(February 12, 2017 at 3:09 pm)Jehanne Wrote:(February 12, 2017 at 2:33 pm)Neo-Scholastic Wrote: Descartes was the first substance dualist. Before that the concept did not exist.
Plato?
Yes, Plato describes a 'soul' but not as a distinct mental substance. His idea was that a person imperfectly manifests the form of Man during his or her earthly existence. Soul was something more akin to participation in an Ideal than a ghostly extra presence inside the person. You could say that the idea of an alienable spirit does go back to the OT but it's still not a fully developed theological theory until much later. Then again that's just my amatuer opinion. You'll be taking a class soon and your instructor may have a different interpretation.
