Class 11 English Unit 16: What is the Soul? - Betrand Russell Language Development Section

 

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HejPhwoAhk0

Unit 16: What is the Soul? – Bertrand Russel (page 145)

Reflection of the Text

Bertrand Russell explains how modern science has changed our old ideas about the mind, the body, and the soul. In the past, people believed that a human being was made of two clear parts: a body and a soul. The body existed in time and space, while the soul existed only in time. Most people were sure that the soul existed, even if they were unsure whether it lived after death. Science also accepted the body as real and solid.

          However, modern science has made these simple beliefs uncertain. Physicists now say that matter, as we once understood it, does not truly exist. Psychologists also say that the mind is not a separate thing. This situation is strange because experts in their own fields seem to deny the existence of what they study. Some psychologists try to explain all mental activities as physical activities of the body. But physics itself shows that the body is not as solid and real as it seems. What we call the body is only a scientific idea created by the mind.

Russell explains that this leads to a circle: the mind is said to come from the body, and the body is said to be created by the mind. To solve this, he suggests that the world is made of events, not lasting things like “mind” or “matter.” These events are grouped in different ways. When grouped one way, they are called physical objects; when grouped another way, they are called the mind. An event in the brain can belong to both groups.

Russell also argues that there is no strong reason to believe the mind or soul is immortal. Memory depends on the brain, and when the brain dies, memory likely ends too. Finally, he says that although science reduces human pride about the universe, it greatly improves life on earth. This is why science, despite opposition, has been accepted.

Ways with words

A.   The words in the crossword puzzle are from the text. Find them from the text to solve the puzzle based on the meaning clues given below. (Answers)

1.     unquestionable, impossible to doubt – indubitable

2.     never done or known before – unprecedented

3.     emergence or origination – emanation

4.     obviously or clearly – evidently

5.     impossible to achieve or overcome – insuperable

6.     moved with a violent, irregular action – agitated

7.     appropriate or suitable – apt

8.     force back – repel

9.     Conservative – orthodox

10. up to now – hitherto

B.    Find the words from the text that mean the following.

a.     misleading or illusory - deceptive

b.     in a natural state; not yet processed or refined - crude

c.     a mystical horse-like animal with a single straight horn projecting from its forehead - unicorn

d.     never dying or decaying - immortal

e.     come to an end; stop - cease

f.      to activate or put into motion – actuate

Comprehension: Answer these questions.

a.     What’s the difference between the body and the soul?

The body exists in time and space, whereas the soul exists in time only. In simple words, the body is a visible entity, whereas the soul is not visible.

b.    What do you understand by the psychologists’ saying that there is no such thing as mind?

Psychologists believe that there is no existence of mind as they study mental processes and human behaviors by observing, interpreting, and recording how people relate to one another and the environment.

c.     How can a mental activity be reduced to a physical activity?

Mental activity can be reduced to a physical activity by saying the mind is just an emotion of the body, which is really an elaborate scientific construction.

d.    How are mind and body related?

Mind and body are related as they are merely convenient ways of collecting and organizing events inside a man’s head into two groups according to causal relations.

e.     What is the relation between mind and memory? Does memory survive a person’s death?

Memory is the most essential characteristic of the mind. No, memory doesn’t survive a person’s death because it is connected with a certain kind of brain structure, which decays at death. Thus, memory also dies.

f.      How is our power on the earth’s surface entirely dependent upon the sun?

Our power on the earth’s surface is entirely dependent upon the sun as it warms our seas, regulates our weather patterns, and gives energy to the growing green plants that provide the food and oxygen for life on Earth.

 

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