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What does dualism mean. Dualism in philosophy as a law of life

Any of a number of philosophical propositions that allow for two separate states of nature or two sets of fundamental principles of the universe. As Plato declared, there is a difference between spirit and matter. In modern debates, the problem usually boils down to the distinction between consciousness and matter. A strong dualistic position may manifest itself in an understanding of the operation of one sphere that contributes nothing at all to the understanding of the other; or a milder form of dualism is manifested in the fact that some differences between, say, mental and physical phenomena are accepted, but without recognizing that they are fundamental

are fundamentally different metaphysically. The classical forms of dualism are interactive, when it is recognized that consciousness and matter are separate, but interacting phenomena, and parallel, when consciousness and matter are considered as different manifestations of a complex organism and it is accepted that they "develop along separate, but parallel paths." Descartes is commonly cited as the strongest proponent of interactive dualism; early structuralists such as Titchner were fierce advocates of a parallel position, which they often referred to as psychophysical dualism. See the matter-spirit problem and monism.

DUALISM

from lat. dualis - dual) - a philosophical doctrine that proceeds in the explanation of existence from the presence of 2 against, principles - material and spiritual. In the most developed form in the philosophy of modern times, D. is represented in the teachings of R. Descartes. According to Descartes, there are 2 substances - matter and spirit. The main property, or attribute, of matter is extension, and of the spirit - thinking (understood more widely than is currently accepted). The properties of matter are not derivable from thinking, and vice versa; Substances do not and cannot have any points of contact. For psychology, Descartes' formulation of the problem of man, in which the spiritual and material principles really coexist, is of the greatest interest. Descartes tried to solve this problem based on the interaction hypothesis (see Interactionism), in which the role of mediator between the body and the soul was assigned to the pineal gland of the brain (pineal gland). In posing this problem, a contradiction (inconsistency) of dualistic philosophy was revealed, namely, a contradiction between the principle of natural causality and the presence of 2 substances, which, in essence, cannot be causally dependent on each other. The further development of dialectics, primarily in the philosophy of occasionalism (N. Malebranche, A. Geylinks, G. Leibniz, and others), showed that the solution of the psychophysical problem is possible only if the principle of causality is completely abandoned. The active, real reason turned out to be taken out of the limits of the available substances, into the highest divine substance. Thus, it was shown that the justification of the principles of D. requires the introduction of a single foundation, a certain beginning of being, which in occasionalism is the substance of God.

In psychology, the influence of the dualistic tradition was very significant and manifested itself in the long history of the existence of the psychophysical problem, the problem of psychophysical interaction, the psychophysiological problem, etc. In the most developed form, dualistic principles are presented in the teaching of psychophysical parallelism (W. Wundt, F. Paulsen). A doctrine based on the opposition of the independently existing soul and body, consciousness and brain, leads either to the need to reject the recognition of causal dependence, or to the reduction of the phenomena of consciousness to a reflex, to brain processes. The logic of the need to introduce a single basis, revealed by the philosophy of occasionalism, turns out to be the result of any form of D.

Already in the philosophy of B. Spinoza, the Cartesian formulation of the problem of man as "composed" of the body and soul was removed in the affirmation of the existence of man as a thinking body. The universal nature of man is revealed, according to Spinoza, in the ability of the thinking body to build its own movement according to the logic of any other body.

Dualism

A philosophical position that is commonly found in discussions about body and mind. Dualism distinguishes between body and mind in two ways. Parallel dualism sees the body and mind as fundamentally different parts of the same organism: they coexist, but in a separate and parallel way. On the other hand, interactive dualism recognizes the separate nature of the body and mind, but considers them in a process of constant interaction.

Dualism

Word formation. Comes from lat. dualis - dual.

Specificity. Philosophical doctrine, which postulates the effective principle of both the material and the spiritual. According to Descartes, there are two substances - matter, the main property of which is extension, and spirit, based on thinking. When solving the anthropological problem, he put forward a hypothesis of the interaction of these substances, in which the pineal gland of the brain was considered as an intermediary between the body and the soul.

In psychology, dualistic principles were realized primarily in the teaching of psychophysical parallelism (W. Wundt, F. Paulsen).

Dualism

from lat. dualis - dual), a philosophical doctrine in which the effective principle of both the material and the spiritual is postulated. In particular, according to Descartes, there are two substances - matter, the main property of which is extension, and spirit, based on thinking. When solving the anthropological problem, Descartes put forward a hypothesis of the interaction of these substances, in which the pineal gland of the brain was considered as an intermediary between the body and the soul. A philosophical doctrine that postulates the active principle of both the material and the spiritual. In psychology, dualistic principles were realized primarily in the teaching of psychophysical parallelism (W. Wundt, F. Paulsen). The opposite is Monism.

DUALISM is a doctrine proceeding in the explanation of existence from the presence of two opposite principles - material and spiritual. In the most developed form in the philosophy of modern times, dualism is represented in the teachings of R. Descartes. According to Descartes, there are two substances - matter and spirit. The main property, or attribute, of matter is extension, and of the spirit - thinking. The properties of matter cannot be deduced from thinking, and vice versa, they do not have and cannot have any points of contact.

Dualism (NFE, 2010)

DUALISM (from lat. dualis - dual) is a philosophical doctrine based on the recognition of the equality and irreducibility to each other of the two main principles of the universe - material and spiritual, physical and mental, body and soul. It is possible to single out dualism: 1) epistemological, emphasizing the opposite of two ways of considering being; 2) ontological, insisting on the heterogeneity and fundamental irreducibility of two substances; 3) anthropological, emphasizing the opposition of the soul and body. The term was introduced by X. Wolff (Psychol., rat. 39).

Dualism (Gritsanov)

DUALISM (lat. dualis - dual) - 1) a philosophical interpretative paradigm, founded on the idea of ​​the presence of two principles that are irreducible to each other: spiritual and material substances (ontological D.: Descartes, Malebranche, etc.; it was in this context that Wolf introduced the term "D."), object and subject (epistemological D.: Hume, Kant, etc.), consciousness and bodily organization of a person (psychophysiological D.: Spinoza, Leibniz, occasionalism, Wundt, Fechner, Paulsen, representatives of psychophysiological parallelism), and also good and evil (ethical D.), the natural world and freedom, fact and value (neo-Kantianism), dark and light principles of being (pre-conceptual mythological and early conceptual cosmological models: Orphism, Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, Gnosticism, etc.).. .

Dualism (Kirilenko, Shevtsov)

DUALISM (from lat. dualis - dual) is a worldview position, according to which the essence and origin of the object under study can be understood only by recognizing the presence of two opposite, equal principles that cannot be reduced to each other, underlying it. The term was introduced by the German rationalist philosopher of the 18th century. X. Wolf. Types and forms of manifestation of D. are various. In the mythological consciousness, D. acts as the main explanatory principle of the origin of everything that exists and is embodied in personified images of the struggling world forces. A rationalized form of mythological D. is represented in Manichaeism, a doctrine that arose in the 3rd century BC. AD in the Middle East. In moral consciousness, in some religions, in particular Christianity, delusion takes the form of a struggle of motives in the human soul. In philosophy, "classical" D. proceeds from the recognition of two principles of being, substances that are not reducible to each other. A striking example of philosophical D. is the concept of R. Descartes, who singled out two independent substances - “thinking” and “extended” ...

Dualism (Comte-Sponville)

DUALISM (DUALISME). A doctrine that sees the basis of existence in two principles that are not reducible to each other, mainly in two different substances, which are matter and spirit. Dualism is opposed to monism. In particular, the principle of dualism applies to man, more precisely, to the concept of man. To be a dualist means to assert that the soul and the body are two different things, capable, theoretically at least, of existing separately from one another. This is exactly what Descartes thought, according to which the body is just as incapable of thinking as the soul is not capable of extension, from which it follows (since the body is extended, but the soul thinks) that one is really fundamentally different from the other. This point of view is usually opposed by another, arguing that the body and soul are not only not separated, as Descartes believed, but, on the contrary, are in close interaction, which confirms our common experience, and today also the achievements of the so-called psychosomatic medicine. Such reasoning, frankly, stupid, is based on a complete misunderstanding of Descartes' thought and an attempt to put forward as an objection to the thinker exactly the idea that he himself did not tire of repeating and which proves him right...

Dualism is a broad concept that is used to denote the presence and interaction between two radically opposite principles in such areas of human life as:

  • philosophy;

Already based on the name, which speaks of the duality of something, we can conclude that one element in the concept of people (or according to physical laws) cannot exist without the second, and it does not matter whether they are at enmity with each other or harmoniously combined. The clear examples in this case are good and evil, which, although both are self-sufficient, cannot be separated.

The history of the term

The prerequisites for dualism can be found back in ancient times, when Plato, known to everyone, singled out two worlds: ideas (sensory things) and reality, but since science was just in its infancy, a clear idea about it was not formed. Already in modern times, the French scientist Rene Descartes distinguished between spirit and matter. In his opinion, the spirit is able to think, and matter can only stretch in time.

The concept of "dualism" was originally used in theology in relation to religious ideas about the struggle between a good God and a bad Satan - this term was introduced in 1700 by Thomas Hyde. A little more than thirty years later, in connection with the rapid development of philosophy by the German scientist F. Wolf, this term was used to refer to two essentially opposite substances: spiritual and material. Much later, the concept began to be used in physical science, for example, in the characterization of particles and antiparticles, and much more.

Principle of Duality

As already mentioned, the fundamental in this doctrine is pairing, or, in other words, duality, which is well developed in the theory and practice of modern mathematics, but is no less well positioned in philosophy and other sciences. In addition to good and evil, in many areas of human existence there are concepts of active and passive, ideal and material (in philosophy), feminine and masculine, order and chaos (in philosophy). different kind religions), yin and yang (in the Chinese understanding of the universe). This list can be stretched indefinitely.

Dualism in religion, philosophy and physics

Since for the first time this term appeared precisely in relation to religion, and now many believers, even without realizing it, use the law of dualism about two principles. If we take such an ancient religion as Zoroastrianism, we will see that one of its fundamental teachings is the struggle between good and evil. The Wise Lord and the Evil Spirit are the best examples of dualism. This is the ancient Chinese doctrine of yin and yang, and the provisions of ancient Greek Orphism, and Judaism with its belief in demons, and some Christian heresies (gnosticism, Manichaeism, Bogomilism).

Philosophy opposes spirit and matter, mental and physical in man, and at the same time an attempt is made to solve the problem of the interaction of physical and mental substances. Since Kant, dualism has become not just a collection of chaotic ideas and assumptions, but a philosophy of mind with its own structure.

In modern physics, this term is applied to the designation of opposite properties of an object, as a description of phenomena that have radically different properties, and in the case of mutually exclusive conditions in the formulation of a physical law.

Dualism: "for" and "against"

There are many advocates and no less opponents of this rather interesting theory. In order for the readers to get a complete picture, we consider it necessary to present some provisions in its defense, as well as those that refute it.

What confirms the correctness of dualism?

The first argument in defense of dualism is religious beliefs. Each of the major religions suggests a belief in life after death, an eternal soul that will survive everything in the world. The mind, according to most religions, can be replaced by an immortal soul. In fact, the two concepts are almost interchangeable. This argument is, first of all, the basis for the belief of many people in the dualism of matter.

The second argument for dualism is irreducibility. It presupposes a variety of psychic phenomena that cannot be subject to a non-physical explanation. A striking example of this can be the quality and semantic content of human thoughts and beliefs. These things cannot be reduced to purely physical terms, hence they cannot be reduced.

The last argument is parapsychological phenomena. Psychic powers such as telepathy, precognition, telekinesis, clairvoyance are almost impossible to explain within the limits of physics and psychology. These phenomena reflect the non-physical and supernatural nature of the mind that dualism gives it.

Refutation of the theory

The first major argument against dualism is simplicity. Materialists claim that their view of things is simpler (they believe only in one, the physical side of the issue). The materialistic point of view is also easier to prove, because there is no doubt that physical matter exists, while the idea of ​​dualism about non-physical is only a hypothesis.

The second main argument that compromises dualism is the lack of explanation. Opponents of a theory can prove their views through scientific research, while dualists are unable to explain anything because no theory has ever been formulated.

The third argument is neural dependence: mental abilities depend on the nervous activity of the brain. Materialists believe that the mind changes when the brain changes from drugs or trauma, for example.

The final argument against dualism is evolutionary history. Materialists argue that human beings have gradually developed from simpler physical beings, which the principles of dualism do not allow.

Despite the presence of strong arguments against dualism, one cannot but pay attention to the fact that it has become widespread in many religious and philosophical movements, is stated in physics and is a constant subject of scientific discussions.

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Gnoseological (epistemological) dualism is also known as representationalism - a philosophical position in epistemology, according to which our conscious experience is not itself the real world, but by an internal representation, a miniature virtual-real copy of the world.

Examples of epistemological dualism are being and thinking, subject and object, "given in the senses" (eng. sense datum) and things [ what?] .

A theory emphasizing the opposition of soul and body. It does not come down to the dualism of mind and body.

Metaphysical dualism in philosophy considers the use of two irresistible and heterogeneous (heterogeneous) principles to explain the whole of reality or some broad aspect of it.

Examples of metaphysical dualism are God and the world, matter and spirit, body and mind, good and evil. Manichaeism is the best known form of metaphysical dualism.

Ethical dualism refers to the practice of absolute evil and exclusively to a certain group of people who ignore or deny their own ability to do evil. In other words, ethical dualism basically depicts the existence of two mutually hostile things, one of which represents the origin of all good, and the other of all evil.

The problem of mind and body is an ongoing problem in the philosophy of mind and in metaphysics, regarding the nature of the relationship between mind (or consciousness) and the physical world.

Another form of dualism that does not recognize the existence of a special spiritual substance is property dualism(qualities). According to the dualism of properties, there is no spiritual substance, but the brain, as a material formation, has unique, special properties (qualities) - which give rise to mental phenomena.

epiphenomenalism denies the causal role of mental entities in relation to physical processes. Such mental phenomena as intentions, motives, desires, perceptions have no influence on physical processes and can be considered as side, accompanying processes - epiphenomena - in relation to the causal events of neural interactions occurring in the brain. Thus, mental phenomena - this is how a person feels the events of neural interactions that cause his behavior - and in themselves are not a cause.

Predicate dualism claims that it takes more than one predicate (when we describe the subject of judgment) to understand the world, and that the psychological experience we go through cannot be re-described in terms of (or reducible to) the physical predicates of natural languages.

Propitive dualism (also known as symbolic physicalism) claims that consciousness is a group of independent properties that emerge from the brain, but that it is not a separate entity. Therefore, when matter is organized in an appropriate way (that is, in the way that human bodies are organized), mental properties appear.

Term dualism was used from 1700 to characterize the Iranian doctrine of two spirits and was understood as recognition of two opposite principles. Subsequently, scholars have come to the conclusion that dualistic myths are widespread and have many variants at all cultural levels and in many religions.

Although ditheism/bitheism implies moral dualism, they are not equivalent, as bittheism/ditheism implies (at least) two gods, while moral dualism does not imply any "theism" at all.

Ditheism/bitheism in a religion does not necessarily mean that it cannot be simultaneously monistic. For example, Zoroastrianism, being a prominent representative of dualistic religions, contains at the same time monotheistic features. Zoroastrianism never preached explicit monotheism (like Judaism or Islam), being in fact an original attempt to unify a polytheistic religion under the cult of a single supreme God, which claimed that the Old and New Testaments were the work of two different warring gods, neither of which was higher than the other (both were First Principle, but different religions).

The duality of the world, which is the interaction of the two polarities behind the created universe (light and darkness, good and evil, etc.), is reflected in many symbols. The most famous of them is the yin-yang symbol.

Many occult magical symbols abound with ideas of opposing light and darkness, but their essence is always the same: light (yang) and darkness (yin) always return, following each other, and give rise to what the Chinese call "Ten thousand things", then is the created world.

Philosophy seeped into the consciousness of the broad masses at the end of the last century. Then the first reports about the plurality of worlds, the reality of the existence of the microworld and its branching began to be mentioned. The duality in the cognition of the question has given rise, oddly enough, to quantum physics. Throughout their existence, philosophers have tried to get rid of duality. In philosophy, monism ruled, denying the existence of two opposite substances. Therefore, supporters of Descartes and he himself were criticized for their adherence to the duality of the world. Attempts were constantly made to combine monism with dialectics, which led to many paradoxes in philosophy.

Recently, modern philosophers have made attempts to combine dialectics and duality. For the first time in the 90s of the 20th century, the concept appeared dialectical dualism. What is dualism and what is it?

What is dualism

Dualism is philosophical trend, according to which two classes of things mutually influence each other without changing their structure. That is, the material and spiritual principles equally coexist in this current. The term dualism comes from the Latin "duality". It is the duality of this trend in philosophy that led to such a name. If we take, for example, monism, then in philosophy it will be a clear opposite.

The first philosopher to use the term dualism was X. Wolf. He believed that all those who recognize the existence of the material and non-material world are dualists. In list leading representatives This trend is considered the French philosopher Descartes and the German Kant. The first of them singled out the spiritual and bodily substances, which found their confirmation in the person himself: soul and body. The second divided the two essences of dualism into human consciousness and the objective basis of phenomena. The basis of phenomena, in his opinion, is unknown.

This philosophical trend appeared long before the founders themselves. It has existed since ancient times. In the Middle Ages, before the definition of the concept itself, it was customary to consider the eternal struggle of two principles: Good and Evil. In Marxist-Leninist philosophy, the very idea of ​​the existence of dualism is usually completely rejected, since, in its opinion, the material is the basis for the emergence and existence of the spiritual (mental) and nothing else.

Thus, this philosophical meaning is directly related to the eternal law of philosophy about the unity and struggle of opposites. philosophical law says directly that there is no unity without opposition, and opposition cannot exist without unity. Any of the selected objects has its direct opposite. Such an existence leads to an inevitable contradiction, as a result of which one of the known objects disappears completely and another appears in a new state. And so on ad infinitum.

Types of dualism

Historically, dualism has two varieties - it is Cartesianism and occasionalism.

Considering the philosophical trend in the context of historical materialism and dialectical materialism, one must take into account another equally important question of philosophy: "What comes first: matter or consciousness?".

Dualism in theology (religious) implies the presence of two opposite forces (gods). In theology, this trend is referred to as ditheism (biteism). The opposite of the teaching presents ditheism (biteism) as a moral dualism, which at the same time does not involve any "theisms". That is, ditheism (biteism) suggests that religion can be both dual and monotheistic, but there must be a supreme god. As an example for this species serves an ancient Christian heresy - Marcionism. Marcionism claimed:

It is aimed at recognizing the equality of the material and the ideal, but it denies their relativity to each other. IN Western philosophy following the example of Descartes, mind and self-consciousness were equated on the basis of the human soul and body. In Eastern philosophy, matter and consciousness were connected, so that matter began to include the body and consciousness.

Dualism and Philosophy of Consciousness

  • In the philosophy of consciousness, this is the mutual complement of consciousness and matter. Consciousness and matter are equal in importance here. This kind of philosophy is called Cartesianism. The material and the spiritual are different in their properties: the material has a shape, position in space, has a body mass; the spiritual is subjective and purposeful.
  • The second form, besides Cartesianism, is dualism of qualities or properties. There is no spiritual substance, but there is something material (the brain) that has properties that give rise to mental phenomena.
  • epiphenomenalism considers motives and desires as side processes occurring in the brain of causal events. The role of the impact of mental entities on physical processes is denied.
  • Predicativity This is another form of dualism. Means a description of the subject of judgment. For the perception of the world according to this doctrine of philosophy, many descriptions - predicates - are required.
  • Symbolic physicalism(propetive dualism) presents consciousness as a group of properties independent of each other. Consciousness is not a separate substance, since the brain highlights these independent properties. When matter is similar to the human body, then properties appear.

Dualism in physics acts as a basis for oscillatory processes. If considered in quantum mechanics, then dualism here will be the duality of corpuscles and waves, or rather, the dual nature of these particles. As a compromise, this duality in quantum mechanics began to be described by the wave function of the particle.

Basic postulates of the dualistic law in life

The structure of everything in the Universe depends on the Law of dualism, which affirms the presence of a plurality of worlds. The development of all things occurs due to the transition of matter from one state to another. Even in our world we can always encounter duality, at least in a magnet. Plus and minus are two opposite components of a substance and at the same time making the substance a single whole.

The postulates of the law on the duality of the world highlight some points, without which existence is impossible:

  1. Any phenomenon has its positive and negative direction.
  2. Each of the opposites has a part of the antipode in it. A good explanation is given by the Chinese to the energies of Yin and Yang. Each of them has something from the other.
  3. Remembering the unity and struggle of opposites, we can say that only in the struggle will harmony and unity be created.
  4. Only constant conflict can be the driving force in development. Thanks to the conflict, the process of the development of the Universe does not stop for a minute.

Using the dualistic law in practice, each of us can change his worldview in relation to the ongoing processes. Even in a negative situation, you can find a piece of positive. A philosophical attitude to everything that happens will make it easier to endure the blows of fate and life will become much easier.