Cartesian and Nyaya Psycho-Physical Dualism (HT 16)

Location: OCHS Library
Speaker: Professor Kisor Kumar Chakrabarty
Date: February 11, 2016
Time: 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM

According to the psycho-physical dualism of Descartes, the mind and the body are ontologically different substances with essentially different attributes.  Though this viewpoint might help to account for the religious doctrine of immortality of the soul as well as free will and personal identity, it is open to serious objections.  I shall argue that a much older kind of psycho-physical dualism developed by the Nyaya Hindu philosophers is not beset with some of the difficulties of the Cartesian view and can account for such issues as immortality, free will and personal identity.