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PREPNDINP ILUMNC
University Foundation of the Andean Area

Evaluative Activity of Axis 1

“History Ethnography”

Author:
Samira Alexandra Martínez Daza

Tutor:
Alejandra María Rojas Reyes

History and Epistemology of Psychology

University Foundation of the Andean Area

Faculty of Social and Human Sciences

Virtual Psychology

November 16, 2020

1. Transcribed Interviews

Name: Santiago Aldair Martínez Daza

Age: 60

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Male gender
Educational level : Master

1. For you, what relationship is there between soul, mind and body?
I find the relationship in that the Soul requires a tangible space, a material space that it forges to
then transcend and the body needs the soul with the energy that it provides to maintain itself, in
turn this is in constant interaction with the mind because it physically responds to its
requirements by executing its actions.
2. What meaning do the soul, mind and body have for you?
The soul is the intangible part of every living being, it is something spiritual that is found in the
being as long as the body has life, it is what we cannot see or touch but that is part of it.
The body is the tangible part of the living being that has an anatomy, it is a matter that occupies
a physical space.
The mind refers to consciousness, to the capacity for memory, it is what leads us to think and
imagine countless facts, strengthening our intellectual capacity.
3. How did you learn the meaning of these 3 concepts?
I have learned these concepts throughout my life, initially with my family, especially directed at
the religious part, also in my years of study for the philosophical part, also through my own
research since it is a topic that catches my attention. for the questions it generates beyond life.

Name : Elexia Paola Noguera Vuelvas

Age : 17
Female gender
Educational level: Psychology student

1. For you, what relationship is there between soul, mind and body?
The relationship that these terms have is that they interact with each other. In the mind are all the
functions of the brain such as our thoughts, perceptions, emotions, desires, intentions, etc. While
the body shows all this functioning since it affects it directly and we show it through our actions.
2. What meaning do the soul, mind and body have for you?
They are patterns that relate to each other, showing and interacting with our daily lives. While
our mind is in charge of all psychological functioning, the body manifests them physically.
3. How did you learn the meaning of these 3 concepts?
Studying authors such as Descartes, Plato, Aristotle, Saint Augustine

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Name: María Paula Martínez Baena

Age: 32
Female gender
Educational level: Professional

1. For you, what relationship is there between soul, mind and body?
the relationship that there is between these 3 concepts the I will pose
to
Starting from the human, social and religious sphere, because it depends on how we act in life,
we will be rewarded later and ensure that our soul can rest in peace and climb to the kingdom of
God. It is because of this cognition that we must proceed or act in a good way.

2. What meaning do the soul, mind and body have for you?
The soul is the spiritual part of the human being, the body is the intangible part of the being on
earth and the mind is the intellectual part where our cognitive processes develop, which allows
us to process different activities.

3. How did you learn the meaning of these 3 concepts?

I learned it when I was a student at the university through the articles and information of
Descartes, Plato and Aristotle, also what I have been able to experience in the journey of my life.

The interviewees answered the definition of each of the concepts according to their beliefs and in
accordance with their personal experiences, that is why the different concepts obtained in the
results, for me it was very important to execute them since I was able to learn from each of the
answers and interact with them!

2. Soul, Mind and Body

Figure 1.A. Rodríguez (July 24, 2019) Figure 2. R. Vera (08, October 2017)

Philosophical reflection on mind-body concepts is fundamental, since it forms an integral

part of any system of rational thought that one wants to propose about human nature.
Affirming from a religious vision that the mind is a soul or spirit with its own existence

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independent of the body, that it is immortal and immaterial and that it can reincarnate in
other bodies, is not the same as seeking an objective answer to the mind-body problem from
a religious perspective. scientific and philosophical based on rational arguments. Nor is it
the same to start from the belief that a divine being created man, endowing him with a soul
or spirit, that is, with a mind and a life that directs him and takes away from him when he so
decides, than to give an ontological explanation of man. based on our own faculties and
possibilities of knowing the universe, even with the limitations that this may have. The
answer to the mind-body problem based on religious and theological beliefs, or based on
scientific and philosophical arguments, determines the type of notion we have about man,
his behavior and his future.
Dualist doctrines maintain that the body is material and the mind immaterial, therefore, they
attribute to man a dual nature. Two types of dualism have been formulated: one that affirms
that mind and body interact and another that denies such interaction. In any case, a body is
always associated with one mind and only one. Each mind belongs to the body through
which it perceives and acts and to no other. People's bodies and minds have a one-to-one
relationship.
René Descartes formulated the mind-body problem in the 17th century and it is developed
mainly in two of his works: Metaphysical Meditations and Treatise on the Passions of the
Soul. According to Cartesian thought, the body is a material entity (res extenso) while the
mind is an immaterial entity.
Ocampo, M. (2006). History and philosophy of medicine. Consciousness, mind and body,
Vol51(No4),195-196.https://www.medigraphic.com/pdfs/abc/bc-2006/bc064h.pdf
The soul is not only the form of the body, but also its end, that is, the meaning of the body is
given by the highest activity of the soul, that of the intellect. And since the body is the result
of that type of soul, it is understood that its disposition is entirely oriented to the mental act,
especially that sense that is the basis of all the others: touch62. Human touch is superior to
that of other animals; The experience of touch is incomparably richer in man than in other
living beings: “Touch is the foundation of the other senses: it is evident in fact that the organ
of touch is extended throughout the body, therefore, when It has a better touch, it has a
better sensitive nature and therefore it enjoys a better intelligence, since the goodness of the
sense is a disposition to the goodness of the intellect. He who has better sight or hearing
does not therefore have better sensitivity. Those who have good touch have a nobler soul
and a more penetrating spirit.

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The soul is a substance understood as an organizational plan; It is not the result of anything,
but is itself the cause of the body, in a way analogous to how the art of building flutes
cannot be a posteriori to the finished flutes. The existence of the flutes as a product of the
craftsmanship of the carpenter depends on him already having the idea of their design in his
mind32. It cannot be denied that the brain has a training process, but I insist, it is necessary
to answer why or what guides said training. The autopoiesis hypothesis defended by the
Chilean biologists Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela leaves the essential problem
unanswered and seems erroneous to me from a philosophical angle33. In the widely spread
work Of Machines and Living Beings, Maturana and Varela maintain exactly the opposite
of Aristotle by arguing that living beings are machines. Precisely, the definition of the soul
as Aristotle presents it, implies an essential difference between artifacts and living beings as
they possess the principle of movement and rest in themselves.

For Aristotle there is no doubt that the mind (or soul) has causal powers over the body. The
fact that it is very difficult to explain this does not imply that we have to renounce its
immateriality, given that the Aristotelian theory of causality does not necessarily or only
imply physical contact with the effect. Saint Thomas, for his part, explicitly addresses the
issue by saying that it is impossible for the soul to be united to the body through a body.
That is, the causal power of the soul does not come from its condition as the motor of the
body, as the Platonists affirm: If the soul, as the Platonists say, were united to the body only
as a motor, it would have to be said that the soul of man enters or of any animal and the
body, other intermediate bodies would intervene. If the soul is truly united to the body as a
form, as has already been said, it is impossible for it to be united through another body.
Now, it is clear that the previous organizational plan that is the soul does not have a
causality of a physical type; It is not an electrical current that always produces, or most of
the time, if the somatic potentiality allows it, visible results.
Martínez Barrera, J. (2011) “Soul, body and mind: Saint Thomas and some
contemporaries.” [in line]. Sapient, Vol.67.229-
230
https://repositorio.uca.edu.ar/bitstream/123456789/4640/1/alma-cuerpo-mente-santo-
tomas.pdf

After having understood the clarifications in relation to the concepts of the soul, mind and

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body we can say that are different opinions and

concepts connected with this content to leave of different points of sight, in
In its entirety, it is concluded that there is a correlation between these elements, since one
requires the other for its proper functioning. Furthermore, from the different articles
addressed, it was possible to show that the contributions are changing which have generated
countless discussions, since most of the concepts necessarily lead to one being tied to the
other from the slightest activity developed. For the human being, I think that each concept
depends on the lifestyle and beliefs that each person has and that is the cause of the different
concepts that were evident in this article.
For this reason I think that the mind represents an important fragment of the body, since it is
the one that controls our actions through sensory means in relation to the environment. The
soul for me is connected to the spiritual part, that part of us whose connection is not earthly,
something made up of energy. The mind is the place where all the cognitive and analytical
processes of the human being develop. The body for me is like the physical structure that
serves as transportation to be part of the reality in which we live and the means by which we
are going to fulfill our purpose in this world by acting in a good way from the human and
social sphere, having Keep in mind that the body is nothing without the soul and the soul
does not manifest itself without a body.

References

Ocampo, M. (2006). “History and philosophy of medicine. Consciousness, mind and body”
Vol51(No4),195-196. https://www.medigraphic.com/pdfs/abc/bc-2006/bc064h.pdf

Martínez Barrera, J. (2011) “Soul, body and mind: Saint Thomas and some contemporaries”
[online]. Sapiente, Vol. 67.229-230.
https://repositorio.uca.edu.ar/bitstream/123456789/4640/1/alma-cuerpo-mente-santo-
tomas.pdf

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