Monism vs Dualism: That is the Question

If you’ve never heard these terms, don’t be scared, don’t run, just give this article a chance and you may never see reality the same way again. That is precisely what we are going to talk about here, about how we understand reality.

For practical purposes we are going to understand reality in two ways, from a monistic and a dualistic conception

What is the dualistic perspective?

When we talk about a dualistic conception of reality we are referring to the idea that it It is composed of two elements or substances; a material part, made up of matter (like the screen you are looking at right now) and a spiritual part, which is not observable with the naked eye nor is it capable of being reached by the senses (like the “soul”).

This perspective of reality comes from the philosophical postulates of Descartes, you have surely heard his name or his famous phrase “I think therefore I am”, although he was not the only one, Greek philosophy is impregnated with the dualistic perspective, like Pythagoras, Plato, Socrates etc

A well-known example is that of Plato’s cave, where the conclusion is the idea that what really matters and what we really have to know is the world of ideas, since the senses are deceptive, the organic, the body It distances us from trying to really know what reality is like, the experience itself is at a lower level than the world of ideas; all this is also very incorporated by Christianity, especially the Catholic Church, which places great emphasis on the division of body and soul (this goes to heaven after the body ceases to exist).

Dualism in Psychology

Dualism has had a very profound impact on all cultures, for example the idea of ​​the soul as something that can be detached from the body, as if they were two different substances, comes from this perspective, another example is that of spirits capable of controlling the bodies, being able to manage their actions as if they were a puppet.

And I’m sure you’re wondering… What does this have to do with psychology?

Don’t get impatient because there is the answer. In a simplistic way, psychology is a science that seeks to explain why people behave the way they behave, and when trying to understand human behavior, the dualistic vision is the one that is most current; Whether you ask your most distinguished professor on campus, the human resources manager, the priest, or the baker on the corner, they are very likely to explain the behavior from this perspective.

What we do is separate a person into two parts, their bodily part which is their matter but on the other hand there is their mind, their spiritual part. In other words, body and mind are separate, and function differently with different laws.

Dualistic psychology is usually based on the idea that the mind is responsible for emotions, thoughts, and conscious experiences, and it is the true reason for behaviors, the mind interacts with the body, the spiritual interacts with the physical, and in this way behaviors arise. A psychological current that represents this vision of reality very well is psychoanalysis, where these two elements are clearly seen. The psychic apparatus and material behavior, where practically all human behavior is governed by this “spiritual” world.

But psychoanalysis is not the only current that represents Descartes’ dualism, in reality, to be honest, most psychological currents are influenced by this perspective, where it is understood that psychological phenomena have a different logic than other phenomena of the nature, therefore there is the idea that psychology cannot follow the methods of the natural sciences since behavior is governed by higher processes (soul), not observable with the naked eye. And this is how psychology has burned its eyelashes and has put a lot of effort into trying to explain human behavior through the mind, for example with cognitive theory, understanding the origin of behavior from automatic thoughts, schemes, beliefs, etc.

And what is the monistic perspective about?

Monism is a philosophical theory that maintains that everything in the universe is a single substance or essence and this substance can be material or spiritual, which is why we have two types, materialistic monism, where reality is only made up of matter, and spiritualistic or idealistic monism, where all reality is only a construct of the mind.

Here I am going to briefly explain why it is important that we know this perspective and the importance of developing a monistic psychology.

If you didn’t know, psychology is a science, or at least it tries to be, but unlike other sciences, there are many, many different ideas on which psychologists do not agree, for example, if you are going to A psychoanalyst will explain the behavior to you from one perspective, if you go to a cognitive one he will explain that same behavior from another perspective, if you go to a gestalt he will also have a different explanation of that same behavior.

And you will surely think “what’s wrong with this? More perspective, more wealth.” But this is not a good thing; Imagine that you go to a doctor because your chest hurts, and he tells you, what’s happening to you is that you have excess blood, we’re going to have to bleed you, then you go to another doctor and he tells you, your problem is that you have too little substance. phlegmatic you’re going to have to drink cow bile.

You will surely run out of there. The least you would expect is that the professional in front of you has scientific knowledge that allows them to precisely understand what is happening to you, giving you the best possible treatment. And this is what we expect from psychologists. Obviously this is not an easy task, but the monistic perspective may be the way to achieve this goal.

When we do science, it has certain assumptions when trying to understand reality, basically there are two, materialism and determinism, these two assumptions give rise to the scientific method. Reviewing, materialism means that science only works with material facts and determinism means that this matter follows a series of laws, that it follows rules, it is not capricious, it does not work at random.

If we do not accept these principles, we are not doing science. And before you want to stone me, let’s remember that these are assumptions for doing science, reality does not necessarily have to be composed only of matter, perhaps it is also made up of a spiritual substance, but if I want to do science I have to concentrate on the part material, since I cannot know the spiritual.

Therefore, there cannot exist a science, therefore a psychology, that studies the spirit; we need to conceive psychology from a materialist perspective If we want to make it a science, this implies that psychology must shed its dualistic perspective and define its object of study from a materialist – deterministic perspective, such as the study of behavior.

Can psychology comply with this materialistic and deterministic monistic perspective?

The first thing we usually think about when building a psychological science that complies with these materialist and deterministic perspectives is that we have to study the brain. In the neurosciences, many have found a break when it comes to making psychology a science, believing that by studying and understanding the brain, we will understand behaviors. And I don’t want to imply that the study of neuro is not important, but understanding behavior is a different area than the brain.

Trying to understand behavior by studying the brain is like trying to understand dance by studying muscles, bones and joints. The brain is an enabler of behavior, but we cannot focus on it to understand behavior, we need to go beyond it, we need to try to understand what laws behaviors themselves have. And you will ask, but is this materialism? Of course, behavior, although it does not have matter, is the relationship of matter, and this form of material relationship, behavior, has certain rules, which have been studied by behavioral psychology.

Behavioral psychology has been studying behavior as a unique object of study in psychology for several years; We call this radical behaviorism, radical comes from the root word, and refers to the fact that everything an individual does is behavior.

I consider that it is very important that as psychologists we know both the philosophical approaches as scientists proposed by behaviorism, since it is vital for us to understand the laws that govern behavior, so that in this way, we can help our clients in the best way, having a scientific perspective of what happens to them.