Descartes really helped usher in the separation of mind and body
"Cogito ergo sum"
I think therefore I am
However, I would say the concept of a soul indicates the belief in the idea of separation of mind and body, which has been around for a while. The argument goes, how can something that is immaterial be in a material thing?
Also, platonic thinking helped the Church out quite a bit during the Dark Ages - it helped them paint heaven as the world of ideas and the earth as the cave with the shadows. Something like that - it has been a few years since I took a course on Science and Religion. That was a good class...
Also - aren't all programming languages Platonic, since they all use an idea to represent something in real life - an int is supposed to be a number (another idea). However, i get the idea that some prog. langs are more Platonic than others. Java, to take one OOP language, is a platonic form of an already platonic concept in general (programming).
If only that meant that our OOP code could be so ideal and perfect...
Instead, who knew that in Plato's world of ideas, you would have to take 10 times as long to express yourself, just like in Java? | [reply] |
Perseus++
Sorry I jumped without filling in the bits in-between. I didn't want to say that the separation of mind and body was an Enlightenment idea. That was another thought entirely, intended facetiously, which I tacked on to that paragraph.
I agree that there was a separation of mind and body in Plato's thought. This was essential to his theory in which the moral man is one who perceives the order of the universe despite the distraction of the inner longings of his body (likely an attack on Epicurean views). It's his theory of Ideas which causes the trouble I mentioned above. For OO, there has to be a separation between the natural world (data) and the world as we see and interact with it (code). The Enlightenment bit comes from Descartes internalist epistemology which describes why this is so.
| [reply] |
Ah, your node makes much more sense now that I read it more closely. I thought your node had the ring of Descartes. I never really likes his solution to the problem, however. He was influenced by the mechanical sensibilities of his time. Still, cogito ergo sum is a classic line. I will definately have to take a closer look at his work now.
| [reply] |
