I was about to embark on a journey that would take me through the crests and valleys of a landscape of information... and I had no clue where to begin. Luckily, I had instructions supplied by the information guru, known to us only as professor Soules. Little did I know, that these simple instructions would lead to a far more complex discovery. A leaf of paper in my hand, this is how my journey began.
The leaf of paper noted, I then proceeded to my computer, and from there I sought the knowledge of the one known as Academic Search Premier. This was my first stop, for it was the first listed on the instructions. Once I had confronted Academic Search Premier, it asked one thing, "What are your search terms?" I replied, "body and soul." It replied with a body of texts that could crush me if dropped from the second level of a building. Intimidated by this continent of knowledge, I asked Academic Search Premier if it could refine my search to Academic Journals and then further refine it to "dualism." Fortunately, Academic Search Premier sensed the importance of my task and quickly complied. My searched was refined and I immediately caught sight of a text called, "Mind incarnate: from Dewey to Damasio." I took note of the fact that this text was published by an academic journal that covers the discipline of philosophy, it clearly had authority and an in-depth philosophical angle on the topic of dualism. How could I be certain of its relevance, though? This question was then answered by the highlighted subject terms that displayed the words "dualism" and "mind & body" in blinding glory, clearly before my eyes. This relevance was strengthened further by the brief description provided, "The article discusses the theory which states that the human mind is intrinsically incarnate. Most people find this hard to accept. Only a handful of intellectually courageous philosophers have embraced a nondualistic view of mind and pursued such a view. Philosophers loathe to give up the notion of a transcendent soul and a disembodied mind." We have a winner!
Academic Search Premier led me to its fortune of information, but it only teased my curiosity. I had to seek the wisdom of the Philosopher's Index. So, I did. The instructions instructed that I seek a database in a discipline after a general database. So, I did. After initial contact, I inquired the Philosopher's Index about the terms "body and soul." It replied with a text by the name of, "Kim Against Dualism." Published in a philosophical journal, "Philosophical Studies: An International Journal for Philosophy in the Analytic Tradition." Beautiful, beautiful authority. Relevance and angle? No problem, "This paper presents and evaluates Jaegwon Kim's recent argument against substance dualism." It seemed to contain a few philosophical terms, which may pose problems for a general audience, but fails to threaten the philosophy major on his information quest. Next stop?
The library catalog. After asking about "dualism" I was led to the text, "Descartes' dualism." Authority was claimed by Harvard University Press. Relevance and angle were claimed by the subject listing of, "Contribution in dualist doctrine of mind and body." And I claimed the search a success.
Soon, I claimed the realm of the World Wide Web. Clack, clack, clack... google... "dualism"... loading... Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Authority? I pray that a university's leviathan philosophical encyclopedia satisfies that. Relevance? Does 12,719 words on the topic of dualism throughout the history of philosophy qualify? Hmm, I guess it will do.
Now, at the end of my quest, I think I barely escaped an overdose on dualism. But, I shall include some reflections on my epic task. By providence, adjustments did not have to be made to my search. Why do I think this happened? I suspect this fortune can be traced to my terms and choice of databases. "Body and soul" and "dualism" are topic-specific terms, almost always associated with philosophy. The Philosopher's Index was an obvious choice for such a search, and the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy was a clear choice for an internet search. Search terms and choice of database: highly significance.
And my sources? They included a wide-spectrum of information on dualism. The source unearthed from Academic Search Premier, "Mind incarnate: from Dewey to Damasio" by Mark Johnson, argues against the idea of dualism. My source from the Philosopher's Index by David Jehle, "Kim Against Dualism," presents and evaluates a specific argument against dualism. "Descartes' Dualism" by Marleen Rozemond, a text found through the library catalog studies 17th century dualistic conceptions. Lastly, the gargantuan dualism page on the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy covers the major arguments on dualism throughout the history of philosophy; the most comprehensive source by far. All the sources differ in their approach to dualism. One argues against dualism, one examines a specific argument, one studies it in a specific era, and one covers it throughout the history of philosophy. Let us hope that explains why I choose them.
And what about bibliographical information? I identified the authors, titles, publishers, years published, journal titles, and volume numbers for the sources from Academic Search Premier, the Philosopher's Index and the library catalog. The title, URL, publish date, and date visited were identified for the dualism page on the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Did I learn anything? I learned that my cluster topic is pretty damn huge. People write entire books about it. It has been debated for over 2,000 years. It is kind of a big deal. I'd be lying if I said I just learned that though. I already know what dualism (mind-body dualism in this case) is, and I already know it is a debated philosophical topic. If anything, I learned that I have a lot of learn. The detail and scope of the arguments in my sources are almost unbearable. Maybe, I will learn how to bear them as my philosophical inquiry continues.
How can I continue my quest? By asking questions. The first would be, what ethical issues arise from mind-body dualism? What metaphysical problems are posed by mind-body dualism, would be the second. These questions do not even require a database, unless a mind fits the definition. All sorts of answers can be provided in response to these questions, given a few moments of thought.
What if I want to search for more information? I can use another database! Lexis Nexus is readily accessible and is another general database that may bring me to many more results.
So, is my quest over? Or has it just begun?...
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1 comment:
At the risk of providing you with even more results from a search in Academic Search Premier, you could try "body" in one search box, use AND as your Boolean operator, and then put "soul" in the next search box. While the phrase "body and soul" clearly gave you results, it's really not the best way to search if you can divide the phrase into individual terms.
You write: "'Body and soul' and 'dualism' are topic-specific terms." They are certainly specific to your chosen topic, but this is a very broad, all-encompassing topic, which is why you find such long lists of results. If you were writing a research paper in this general subject, you would have to narrow it down much further and pick a specific angle for your paper, something I urge you to think about.
For example, one of your discoveries was Descartes' view on this subject. That alone could be a major topic, possibly even too broad as well, but at least confined to one philosopher.
Of your questions, you write: "These questions do not even require a database, unless a mind fits the definition. All sorts of answers can be provided in response to these questions, given a few moments of thought."
If you were to write a research paper on these questions, you would still need to do a literature search, something that is required with any research paper.
If you are simply exploring these topics through personal thought, you're right - you don't need a database - but you might need more than a "few moments" of thought!
You did a good job with your review assignment and I can see that you might have a creative writing future as well!
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