Back, by Popular Demand

Or at least demand... which in my case ends out to be popular I'm sure.

Anyhow, I suppose I can let you know a little about what's going on over the next two weeks - research for my philosophy paper.

Basically the concepts are dualism and naturalism, their strengths, weaknesses, and which philosophy I find more convincing, or both, or neither.

Both of dualism and naturalism are metaphysical world views. Metaphysics being the study of what is real. Is matter real? Is there non-physical matter? These are questions that dualism and naturalism attempt to answer.

For the dualist, reality is comprised of two (or dual) different parts. You have the physical and apparent part, and the hidden part. For instance, the dualist could look at one of his friends and say "Oh, that's Sarah." What if she were in some horrible accident and her arms and legs were lost? Well, most likely he would still be able to say, "Oh, that's Sarah." So for the dualist, the body is obviously not entirely the person. Now, perhaps that same friend, rather than get in an accident, just woke up one day and decided she would flip her personality completely around. Well, the dualist would most likely say, "That looks like Sarah, but it's not the Sarah I know!" This is because there are two different parts to the person. The literal, physical body, and the hidden, mysterious mind or soul.

The naturalist, on the other hand, thinks a bit different. The naturalist sees the wold according to "nature's laws". When the naturalist drops a stone, ten times out of ten she observes it drop to the ground. Not only that, but any time she observes anyone drop anything, she sees it drop to the ground. In addition, everything she observes behaves in certain ways. An ice cube that is less dense, floats in the water. The naturalist observes that upon death, the person stops moving and reacting, and begins to decompose. So for the naturalist, the person ends at death.

Really there are quite a few more principles that describe dualists and naturalists, but really that's all I have the effort to mention at the moment...

enjoy!