Quadrupedal and skipping motion walk cycles by Felix Sputnik

Undercurrents: grotesque animated body distortions

Albert Omoss (2016). 'Undercurrents', experimental animated short film.

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Substance Dualism, Property Dualism and Mind-Body Dualism

"Consider the following three Cartesian theses:

Substance dualism: Any substance with mental properties lacks material properties and any substance with material properties lacks mental properties.

Property dualism: Mental properties and material properties are different properties.

Real distinction between mind and body: The mind and the body are numerically distinct substances.

How are these theses logically related? Substance dualism is the strongest of the three, and entails the other two. It entails the real distinction between mind and body. For the mind is a substance with mental properties, and the body is a substance with material properties. Now if the mind lacks material properties, and the body lacks mental properties, then the mind and the body cannot be the same substance. But the real distinction between mind and body does not entail substance dualism. For that mind and body are two numerically distinct substances is compatible with both of them having both mental and material properties.

Substance dualism also entails property dualism. For if a substance with mental properties lacks material properties, then mental and material properties are different properties–otherwise, a substance with mental properties would be a substance with material properties. But property dualism does not entail substance dualism. It could be that mental properties and material properties are different properties and yet a substance with mental properties is also a substance with material properties.

But the real distinction between mind and body and property dualism do not entail each other. It could be that mind and body are numerically distinct substances but mental and material properties are the same. For instance, it could be that mind and body are distinct because they have different properties: the mind has a property M that the body lacks, and the body has a property B that the mind lacks. This does not preclude that both M and B are both mental and material properties. So the real distinction between mind and body does not entail property dualism. Nor does property dualism entail the real distinction between mind and body. For even if mental and material properties are different properties, it can still be the case that the mind, which has mental properties, and the body, which has material properties, are the same substance."

(Gonzalo Rodriguez–Pereyra, pp.70–71)

Rodriguez–Pereyra, G. (2008). "Descartes's Substance Dualism and His Independence Conception of Substance". Journal of the History of Philosophy 46(1): 69–90.
Fig.1 Lucy Jones "Philosophy of the Mind Episode Two: Criticisms of Substance Dualism", YouTube.

The peculiar case of the Icelandic Phallological Museum

"Paris has the Louvre. London has the Tate Modern, and New York the Metropolitan Museum. But Husavik, Iceland–a diminutive village on the fringe of the Arctic Circle–boasts the world's only museum devoted exclusively to painstakingly preserved male genitalia. Founded and curated by Sigurður 'Siggi' Hjartarson, the Icelandic Phallological Museum houses four decades worth of mammalian members, from a petite field mouse to the colossal sperm whale, and every 'thing' in between. But, lamentably, Siggi's collection lacks the holy grail of phallic phantasmagoria: a human specimen. Siggi's world changes dramatically when he receives generous offers from an elderly Icelandic Casanova and an eccentric American. However, as the competition for eternal penile preservation heats up between the two men, Siggi soon discovers that this process is more complicated than it initially appeared. In their debut feature film, Jonah Bekhor and Zach Math follow Siggi on his dogged, often emotional quest to complete his exhibition in a peculiar, yet startlingly relatable, story of self–fulfillment and the value of personal legacies (both big and small)."

Jonah Bekhor and Zach Math (2012). "The Final Member" [documentary film, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2318701/]

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REX: independent mobility through hands-free robotic exoskeleton

"Rex Bionics Plc (The Rex Bionics Group) is the global technology leader in robotic exoskeletons (REX). Uniquely, REX® provides independent mobility to wheelchair users and other mobility impaired persons using advanced robotic technology, custom–designed electromechanical actuators, precision engineering, and specialised networking systems.

The key differentiator of REX is the fact that it has been designed from the outset to provide mobility to non–ambulatory wheelchair users rather than as a means to enable otherwise fit individuals to lift supra–physiological loads, enhance endurance or aid mobility of those able to walk with crutches.

The device is designed to enable all users to stand and walk, and REX Personal™ users to scale stairs and navigate slopes."

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