Anne Conway Philosophy, Essay Example

Anne Conway rejects the Cartesian dualism and his notion of matter. Inch. 7.s. 2 she argues against the existence of such matter, which she calls “dead matter.”

• What was Conway’s view about the mind-body distinction?

Anne Conway is a philosopher who strongly disputes the idea of dualism. She offers six major arguments against convertibility of matter, claiming that, matter and spirit are not different substances because they can interchange. She claims that matter can be transformed into spirit implying that the body can change the mind and vice versa. Therefore, in these arguments, she argues against dualism that does not allow convertibility. She believes that the mind can transform into the body and the body can convert into the mind/soul. Conway argues that dualists have severe inconsistencies because they seem to claim that the body and the soul/mind are distinct and at some point seem to claim that they must have a particular common characteristic. Furthermore, she argues that if the body and the mind are indeed distinguishable, then it would mean that matter and the spirit are dissimilar hence there would be lifeless bodies. She settles on one distinct argument that if people agree that the body can be turned into a spirit, they must also acknowledge that the spirit would also in a similar manner be turned into a body because the difference between the two is not essential but in the mode. She holds such a philosophy because of divine attributes some of which are attributable to the creatures. Moreover, she claims that spirits have a love for the bodies and that is the reason the two are not the most distinct. Therefore, no spirit can inherently present in any creature because the presence of the spirit is only attributable to God and Christ. Thus, according to Conway mind and body are not distinct, but interchangeable. Furthermore, Conway disputes the distinction between the body and the mind.

In other words, she saw the body and the soul as inseparable because they work together and it is not easy to distinguish between the two. She wants to dismiss the dualism principle that does not provide an opportunity for one aspect to replace and purely represent another. The main argument Conway uses to dispute dualism is that the body (matter) is a corporeal spirit because the body is not fixed and the spirit is just a volatile body made subtle. Hence, they are convertible and not distinct from the dualist claim.

• Explain carefully how the argument mentioned above against matter works.

The argument above against matter works because, from a scientific point of view, anything that is distinct cannot be replaced by another.  Ideally, according to Conway, considering matter and spirit as distinct brings the idea that bodies are dead and without any spirit. According to this argument, all things are convertible because principally things can transform into other things meaning that the innate emanates from the lifeless and one cannot separate truth into the spiritless and dead matter on one side and non-material spirit on the other side. To fully understand the idea Conway brings on board, it is crucial to regard the spirit as a particular kind of body that is vegetative, functional, and sensitive. Careful examination of Conway’s argument reveals that she does not recognise the idea of “dead matter” since she calls it the greatest error of dualists because, with her reasoning, it becomes difficult to account for the interaction and the essential pacts between the body and the spirit. The latter is the case because the dualists see them (spirit and body) as not having any interaction.

The most important thing about the way Conway argues for matter is the manner in which she deals with the matters of creation and God. She claims that the way in which God moves bodies is inhumanly and the means in which spirits move things is different. She is arguing from an Aristotelian point of view which claims that the manner in which the supreme God and his spirit move matter is not the same way he moves individual beings. The body moves the soul differently, and the soul moves the body differently. This brings up the question of how the immaterial soul and interaction with the body moves around the world. This is a clear indication that if the body and the soul are distinct, there is no way they can interact and work synchronously on the philosophy of dualism. Another reason why the philosophical reasoning is consistent is the question Conway asks about why the spirit feels pain.  The questions cannot be answered with dualism because dualists will say that only the body feels pain and the spirit does not. The latter will not hold water because the dualists argue that the body is lifeless, and it is just matter without any feeling in it. Thus, the only way the dualists will vindicate themselves is to answer the question why does the soul/spirit feel the bodily pain even if they are not of one substance. Conway has a serious philosophical point to bring across.

In summary, Conway attacks the dualism philosophy because it is inconsistent, saying that matter and spirit are distinct, and the matter is dead. Thus, viewing mechanical motion as the only manner of mechanical properties, the dualists are becoming inconsistent. They must explain the interaction between the body and the mind to be able to answer questions regarding body (matter) and soul. Conway settles on the point that all bodies/matter have both material and spiritual units. The connotation accounts for the presence of the body and the soul in a creature, which explains the link and the warmth of the body and the association between spirit/soul.

• Consider one or two (not more!) questions about this argument. They can either be objections to the argument or questions about how exactly it works.

The two major questions one can ask concerning Conway’s arguments are:

1. Why do the spirit and the body feel physical pain if they are distinct?
2. How can immaterial spirit interact with the material body?

• Consider how Conway might reply to your question(s).

Conway will answer the two questions in a rational manner that reveals that indeed the mind and the body are inseparable. Although dualists may argue that it is only the body that feels pain and not the spirit the argument is inconsistent. Dualists believe that the body is just matter that does not have any form of life. In fact, Conway would argue that the only way to account for the statement is to view the body and the soul as having the same substance or matter.  The two are conjoined and cannot be separated. If you separate the mind and the body, they would be two separate things which could not even mechanically work together because one is immaterial and the other is material. The answer to the first question that Conway would give is that God moves bodies in mysterious ways. The way in which the spirit moves the body is different because the soul is both particular to the body and particularly to that body only. It operates the way the immaterial God is moving material bodies around the world. God is spirit and causes things to move, and if that is the case, then, the immaterial soul is capable of moving the body in the similar mysterious ways. The ideas Conway have are grounded in the inexplicable means that God operates. She is so much religious to the level that disputing the peculiar manner in which God treats matter causes a philosophical conflict.

The arguments that Conway presents are similar to the philosophical arguments that Descartes had but are different in a certain manner. The pivotal point of Conway is to dispute Cartesianism theory that matter and spirit are distinct. She argues that matter and spirit/mind share the characteristics of extension, penetrability, and divisibility. Although this seems to be true to the least particle of matter, questions arise on what the spirit/soul is. To Conway’s philosophical views, she may not be viewing the spirit as outmoded, and this does not fit contemporary aspects of Descartes that the soul is not completely immaterial. However, the modern day philosophers have not managed to get the clear meaning of spirit, and this could be attributed to the fact that they are encouraged by the Cartesian belief of viewing the spirit abstractly. However, for the Conway philosophy to be accepted, much clarification needs to be performed regarding the nature of spiritual things.