, the collection of the data using the technique of literature and document studies.</p><p>The result of this research can be told as follows: 1) the concept of <em>duḥkha</em> in <em>Chāndogya Upaniṣad</em> is the bound state of the soul with the physical body materially. When the soul bounded with the senses materially, then it is causing billion of desires to come out. All bounds towards these desires will throw the soul into the depth of sorrow (<em>duḥkha</em>). The concept of <em>mokṣa</em> in <em>Chāndogya Upaniṣad</em> is a state when <em>ātman</em> reach <em>the abode of </em>God, <em>Brakmaloka</em> and would never came back to this material world. 2) The way to release from the bond of <em>duḥkha</em> based on <em>Chāndogya Upaniṣad</em> is through realize the essence which relies on every being, the <em>ātman</em> who gave life into the physical body, comprise of shaper elements of the body. This can be realized by the help of Spiritual Teacher who’s already acquainted <em>Brahman </em>itself.</p>

scholarly journals The Objectivity of Spiritual Experiences: Spontaneous Mental Imagery and the Spiritual Space

1969 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcelo S. Mercante
Keyword(s):  
Mental Imagery ◽  
Spiritual Development ◽  
Spiritual Experiences ◽  
Material World ◽  
Physical Body ◽  
The Moment

The purpose of this article is to investigate the nature of spontaneous mental imagery that people experienced after ritualistically ingesting Ayahuasca. The combination of ingestion of Daime and the participation in a ceremony appear to reliably promote the occurrence of spontaneous mental imageries, referred as mirações, which were considered as a process of perception, the moment when different entities (physical body, thoughts, feelings, culture, emotions, mind, soul, spiritual space, etc.) become connected within consciousness. Mirações are believed to take place in a non-physical - although very objective - “spiritual space,” which is believed to the shared by participants in the ceremonies. The spiritual space is immaterial and multidimensional, precluding, nesting and informing the material world. The spiritual space is perceived as original, generating dispositions, intentions, and meanings, and as containing within it the physical and psychological levels of existence. The exploration of that space during a ceremony was considered a process of spiritual development.

scholarly journals Effect of Surya Namaskar with and Without Walking on Body Mass Index among College Girls with Premenstrual Syndrome

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 316-318
Keyword(s):  
Body Mass Index ◽  
Body Mass ◽  
Premenstrual Syndrome ◽  
Life Style ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Good Health ◽  
Standard Of Living ◽  
Material World ◽  
Physical Body ◽  
The People

Health is wealth. Keeping our body in good health is our duty, otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear. Science and technology have revolutionized the life style of mankind. Increased standard of living has brought great comfort to mankind. Along with this developments, the modern man becoming submerged in the material world with large number of problems and recurrent ailments. Stress and frustration and physical ailments have become common among the people in this world1 . Birth is not for being tortured by diseases and problems. Happiness is the birth-right and the nature of mankind. Health only can give the happiness. But the happiness of women is disturbed very much by the menstrual problems. Every Woman may become physically, mentally and emotionally healthy through Yoga. The practice of Yogasanas for physical body and Pranayama for mind through Surya Namaskar will bring a positive change in mind & body, which in turn make people free to enjoy a harmony, healthy and wealthy life.

scholarly journals Intuitive Conceptions of Dead Agents' Minds: The Natural Foundations of Afterlife Beliefs as Phenomenological Boundary

2002 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 263-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesse Bering
Keyword(s):  
Mental State ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Current Experiment ◽  
Life After Death ◽  
Form Of Life ◽  
Epistemic States ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Intuitive Conceptions ◽  
Personal Consciousness ◽  
Afterlife Beliefs

AbstractLittle is known about how the minds of dead agents are represented. In the current experiment, individuals with different types of explicit afterlife beliefs were asked in an implicit interview task whether various mental state types, as well as pure biological imperatives, continue after death. The results suggest that, regardless of one's explicit reports about personal consciousness after death, those who believe in some form of life after death (and, to a certain extent, even those who do not) implicitly represent dead agents' minds in the same way: psychobiological and perceptual states cease while emotional, desire, and epistemic states continue. The findings are interpreted according to simulation constraints — because it is epistemologically impossible to know what it is like to be dead, individuals will be most likely to attribute to dead agents those types of mental states that they cannot imagine being without. Such a model argues that it is natural to believe in life after death and social transmission serves principally to conceptually enrich (or degrade) intuitive conceptions of the afterlife.

scholarly journals Personal identifiability of user tracking data during observation of 360-degree VR video

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Roman Miller ◽  
Fernanda Herrera ◽  
Hanseul Jun ◽  
James A. Landay ◽  
Jeremy N. Bailenson
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Personal Identity ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Tracking Data ◽  
Medical Conditions ◽  
Consumer Market ◽  
The Public

Abstract Virtual reality (VR) is a technology that is gaining traction in the consumer market. With it comes an unprecedented ability to track body motions. These body motions are diagnostic of personal identity, medical conditions, and mental states. Previous work has focused on the identifiability of body motions in idealized situations in which some action is chosen by the study designer. In contrast, our work tests the identifiability of users under typical VR viewing circumstances, with no specially designed identifying task. Out of a pool of 511 participants, the system identifies 95% of users correctly when trained on less than 5 min of tracking data per person. We argue these results show nonverbal data should be understood by the public and by researchers as personally identifying data.

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