4. Introduction to Plato's Phaedo; Arguments for the existence of the soul, Part II

Death (PHIL 176)

After a brief introduction to Plato's Phaedo, more arguments are offered in this lecture in defense of the existence of an immaterial soul. The emphasis here is on the fact that we need to believe in the existence of a soul in order to explain the claim that we possess free will. This is an argument dualists use as an objection to the physicalists: since no merely physical entity could have free will, there must be more to us than just being a physical object.

00:00 - Chapter 1. Introduction to Plato's Phaedo
08:27 - Chapter 2. Creativity and Reason in Machines
13:43 - Chapter 3. Feelings in Machines, from Marvin to Hal
20:34 - Chapter 4. "Qualia" in Emotion and Consciousness: The Dualist's Defense and Its Weakness
42:20 - Chapter 5. Free Will as a Defense of the Soul and Conclusion

Complete course materials are available at the Yale Online website: online.yale.edu

This course was recorded in Spring 2007.