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Irina's avatar

I love your observation on the Cartesian dualism, which I like to call Cartesian fallacy:) It's everywhere, and the false dichotomy has been easy to embrace and overuse in the vernacular. If I remember it well enough (a big questions, of course, and yet, the impression from reading it years ago has kind of stuck with me), Stendahl in his Theory on Love (or was it Treatise on Love? need to double-check, it's been a while), strikes me as Descartes' faithful disciple and an influential figure when it comes to cultural musings on the subject of love; unfortunately the mind-body, heart-mind, thought-feeling - alleged oppositions are still so readily accepted and not questioned, while neuroscience already knows (about time) that emotions precede everything.

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Hippokratis Kiaris's avatar

Very interesting and thought provoking essay on a topic/debate that is gaining increased prominence.

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Rob P's avatar

Interesting essay, but it feels like it stopped before you'd fully finished your thoughts about dualism. I was expecting the essay to expand on how an improved understanding of the mind-body connection would allow us to better understand how philosophers can our support physical health.

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Andrew Berns's avatar

Rob, thanks for this thoughtful comment. I have plenty more to say on this topic. Stay tuned for a future post in which I develop this idea.

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