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Dualism
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Dualism is an ancient concept and deeply rooted in Greek thought. The Greeks held that a man's soul was of an entirely different essence than his body. Furthermore, they held that these dual entities had no interaction with one another. Indeed, the Greeks saw them as alien to one another, the body being the prison house of the soul. Thus dualism means much more than a mere numerical designation. It implies the dichotomy of soul and body, an absolute split.
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Dualism is the idea or theory that something (an object, an idea or the whole world) is split into two parts. These parts are separate from each other and the thing cannot be divided up into any other way. The idea or theory that something cannot be split into any parts is called monism. The idea that something can be split into many parts is called pluralism.
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Dualism has both philosophical and theological definitions. On one hand, it is the belief that there exist two states of being. Descartes developed, and is commonly associated with, the concept of mind-body dualism in which mind and matter are distinct and capable of independent existence. Metaphysical dualism raises new problems when one considers Norbert Wiener's concept of "cybernetics" and the problem of distinguishing man and machine. As computers continue to increase in processing power according to Moore's law [28], and as artificial intelligence approaches human intelligence, philosophical issues demand new attention.
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D[U]alism states that two opposing, or opposite, ideas, things, or categories mutually exist. A person holding such views is a dualist. Such views are expressed in the humanities. For example, in anthropology dualism may explain facts about man by two fundamental causes: reason or the passions, soul or body; freedom or determinism. Dualism explains the theory of knowledge by the confrontation of two different realities, subjective or objective; the religious cosmos in the terms of a perpetual conflict between good and evil, which has always existed. As one examines any dualistic situation he discovers that the two opposites are usually considered as coming from the same or similar source.
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Dualism: The belief that entities and concepts often appear in pairs -- typically one good and the other bad. The religion of Zoroastrianism recognizes one all-good deity and one who is all-evil. Most conservative Christians believe that two, very powerful, supernatural powers influence the world: God and Satan.
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Dualism can be characterized in various ways; on one account, it is simply the view that mental events and physical events are totally different kinds of events. It is constrasted with both materialism and phenomenalism.
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