Saturday, June 22, 2019

Species of Dualism: Substance Versus Hylemorphic Dualism

I believe that dualism is false, but to be fair, not all dualistic thought belongs to the same genus. There are various species of dualism such as substance dualism, emergent dualism, and property dualism. Edward Feser even speaks of hylomorphism in dualistic terms, calling it "hylemorphic dualism" (also spelled hylomorphic). So what is the difference between substance dualism and the other dualistic variants?

The most famous advocate of substance dualism has to be Rene Descartes (1596-1650 CE), a French philosopher known as "the father of modern philosophy." Cogito, ergo sum is likewise forever anchored to our memory of Descartes. That famous dictum sheds light on one aspect of Cartesian dualism (substance dualism). Why is that the case? Because Descartes proposes two substances that exhaust creaturely reality: res extensa and res cogitans.

Res extensa refers to extended substance (which is unthinking and exemplified by material substances), and res cogitans refers to thinking substance (soul or mind). In classical thought, a substance is a thing that bears properties, but cannot be borne as a property itself. For example, a table is capable of bearing properties that might include color, molecularity, being made of wood, having legs, and it bears the property of extension. On the other hand, res cogitans is non-extended, mental, incorporeal, and rational. Descartes contends that God creates both res extensa and res cogitans; however, God himself is transcendent and uncreated substance--the supreme being.

In contrast to substance dualism, hylomorphism submits that material objects constitute matter and form unities: for example, the matter of a tree is united with the form of treeness to comprise one hylomorphic compound. By "matter" (hyle), Aristotle possibly signifies the "stuff" out of which a material object is composed; on the other hand, "form" (morphe) denotes what an object is. It signifies the essence or substance of a material object. A tree is material or physical, but its treeness presumably is not. In any event, hylemorphic dualism is not the same as substance dualism.

See https://fosterheologicalreflections.blogspot.com/2019/03/variant-kinds-of-dualism-kevin-corcoran.html

Compare https://www.newdualism.org/papers/D.Oderberg/HylemorphicDualism2.htm

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