Compare And Contrast The Views Of John Searle And Rene...

Edin Palmar PHI2010 Prof. Schuh Module 2 Chapter 4 – Who am I? My mind, other minds, and the Nature of Reality 1. Compare and contrast the views of John Searle and Rene Descartes on dualism. Rene Descartes holds that the mind and the body are two different things. The former being material while the latter immaterial. He also states that these two substances â€Å"interact with each other at some point in the body† (Roca and Schuh, 89). Descartes idea that humanity s mind is its immaterial being and that this being is separate from the material body. John Searle, on the other hand, opposes Renà © Descartes views on dualism in the sense that although there are both the immaterial and the material substances, that the immaterial†¦show more content†¦In his view, the self is ever-changing meaning that â€Å"you are never the same person one moment to the next† (94). This view is related to Milarepa’s in the sense that one cannot find an actual perception of the self. Milarepa states that if one looks carefully into the mind, then one can actually see that there is no self. This correlates with Hume’s claim of the self being an illusion, something that is wrongly perceived or interpreted by the senses. Ch. 5 – Free will and determinism 5. If a computer app beats you every time you play chess, is the computer smarter than you? Does your computer think? I do not think that a computer is smarter than me. Computer applications like chess are programmed with all possible movements and positions that can be applied in each situation. This doesn’t mean they’re smarter or that they can think. They just had someone, a human, program them into making the best move at the appropriate time. 6. Is free will possible if there is such a thing as God’s plan? I believe free will is possible if there is such a thing as God’s plan. If God already has a plan in place that means each of us are already playing a pre-determined role. However, the notion of free will is still present. We still have the free will to do what we can or want. Although we have God’s plan to follow, we can follow it doing whatever we can. There isn’t a guideline we have, we just got to do what we can