Write a paper on ONE of the following topics Essay

Write a paper on ONE of the following topics - Essay Example They even viewed the body as a prison house of the entity which they called the soul. During the Middle Ages, however, such thinking was challenged and was slowly replaced by the belief on psychosomatic unity. Following St. Thomas Aquinas’ metaphysics, man is a unified composite substance of two essential principles: form and matter. His teaching introduced concept of the unity of human nature as constituted by form and matter—soul and body. In this regard, the mind and body problem pertains to the nature of the dynamics between the two substances. Can a non-material substance truly affect a material substance, if so, in what manner and up to what extent? With this, it is my task to present how four philosophers have attempted to provide answers to this boggling question. In this regard, I will critically examine Descarte’s Interactionism, Malebranche’s Occasionalism, Spinoza’s Double Aspect Theory, and Leibniz’ Pre-Established Harmony. Having done so, I will then dedicate my discussion on evaluating the logical soundness of each viewpoint on the mind-and-body problem in order to arrive at a conclusion on which philosopher presented the strongest arguments. Interactionism begins with the basic assumption that the non-material substance of man (soul) can interact with the material substance (body). As Descartes further explained, although the sense perceptions and the physical passions of humans are dependent on the body, the awareness and understanding of them lies on the mind. Thus, there is indeed an interaction between the mind and the body, and the point of interaction happens in the pineal gland. Because the body is an extended matter and the mind is an un-extended spirit, there ought to be a physical venue to allow for their interaction. But as Descartes claimed, the soul is united to all parts of the body conjointly. Thus, the body provides proper housing to the soul. When a member of