Dual aspect vs substance dualism

[Phill]

I know that substance dualism (the idea of a soul seperate from the brain) has been the predominant belief in religious ideologies. However, is the philosophy of Dual aspect theory (soul and brain two aspects of the same substance, aka you) compatible with Christianity? Just interested to see what everyone’s thoughts are.

 

[Wesrock]

Substance dualism wasn’t really a Christian thing until Descartes, and many Catholic theologians hold to something else, but anyway I’m looking up dual aspect now.

 

[Phill]

I can’t find a whole lot related to christianity on it, and I’m not an expert but by what i know of it it seems to solve a lot of the issues in the naturalist vs dualist debate

 

[Wesrock]

Dual Aspect Theory seems particularly associated with Spinozan monism, which is a type of pantheism, that the mental and material are just two mods of existence for the one substance that is God. That is a problem for Christian theology.

Just to go back to what you said of the soul and matter being co-principles of one substance and not two separate substances (and taking out all the monism), that in itself sounds a bit like hylemorphic dualism (matter-form dualism), which many Catholic Thomist theologians and natural philosophers would agree with. Though you can probably fit more than one philosophy into the description unless it was elaborated on more.

 

[Phill]

Spinozan monism

Thats what I figured would make it heretical, but i don’t think it just fits pantheism. Because I know many panentheist, both soft and hard, that hold to it. However that may be a topic in and of itself

 

[Wesrock]

Here is a more nuanced and better considered view, particularly the “In Theology” section:

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10483a.htm

The whole section is a good read, but for concerns of space I selected this portion:

The term Monism is not much used in theology because of the confusion to which its use would lead. Polytheism, the doctrine that there are many gods, has for its opposite Monotheism, the doctrine that there is but one God. If the term Monism is employed in place of Monotheism, it may, of course, mean Theism, which is a monotheistic doctrine, or it may mean Pantheism, which is opposed to theism. . . . Theism does not deny that God is indwelling in the universe; but it does deny that He is comprised in the universe. Theism does not deny that the universe is a manifestation of God; but it does deny that the universe has no reality of its own. Theism is, therefore, dualistic: it holds that God is a reality distinct from the universe and independent of it, and that the universe is a reality distinct from God, though not independent of Him. From another point of view, theism is monistic; it maintains that there is but One Supreme Reality and that all other reality is derived from Him. Monism is not then an adequate equivalent of the term Theism.

From the brief bits I read on Spinozan Monism, it seems his position is that God is comprised in the universe, which orthodox Christianity denies.

 

[rom]

I know that substance dualism (the idea of a soul seperate from the brain) has been the predominant belief in religious ideologies. However, is the philosophy of Dual aspect theory (soul and brain two aspects of the same substance, aka you) compatible with Christianity? Just interested to see what everyone’s thoughts are.

In the philosophy of man substance dualism would be the idea that in man there are two substances: one material, the other spiritual. However, this is not the Catholic position. Catholic philosophy teaches that in man there is only ONE substance with two substantial principles: the body (or matter) and the soul (the substantial form). This is not substance dualism, but a dualism of substantial principles. We call them “principles” because they are the source or origin (principium) of the substance, without each one being a complete substance in itself. The Catholic philosophy of man is therefore akin to the matter-form dualism in Aristotle’s hylemorphic doctrine. For, Aristotle teaches that all material substances have two substantial principles: prime matter and substantial form. However, in all living organisms (including plants and lower animals) the substantial form is called the soul, because it is also a principle of life, and not just a principle of being.

The dual aspect theory is the idea that there are two ways of viewing, or looking at, the same reality. Note that the word “aspect” derives from the Latin aspicere, which means to look. For, example, physicists often talk about the particle-wave duality of the electron. This is because there are some physical phenomena that can best be described by “viewing” or thinking of the electron as a particle, but there are also other physical phenomena which can best be described by thinking of the electron as a wave. This dual aspect theory, however, does not apply to man. The matter and form (soul) of man are not two aspects (or “views”) of the same human substance. They are two different substantial principles of the human substance.

So, to answer your question, neither substance dualism nor the dual aspect theory is compatible with the Catholic philosophy of man.