PHL 201 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Physical Law

• School: Ryerson University
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHL 201
• Professor: David Checkland

Document Summary

According to the dualist theory of mind, the mind is a nonphysical substance (entity), and the body is a physical substance (entity). If we hope to argue meaningfully about whether the mind is physical or nonphysical, we must clear about the line between the two. First, notice that the term nonphysical is understood only by contrast to physical. So if we want to understand what nonphysical means, we"ll need to understand what is meant by physical. Second, although dualist theories of persons have been around a long time, our understanding of what constitutes the physical world underwent a dramatic change in the seventeenth century, thanks largely to such thinkers as galileo. Although the physical world had long been understood as subject to laws, it was only in the early eighteenth century that physical laws began to be articulated in the language of mathematics. The result was a revolutionary new way of understanding physical law and, hence, the physical world.