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    Carmelics

    A reasoning platform. Break down any belief into clear reasons, explore both sides, and weigh the evidence honestly.

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    Made withinDC&Austin
    Statements
    321,452
    Perspectives
    108,905
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    42
    Home/Original/inverse
    See Original
    Inverse View

    It is not the case that Visual perception is caused by the movements composing the retinal picture acting directly upon the soul insofar as the soul is united to the body

    ?Set your confidence on the premises below to see your aggregate.

    Reasons For

    2 perspectives
    Reason for 1 of 2
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    • 1.Descartes' own pineal gland doctrine requires a mediating locus where retinal movements are unified into a single percept before reaching the soul.
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      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.If movements act 'directly' on the soul, the well-documented problem of retinal inversion and binocular fusion remains mechanistically unexplained.
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      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.A soul directly acted upon by physical motions collapses the substance dualism Descartes requires, making mind-body interaction conceptually incoherent.
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      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reason for 2 of 2
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    • 1.Malebranche argued that finite souls lack the capacity to read God-instituted correlations between neural motions and ideas without divine occasionalist mediation.
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      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.If nature merely 'ordains' that movements produce sensations, the explanatory work is done by an unexplained legislative act, not by any causal mechanism.
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      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.Leibniz's pre-established harmony shows that positing direct physical causation on the soul is no less mysterious than the alternatives Descartes sought to avoid.
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      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
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    • 1.The retinal picture passes to the inside of the head as a pattern of movements
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    • 2.Nature has ordained that these movements, acting directly on the soul, produce sensations
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      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.No intermediate perceiver within the brain is required
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      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Next step

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    Strongest counterpoint
    Explore the most compelling reason on the other side.