Giving the attempt to understand all aspect of reality; seen and unseen, metaphysics has speculated on certain issues which have therefore become perennial in metaphysics hitherto. There problems are of two categories; ontological and anthropological. Under the ontological problems are problems of Being, being and non-Being, Human Being, Existence and Essence, and Transcendence and Immanence. Under the anthropological problem we have the problem of Reality, Nature of Reality, Appearance and Reality, Change and Permanence, Space and Time, Causality, Freedom and Determinism and the Mind-Body problem. Among others, the mind-body problem will be the crux of the essay.
The issue of mind-body is as old as the history of Ancient Greek philosophy. The mind-body problem refers to the question of whether the human mind is ether dependent or independent of the body and that if it can survive disembodiment. In modern period, it is Descartes who brought the old problem in a new way. He holds the view that mind and body are two independent substances and hereby he is called a dualist philosopher. What then is dualism?.
DUALISM .
Dualism in metaphysics is the belief that there are two kinds of reality; material (physical) and immaterial (spiritual). In philosophy of mind, dualism is the position that mind and body are in some categorical way separate from each other, and that metal phenomena are in some respects, non-physical in nature 3. The discourse of the essay will revolve round the latter conception of dualism. Dualism is an ancient concept that was deeply rooted in Greek thought. However, long before that, the ancient scriptures taught that mankind was made in God's image and that Adam needed the spirit breathed into him before becoming a living soul ibid). Dualism can majorly be traced to the postulations of Plato and Pythagoras. The earliest systematic conception of mind and body stems from the philosophies of these two Greek philosophers.
