What philosophies use dualism?
Philosophy of mind
Dualism is a set of views about the relationship between mind and matter (or body). It begins with the claim that mental phenomena are, in some respects, non-physical. One of the earliest known formulations of mind–body dualism was expressed in the eastern Sankhya and Yoga schools of Hindu philosophy (c. 650 BCE), which divided the world into purusha (mind/spirit) and prakriti (material substance). Specifically, the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali presents an analytical approach to the nature of the mind.
Hundred Schools of Thought
Philosophical Taoism or Daoism (道家; "Dàojiā"; "Tao-chia"; "School of the Way") developed into the second most significant stream of Chinese thought. Its formulation is often attributed to the legendary sage Laozi ("Old Master"), who is said to predate Confucius, and Zhuangzi (369–286 BC). The focus of Taoism is on the individual within the natural realm rather than the individual within society; accordingly, the goal of life for each individual is seeking to adjust oneself and adapting to the rhythm of the natural (and the supernatural) world, to follow the Way (tao) of the universe, and to live in harmony. In many ways the opposite of rigid Confucian morality, Taoism was for many of its adherents a complement to their ordered daily lives. A scholar serving as an official would usually follow Confucian teachings, but at leisure or in retirement might seek harmony with nature as a Taoist recluse. Politically, Taoism advocates for rule through inaction, and avoiding excessive interference.
Yanantin
Yanantin is one of the best known and most defining characteristics of indigenous South American Andean thought and exemplifies Andean adherence to a philosophical model based in what is often referred to as a "dualism of complementary terms" or, simply, a “complementary dualism". Much like in Chinese Taoism, Andean philosophy views the opposites of existence (such as male/female, dark/light, inner/outer) as interdependent and essential parts of a harmonious whole. Because existence itself is believed to be dependent upon the tension and balanced interchange between the polarities, there is a very definite ideological and practical commitment within indigenous Andean life to bringing the seemingly conflicting opposites into harmony with one another without destroying or altering either one. Among the indigenous people of Peru and Bolivia, the union of opposing yet interdependent energies is called "yanantin" or "complementary opposites."
Mind–body dualism
Occasionalism is a philosophical doctrine about causation which says that created substances cannot be efficient causes of events. Instead, all events are taken to be caused directly by God itself. The theory states that the illusion of efficient causation between mundane events arises out of a constant conjunction that God had instituted, such that every instance where the cause is present will constitute an "occasion" for the effect to occur as an expression of the aforementioned power. This "occasioning" relation, however, falls short of efficient causation. In this view, it is not the case that the first event causes God to cause the second event: rather, God first caused one and then caused the other, but chose to regulate such behaviour in accordance with general laws of nature. Some of its most prominent historical exponents have been Louis de la Forge, Arnold Geulincx, and Nicholas Malebranche.
Interactionism (philosophy of mind)
Interactionism or interactionist dualism is the theory in the philosophy of mind which holds that matter and mind are two distinct and independent substances that exert causal effects on one another. It is one type of dualism, traditionally a type of substance dualism though more recently also sometimes a form of property dualism.
Natural landscape
The dualism of the first definition has its roots is an "ancient concept", because early people viewed "nature, or the nonhuman world […] as a divine "Other", godlike in its separation from humans". In the West, Christianity's myth of the fall, that is the expulsion of humankind from the Garden of Eden, where all creation lived in harmony, into an imperfect world, has been the major influence. Cartesian dualism, from the seventeenth century on, further reinforced this dualistic thinking about nature. 
With this dualism goes value judgement as to the superiority of the natural over the artificial. Modern science, however, is moving towards a holistic view of nature.
Ethical dualism
The Jews first came across Zoroastrian philosophy when the Persian King Cyrus freed them from their Babylonian captivity and allowed them to return to their homeland in the 6th century BCE. Therefore, it is possible that during this period the two peoples exchanged ideas about their view of the world, which would explain the clear reference to ethical dualism expressed and reformulated in Jewish terms in Chapter 31:15 of the Deuteronomy, the 5th book of the Torah:
Nondualism
Sikh theology suggests human souls and the monotheistic God are two different realities (dualism), distinguishing it from the monistic and various shades of nondualistic philosophies of other Indian religions. However, Sikh scholars have attempted to explore nondualism exegesis of Sikh scriptures, such as during the neocolonial reformist movement by Bhai Vir Singh of the Singh Sabha. According to Mandair, Singh interprets the Sikh scriptures as teaching nonduality.
Mind–body dualism
The central claim of what is often called "Cartesian dualism", in honor of Descartes, is that the immaterial mind and the material body, while being ontologically distinct substances, causally interact. This is an idea that continues to feature prominently in many non-European philosophies. Mental events cause physical events, and vice versa. But this leads to a substantial problem for Cartesian dualism: How can an immaterial mind cause anything in a material body, and vice versa? This has often been called the "problem of interactionism."
Philosophy
Pre-Islamic Iranian philosophy begins with the work of Zoroaster, one of the first promoters of monotheism and of the dualism between good and evil. This dualistic cosmogony influenced later Iranian developments such as Manichaeism, Mazdakism, and Zurvanism.
List of philosophies
Sabellianism -
Scandal -
Scholasticism -
Scientific Development Concept -
Scientism -
Secularism -
Secular humanism -
Semantic holism -
Sensualism -
Sexualism -
Sexism - 
Shamanism -
Sikhism - 
Simulism -
Singularitarianism -
Skepticism -
Socialism -
Social philosophy -
Solipsism -
Sophism -
Spiritualism -
Stoicism -
Structuralism -
Subjective idealism -
Subjectivism -
Sufi metaphysics -
Śūnyatā -
Supersessionism -
Surrealism -
Survivalism -
Synoptic philosophy -
Systems philosophy
Mind–body dualism
One argument against Dualism is with regard to causal interaction. If consciousness (the mind) can exist independently of physical reality (the brain), one must explain how physical memories are created concerning consciousness. Dualism must therefore explain how consciousness affects physical reality. One of the main objections to dualistic interactionism is lack of explanation of how the material and immaterial are able to interact. Varieties of dualism according to which an immaterial mind causally affects the material body and vice versa have come under strenuous attack from different quarters, especially in the 20th century. Critics of dualism have often asked how something totally immaterial can affect something totally material—this is the basic "problem of causal interaction".
Duality (CoPs)
In the context of a community of practice, the notion of a duality is used to capture the idea of the tension between two opposing forces which become a driving force for change and creativity. Wenger uses the concept of dualities to examine the forces that create and sustain a community of practice. He describes a duality as "a single conceptual unit that is formed by two inseparable and mutually constitutive elements whose inherent tensions and complementarity give the concept richness and dynamism" .
Monism
To these nondual traditions belong Hinduism (including Vedanta, some forms of Yoga, and certain schools of Shaivism), Taoism, Pantheism, Rastafari and similar systems of thought.
Depiction
A similar duality is proposed by the philosopher of art Richard Wollheim. He calls it 'twofoldness'. Our experience of the picture surface is called the 'configurational' aspect, and our experience of the object depicted the 'recognitional'. Wollheim's main claim is that we are simultaneously aware of both the surface and the depicted object. The concept of twofoldness has been very influential in contemporary analytic aesthetics, especially in the writings of Dominic Lopes and of Bence Nanay. Again, illusion is forestalled by the prominence of the picture surface where an object is depicted. Yet the object depicted quite simply "is" the picture surface under one reading, the surface indifferent to picture, another. The two are hardly compatible or simultaneous. Nor do they ensure a reference relation.
Nondualism
Orientalism
Nondualism
The nonduality of relative and ultimate truth was further developed and re-interpreted in Chinese Buddhism, where the two truths doctrine came to refer to the nonduality of nirvana and samsara, re-incorporating essentialist notions.
Mind–body problem
The problem was addressed by René Descartes in the 17th century, resulting in Cartesian dualism, and by pre-Aristotelian philosophers, in Avicennian philosophy, and in earlier Asian traditions. A variety of approaches have been proposed. Most are either dualist or monist. Dualism maintains a rigid distinction between the realms of mind and matter. Monism maintains that there is only one unifying reality, substance or essence in terms of which everything can be explained.
Dualism (Indian philosophy)
By including mind in the realm of matter, Samkhya-Yoga avoids one of the most serious pitfalls of Cartesian dualism, the violation of physical conservation laws. Because mind is an evolute of matter, mental events are granted causal efficacy and are therefore able to initiate bodily motions.
David Loy
In addition to many scholarly papers and popular articles, Loy is the author of several books on comparative philosophy and social ethics, including:"Nonduality" focuses on the nonduality of subject and object in Buddhism, Vedanta, and Taoism, with reference to several Western thinkers including Wittgenstein and Heidegger. The main argument is that these three Asian systems may be different attempts to describe the same (or very similar) experience. The categories of Buddhism (no self, impermanence, causality, eightfold path) and Advaita Vedanta (all-Self, time and causality as maya, no path) are "mirror images" of each other. Ultimately it becomes difficult to distinguish a formless Being (Brahman) from a formless nonbeing (shunyata). Buddhism can be understood as a more phenomenological description of nonduality, while Vedanta is a more metaphysical account.
Mind
"Dualism" and "monism" are the two major schools of thought that attempt to resolve the mind–body problem. Dualism is the position that mind and body are in some way separate from each other. It can be traced back to Plato, Aristotle and the Nyaya, Samkhya and Yoga schools of Hindu philosophy, but it was most precisely formulated by René Descartes in the 17th century. "Substance dualists" argue that the mind is an independently existing substance, whereas "Property dualists" maintain that the mind is a group of independent properties that emerge from and cannot be reduced to the brain, but that it is not a distinct substance.
Mutualism (economic theory)
Dual power should not be confused with the Dual Power popularized by Vladimir Lenin, which was also theorized by Proudhon, but is referring to a more specific scenario where a revolutionary entity intentionally maintains the structure of the previous political institutions until the power of the previous institution is weakened enough such that the revolutionary entity can overtake it entirely. Dual-power as implemented by Mutualists and Agorists is the development of the alternative institution itself, which can create the Leninist scenario.
Nondualism
Nondualism in Buddhism is explicitly represented by the concept of Buddha-nature, and Tibetan concepts like rigpa and shentong. It has its roots in Buddhist ideas of luminous mind, the "pure" consciousness which shines through when purified from the defilements of hatred, anger and ignorance. Nondualism can also be found in Yogacara thought, and its concept of the alaija-vijnana. Subsequently, combinations of Buddha-nature thought and Yogacara, and also of Yogacara and Madhyamaka, developed in India, Tibet and China, and can be found in Tibetan Buddhism and Zen.
Dualistic cosmology
The dualism between God and Creation has existed as a central belief in multiple historical sects and traditions of Christianity, including Marcionism, Catharism, Paulicianism, and Gnostic Christianity. Christian dualism refers to the belief that God and creation are distinct, but interrelated through an indivisible bond. In sects like the Cathars and the Paulicians, this is a dualism between the material world, created by an evil god, and a moral god. Historians divide Christian dualism into absolute dualism, which held that the good and evil gods were equally powerful, and mitigated dualism, which held that material evil was subordinate to the spiritual good. The belief, by Christian theologians who adhere to a libertarian or compatibilist view of free will, that free will separates humankind from God has also been characterized as a form of dualism. The theologian Leroy Stephens Rouner compares the dualism of Christianity with the dualism that exists in Zoroastrianism and the Samkhya tradition of Hinduism. The theological use of the word dualism dates back to 1700, in a book that describes the dualism between good and evil.
Dualism (Indian philosophy)
While Western philosophical traditions, as exemplified by Descartes, equate mind with the conscious self and theorize on consciousness on the basis of mind/body dualism; some Eastern philosophies provide an alternate viewpoint, intimately related to substance dualism, by drawing a metaphysical line between consciousness and matter — where matter includes both body and mind.
Consciousness
Although it is widely accepted that Descartes explained the problem cogently, few later philosophers have been happy with his solution, and his ideas about the pineal gland have especially been ridiculed. However, no alternative solution has gained general acceptance. Proposed solutions can be divided broadly into two categories: dualist solutions that maintain Descartes' rigid distinction between the realm of consciousness and the realm of matter but give different answers for how the two realms relate to each other; and monist solutions that maintain that there is really only one realm of being, of which consciousness and matter are both aspects. Each of these categories itself contains numerous variants. The two main types of dualism are substance dualism (which holds that the mind is formed of a distinct type of substance not governed by the laws of physics) and property dualism (which holds that the laws of physics are universally valid but cannot be used to explain the mind). The three main types of monism are physicalism (which holds that the mind consists of matter organized in a particular way), idealism (which holds that only thought or experience truly exists, and matter is merely an illusion), and neutral monism (which holds that both mind and matter are aspects of a distinct essence that is itself identical to neither of them). There are also, however, a large number of idiosyncratic theories that cannot cleanly be assigned to any of these schools of thought.
Analytic philosophy
Motivated by the logical positivists' interest in verificationism, logical behaviorism was the most prominent theory of mind of analytic philosophy for the first half of the 20th century. Behaviorists tended to opine either that statements about the mind were equivalent to "statements about" behavior and dispositions to behave in particular ways or that mental states were directly equivalent to behavior and dispositions to behave. Behaviorism later became much less popular, in favor of type physicalism or functionalism, theories that identified mental states with brain states. During this period, topics of the philosophy of mind were often related strongly to topics of cognitive science such as modularity or innateness. Finally, analytic philosophy has featured a certain number of philosophers who were dualists, and recently forms of property dualism have had a resurgence; the most prominent representative is David Chalmers.
Dualism (Indian philosophy)
The Dvaita Vedanta school of Indian philosophy espouses a dualism between God and the universe by theorizing the existence of two separate realities. The first and the more important reality is that of Shiva or Shakti or Vishnu or Brahman. Shiva or Shakti or Vishnu is the supreme Self, God, the absolute truth of the universe, the independent reality. The second reality is that of dependent but equally real universe that exists with its own separate essence. Everything that is composed of the second reality, such as individual soul (Jiva), matter, etc. exist with their own separate reality. The distinguishing factor of this philosophy as opposed to Advaita Vedanta (monistic conclusion of Vedas) is that God takes on a personal role and is seen as a real eternal entity that governs and controls the universe. Because the existence of individuals is grounded in the divine, they are depicted as reflections, images or even shadows of the divine, but never in any way identical with the divine. Salvation therefore is described as the realization that all finite reality is essentially dependent on the Supreme.
Romanian philosophy
Heliade Rădulescu proposes, against monisms and dualisms of all kind, a trinitarian philosophy. He affirms that all philosophical concepts come in dualities, which can be classified in two categories: sympathetic (or parallel) and antipathetic. A sympathetic duality is formed by two "positive" terms, which indicate an existence: time / space; spirit / matter; right / duty etc. An antipathetic duality contains a positive and a negative term: life / death; movement / inertia; good / evil etc. Now, each sympathetic duality produces a third term, through which the dualism is overcome. Here are some examples: spirit / matter / universe; form / substance / body; progress / conservation / perfectibility; spiritual man / physical man / moral man. Beginning from here, Heliade Rădulescu develops a kind of cosmology, by means of naïve although ingenious geometrical considerations. He means thus to offer a metaphysical explanation of progress and then, armed with this metaphysics, to fight the liberalism. For his final purpose is to offer an argument in support of his political position, called "progressive conservatism". To those who reply that this is an inconsistent position, he answers that the duality progress / conservation is not antipathetic, but sympathetic, and that only a progressive conservatism is perfectible.
René Descartes
In "Meditations" Descartes discussed a piece of wax and exposed the single most characteristic doctrine of Cartesian dualism: that the universe contained two radically different kinds of substances—the mind or soul defined as thinking, and the body defined as matter and unthinking. The Aristotelian philosophy of Descartes' days held that the universe was inherently purposeful or theological. Everything that happened, be it the motion of the stars or the growth of a tree, was supposedly explainable by a certain purpose, goal or end that worked its way out within nature. Aristotle called this the "final cause", and these final causes were indispensable for explaining the ways nature operated. With his theory on dualism Descartes fired the opening shot for the battle between the traditional Aristotelian science and the new science of Kepler and Galileo which denied the final cause for explaining nature. Descartes' dualism provided the philosophical rationale for the latter and he expelled the final cause from the physical universe (or "res extensa"). For Descartes the only place left for the final cause was the mind (or "res cogitans"). Therefore, while Cartesian dualism paved the way for modern physics, it also held the door open for religious beliefs about the immortality of the soul.
Cartesian materialism
At the present time, the consensus of scientists and philosophers is to reject dualism and its immaterial mind, for a variety of reasons. (See Dualism -- Arguments Against). Similarly, many other aspects of Descartes' theories have been rejected; for example, the pineal gland turned out to be endocrinological, rather than having a large role in information processing.
Cartesian materialism
Many philosophers question Dennett's immediate rejection of dualism (dismissing it after only a few pages of argument in "Consciousness Explained"), pointing to a variety of reasons that people often find dualism to be a compelling view (see arguments for dualism).
Materialism
Philosophies contradictory to materialism or physicalism include idealism, pluralism, dualism, and other forms of monism.
Double-aspect theory
In the philosophy of mind, double-aspect theory is the view that the mental and the physical are two aspects of, or perspectives on, the same substance. It is also called dual-aspect monism. The theory's relationship to neutral monism is ill-defined, but one proffered distinction says that whereas neutral monism allows the context of a given group of neutral elements to determine whether the group is mental, physical, both, or neither, double-aspect theory requires the mental and the physical to be inseparable and mutually irreducible (though distinct).
Double-aspect theorists include, among others:-From the work of Wolfgang Pauli and Carl G. Jung results a philosophical approach, which Harald Atmanspacher titles the "Pauli-Jung conjecture", of dual-aspect monism which has a very specific further feature, namely that different aspects may show a complementarity in a quantum physical sense. That is, the Pauli-Jung conjecture implies that with regard to mental and physical states there may be incompatible descriptions of different parts that emerge from the whole. This stands in close analogy to quantum physics, where complementary properties cannot be determined jointly with accuracy.
Trialism
Cottingham introduced trialism after citing that Descartes' account of sensation and imagination has opened his official dualism under considerable pressure. He cited that an evaluation of the Cartesian writings on human psychology there is a grouping of not two but three notions - mind, body, sensation, hence the term trialism. According to cottingham, Descartes added the third category or notion " alongside thought and extension without proceeding to reify it as a separate substance." Thinkers such as Daniel Garber and Tad Schmaltz supported this by citing a letter in the correspondence between Descartes and Princess Elizabeth of Bohemia, which indicated that that he changed his mind from a dualistic view.
Interactionism (philosophy of mind)
While causal closure remains a key obstacle for interactionism, it is not relevant to all forms of dualism; epiphenomenalism and parallelism are unaffected as they do not posit that the mind affects the body.
Ethical dualism
Dualism is a theory which interprets any given situation in terms of two contrasting elements, which from a metaphysical point of view comes to imply that reality consists of two fundamental types of existence which cannot be reduced to each other. Examples of metaphysical dualisms are those between spirit and matter, God and the world, or, as theorized by Descartes, between thought and extension.
Twin Earth thought experiment
Twin Earth is a thought experiment by philosopher Hilary Putnam, first in his paper "Meaning and Reference" (1973), and then in his paper "The Meaning of 'Meaning (1975), to illustrate his argument for semantic externalism, or the view that the meanings of words are ultimately not purely psychological. The "Twin Earth" thought experiment was one of three, the other two being the "Aluminum-Molybdenum", and the "Beech-Elm" cases. Since the publication of these cases, philosophers have proposed numerous variations on the experiment.
René Descartes
Descartes, influenced by the automatons on display throughout the city of Paris, began to investigate the connection between the mind and body, and how the two interact. His main influences for dualism were theology and physics. The theory on the dualism of mind and body is Descartes' signature doctrine and permeates other theories he advanced. Known as Cartesian dualism (or Mind-Body Dualism), his theory on the separation between the mind and the body went on to influence subsequent Western philosophies. In "Meditations on First Philosophy", Descartes attempted to demonstrate the existence of God and the distinction between the human soul and the body. Humans are a union of mind and body; thus Descartes' dualism embraced the idea that mind and body are distinct but closely joined. While many contemporary readers of Descartes found the distinction between mind and body difficult to grasp, he thought it was entirely straightforward. Descartes employed the concept of "modes", which are the ways in which substances exist. In "Principles of Philosophy", Descartes explained, "we can clearly perceive a substance apart from the mode which we say differs from it, whereas we cannot, conversely, understand the mode apart from the substance". To perceive a mode apart from its substance requires an intellectual abstraction, which Descartes explained as follows:
Dudeism
Although Dudeism primarily makes use of iconography and narrative from "The Big Lebowski", adherents believe that the Dudeist worldview has existed since the beginnings of civilization, primarily to correct societal tendencies towards aggression and excess. They list individuals such as Laozi, Epicurus, Heraclitus, Buddha, and the pre-ecclesiastical Jesus Christ as examples of "Great Dudes in History". More recent antecedents include pillars of American Transcendentalism such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Walt Whitman and humanists such as Kurt Vonnegut and Mark Twain.
Nondualism
Central elements in the western traditions are Neo-Platonism, which had a strong influence on Christian contemplation c.q. mysticism, and it's accompanying apophatic theology; and Western esotericism, which also incorporated Neo-Platonism and Gnostic elements including Hermeticism. Western traditions are, among others, the idea of a Perennial Philosophy, Swedenborgianism, Unitarianism, Orientalism, Transcendentalism, Theosophy, and New Age.
Albert Camus
Camus presents the reader with dualisms such as happiness and sadness, dark and light, life and death, etc. He emphasizes the fact that happiness is fleeting and that the human condition is one of mortality; for Camus, this is cause for a greater appreciation for life and happiness. In "Le Mythe", dualism becomes a paradox: we value our own lives in spite of our mortality and in spite of the universe's silence. While we can live with a dualism ("I can accept periods of unhappiness, because I know I will also experience happiness to come"), we cannot live with the paradox ("I think my life is of great importance, but I also think it is meaningless"). In "Le Mythe", Camus investigates our experience of the Absurd and asks how we live with it. Our life must have meaning for us to value it. If we accept that life has no meaning and therefore no value, should we kill ourselves?
Mahanubhava
During the period when Sarvadnya Shri Chakradhar Swami preached his philosophy, there were number of religious and philosophical currents like Advaita of Shankaracharya, Vishishtadvaita of Ramanuja, hathayoga of Nath Sect and to some extent bhakti tradition of Vitthal from Pandharpur. As Chakradhar Swami attempted and develop and propagate his own philosophy. The philosophy of Chakradhar Swami is based on Dualism (dwaita) and it regards the soul, deity, the world of appearance, and God as four distinct constants. Also the world of appearance is regarded as materialistic, God as eternally free, deity as ever-bound and soul as ethereal. The dualism between soul and God is clearly understood as a constant in this philosophy. It is believed that the original purity of soul is revealed when the slough of ignorance over it is removed. This normally does not happened because of the obstruction of materialistic life. In order to free from this imbroglio, there is no other way to submit to Almighty God. The Almighty is all-pervasive, without beginning, eternal, permeated with joy. The ever-bound deities cannot proffer the experience of eternally ethereal almighty God. Salvation (moksha) is possible only by removing the slough of ignorance. Salvation is attainable in two ways, one through knowledge and one through Bhakti or devotion to God. God who is without bodily attributes, or any forms, assumes incarnation in order to grant salvation of his devotee. He grants his association which is liberating.
The Mahanubhav philosophy accepts the concept of incarnation. According to it, there are five incarnations of God. These five incarnations are known as "Panchakrishna" (or "Five Krishnas"), and they are to be meditated upon forever:
Non-physical entity
Dualism is the division of two contrasted or opposed aspects.The dualist school supposes the existence of non-physical entities, the most widely discussed one being the mind. But beyond that it runs into stumbling blocks. Pierre Gassendi put one such problem directly to René Descartes in 1641, in response to Descartes's "Meditations":
Descartes' response to Gassendi, and to Princess Elizabeth who asked him similar questions in 1643, is generally considered nowadays to be lacking, because it did not address what is known in the philosophy of mind as the interaction problem. This is a problem for non-physical entities as posited by dualism: by what mechanism, exactly, do they interact with physical entities, and how can they do so? Interaction with physical systems requires physical properties which a non-physical entity does not possess.
Social dualism
In sociology and economics, Social dualism is a theory developed by economist Julius Herman Boeke which characterizes a society in the economic sense by the social spirit, the organisational forms and the technique dominating it. According to Boeke, "These three aspects are interdependent and in this connection typify a society, in this way that a prevailing social spirit and the prevailing forms of organisation and of technique give the society its style, its appearance, so that in their interrelation they may be called the social system, the social style or the social atmosphere of that society ".
Duality (mathematics)
and
Vivartavada
Buddhist thinkers and teachers have expressed their views on the concept of Duality developed by the Vedic thinkers and teachers. Zen teaches that we should be free from dualities in order to be what we are meant to be, and that duality is due to ego which veils reality from its true essence (explained by Buddhists in terms of non-essence); ego, which is an artificial condition not having a true identity because it is a creation of the mind, and distorts reality in an attempt to perceive what it wants to perceive and not what it is. Taoism teaches that reality is like the un- carved block (the symbol of Tao), one must not carve the block lest "Tao" is changed. Sankara considers "Maya" as a temporary or phenomenal reality and Brahman as the Ultimate reality; and that living in "Maya" the "Jiva" (the 'ego-self') superimposes its own interpretation of reality onto reality, and thus Brahman remains hidden or concealed and "Maya" is viewed as the ultimate reality.
Dualism (politics)
In the context of the history of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, "dualism" refers to the political doctrine of Austria's and Hungary's co-equality. The phrase "during dualism" () is used in Hungarian historiography as shorthand for "during the dual monarchy."
Yin and yang
The notion of a duality can be found in many areas, such as Communities of Practice, but in this context yin and yang are better viewed as parts of an oneness that is expressed in the Tao. The term "dualistic-monism" or dialectical monism has been coined in an attempt to express this fruitful paradox of simultaneous unity and duality. Yin and yang can be thought of as complementary (rather than opposing) forces that interact to form a dynamic system in which the whole is greater than the assembled parts. According to this philosophy, everything has both yin and yang aspects (for instance, shadow cannot exist without light). Either of the two major aspects may manifest more strongly in a particular object, depending on the criterion of the observation. The yin yang (i.e. taijitu symbol) shows a balance between two opposites with a portion of the opposite element in each section.
Self-consciousness (Vedanta)
Metaphysicians regard the Self either to be distinct from the Absolute or entirely identical with the Absolute. They have given form to three schools of thought – a) the "Dualistic school", b) the "Quasi-dualistic school" and c) the "Monistic school", as the result of their varying mystical experiences. Prakrti and Atman, when treated as two separate and distinct aspects form the basis of the Dualism of the Shvetashvatara Upanishad. Quasi-dualism is reflected in the Vaishnavite-monotheism of Ramanuja and the absolute Monism, in the teachings of Adi Shankara.
Nondualism
The idea of nondualism is typically contrasted with dualism, with dualism defined as the view that the universe and the nature of existence consists of two realities, such as the God and the world, or as God and Devil, or as mind and matter, and so on.
Buddhism and Western philosophy
They promoted withholding judgment (Epoché) about facts of the world as a way to reach that goal. This is similar to the Buddha's refusal to answer certain metaphysical questions which he saw as non-conductive to the path of Buddhist practice and Nagarjuna's "relinquishing of all views (drsti)". Adrian Kuzminski argues for direct influence between these two systems of thought. In "Pyrrhonism: How the Ancient Greeks Reinvented Buddhism", Kuzminski writes: "its origin can plausibly be traced to the contacts between Pyrrho and the sages he encountered in India, where he traveled with Alexander the Great." According to Kuzminski, both philosophies argue against assenting to any dogmatic assertions about an ultimate metaphysical reality behind our sense impressions as a tactic to reach tranquility and both also make use of logical arguments against other philosophies in order to expose their contradictions.
Buddhist thought can also be compared to Classical Cynicism and Stoicism, in that all of these world views sought to develop a set of practices to reach a state of equanimity by the removal of desires and passions.
Philosophy of mind
However, unlike cartesian dualism or some other systems, experiential dualism does not posit two fundamental substances in reality: mind and matter. Rather, experiential dualism is to be understood as a conceptual framework that gives credence to the qualitative difference between the experience of mental and physical states. Experiential dualism is accepted as the conceptual framework of Madhyamaka Buddhism.
Property (philosophy)
Property dualism describes a category of positions in the philosophy of mind which hold that, although the world is constituted of just one kind of substance—the physical kind—there exist two distinct kinds of properties: physical properties and mental properties. In other words, it is the view that non-physical, mental properties (such as beliefs, desires and emotions) inhere in some physical substances (namely brains).
Dualistic cosmology
In theology, dualism can refer to the relationship between God and creation or God and the universe. This form of dualism is a belief shared in certain traditions of Christianity and Hinduism.
Atheistic existentialism
Albert Camus writes of dualisms—between happiness and sadness—as well as life and death. In "The Myth of Sisyphus", such dualism becomes paradoxical because humans greatly value their existence while at the same time being aware of their mortality. Camus believes it is human nature to have difficulty reconciling these paradoxes; and indeed, he believed humankind must accept what he called "the Absurd". On the other hand, Camus is not strictly an existential atheist because the acceptance of "the Absurd" implies neither the existence of God nor the nonexistence of God (compare agnosticism).
Free will
Cartesian dualism holds that the mind is a nonphysical substance, the seat of consciousness and intelligence, and is not identical with physical states of the brain or body. It is suggested that although the two worlds do interact, each retains some measure of autonomy. Under cartesian dualism external mind is responsible for bodily action, although unconscious brain activity is often caused by external events (for example, the instantaneous reaction to being burned). Cartesian dualism implies that the physical world is not deterministic – and in which external mind controls (at least some) physical events, providing an interpretation of incompatibilist free will. Stemming from Cartesian dualism, a formulation sometimes called "interactionalist dualism" suggests a two-way interaction, that some physical events cause some mental acts and some mental acts cause some physical events. One modern vision of the possible separation of mind and body is the "three-world" formulation of Popper. Cartesian dualism and Popper's three worlds are two forms of what is called epistemological pluralism, that is the notion that different epistemological methodologies are necessary to attain a full description of the world. Other forms of epistemological pluralist dualism include psychophysical parallelism and epiphenomenalism. Epistemological pluralism is one view in which the mind-body problem is "not" reducible to the concepts of the natural sciences.
Ethical dualism
Ethical dualism on the other hand highlights the moral dimension instead or in addition to the metaphysical one, and envisions an inherent situation of conflict between two antagonistic forces, like light and darkness, Good and Evil.
Dualistic cosmology
Dualism in cosmology is the moral or spiritual belief that two fundamental concepts exist, which often oppose each other. It is an umbrella term that covers a diversity of views from various religions, including both traditional religions and scriptural religions.
Plato's unwritten doctrines
According to the prevailing view of researchers today, although the two principles are considered elements of a finally monistic system, they also have a dualistic aspect. This is not contested by defenders of the monistic interpretation but they assert the dualistic aspect is subordinated to a totality that is monistic. Its dualistic nature remains because not only the One but also the Indefinite Dyad is treated as a fundamental principle. Giovanni Reale emphasized the role of the Dyad as a fundamental origin. He thought, however, that the concept of dualism was inappropriate and spoke of a 'bipolar structure of reality.' For him, however, these two 'poles' were not equally significant: the One 'remains hierarchically superior to the Dyad.' Heinz Happ, Marie-Dominique Richard, and Paul Wilpert argued against every derivation of the Dyad from a superior principle of unity, and consequently contended that Plato's system was dualistic. They believe that Plato's originally dualistic system was later reinterpreted as a kind of monism.
Dual process theory (moral psychology)
Dual process theory is an influential theory of human moral judgment that alleges that human beings possess emotion-based and rationally-based cognitive subsystems that compete in moral reasoning processes. Initially proposed by Joshua Greene along with Brian Sommerville, Leigh Nystrom, John Darley, Jonathan Cohen and others, the theory can be seen as a domain specific example of more general dual process accounts in psychology.
Fred Dallmayr
Dallmayr pays special attention to the intercultural-interreligious and spiritual dimensions of Panikkar's works. His nondualistic views are congenial to those of Panikkar, who expresses nondualism in using the Indian notion of Advaita and who sees our age “as capable to moving beyond the ‘Western dilemma’ of monism/dualism or immanence/transcendence.” Dallmayr, being critical of both an agnostic immanentism lacking spirituality and a radical transcendentalism indifferent to social-ethical problems, sees in Panikkar’s holism a third possibility, pointing to the potential overcoming of the “transcendence-immanence” conundrum.
Tantra
The Tantra-Agama texts of Hinduism present a diverse range of philosophies, ranging from theistic dualism to absolute monism. This diversity of views was acknowledged in Chapter 36 of Tantraloka, the 10th century scholar Abhinavagupta. In Shaivism alone, there are ten dualistic (dvaita) Agama texts, eighteen qualified monism-cum-dualism (bhedabheda) Agama texts, and sixty four monism (advaita) Agama texts. The Bhairava Shastras are monistic Tantra texts, while Shiva Shastras are dualistic.
Ethical dualism
Zoroastrianism and its doctrine of ethical dualism influenced the Jews and their thinking, as there is general agreement among scholars that the Jewish apocalypticism presents traits of dualism.
Nondualism
Apophatic theology is derived from Neo-Platonism via Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. In this approach, the notion of God is stripped from all positive qualifications, leaving a "darkness" or "unground." It had a strong influence on western mysticism. A notable example is Meister Eckhart, who also attracted attention from Zen-Buddhists like D.T. Suzuki in modern times, due to the similarities between Buddhist thought and Neo-Platonism.
Dualism (Indian philosophy)
During the classical era of Buddhist philosophy in India, philosophers such as Dharmakirti argued for a dualism between states of consciousness and Buddhist atoms (the basic building blocks that make up reality), according to the "standard interpretation" of Dharmakirti's Buddhist metaphysics.
Nondualism
A modern strand of thought sees "nondual consciousness" as a universal psychological state, which is a common stratum and of the same essence in different spiritual traditions. It is derived from Neo-Vedanta and neo-Advaita, but has historical roots in neo-Platonism, Western esotericism, and Perennialism. The idea of nondual consciousness as "the central essence" is a universalistic and perennialist idea, which is part of a modern mutual exchange and synthesis of ideas between western spiritual and esoteric traditions and Asian religious revival and reform movements.
Philosophy of religion
World Religions put forth various theories which affirm life after death and different kinds of postmortem existence. This is often tied to belief in an immortal individual soul or self (Sanskrit: atman) separate from the body which survives death, as defended by Plato, Descartes, Monotheistic religions like Christianity and many Indian philosophers. This view is also a position on the mind body problem, mainly, dualism. This view then must show not only that dualism is true and that souls exist, but also that souls survive death. As Kant famously argued, the mere existence of a soul does not prove its immortality, for one could conceive that a soul, even if it is totally simple, could still fade away or lose its intensity. H.H. Price is one modern philosopher who has speculated at length about what it would be like to be a disembodied soul after death.
Mind–body dualism
In addition to already discussed theories of dualism (particularly the Christian and Cartesian models) there are new theories in the defense of dualism. Naturalistic dualism comes from Australian philosopher, David Chalmers (born 1966) who argues there is an explanatory gap between objective and subjective experience that cannot be bridged by reductionism because consciousness is, at least, logically autonomous of the physical properties upon which it supervenes. According to Chalmers, a naturalistic account of property dualism requires a new fundamental category of properties described by new laws of supervenience; the challenge being analogous to that of understanding electricity based on the mechanistic and Newtonian models of materialism prior to Maxwell's equations.
Mind
Understanding the relationship between the brain and the mind – mind–body problem is one of the central issues in the history of philosophy – is a challenging problem both philosophically and scientifically. There are three major philosophical schools of thought concerning the answer: dualism, materialism, and idealism. Dualism holds that the mind exists independently of the brain; materialism holds that mental phenomena are identical to neuronal phenomena; and idealism holds that only mental phenomena exist.
Dual economy
Dual economies are common in less developed countries, where one sector is geared to local needs and another to the global export market. Dual economies may exist within the same sector, for example a modern plantation or other commercial agricultural entity operating in the midst of traditional cropping systems. Sir Arthur Lewis used the concept of a dualistic economy as the basis of his labour supply theory of rural-urban migration. Lewis distinguished between a rural low-income subsistence sector with surplus population, and an expanding urban capitalist sector (see Dual-sector model). The urban economy absorbed labour from rural areas (holding down urban wages) until the rural surplus was exhausted.
List of dualities
In mathematics, a duality, generally speaking, translates concepts, theorems or mathematical structures into other concepts, theorems or structures, in a one-to-one fashion, often (but not always) by means of an involution operation: if the dual of "A" is "B", then the dual of "B" is "A".
Yasuo Yuasa
Yuasa looks at Descartes' dualism, and the contrasting philosophies of idealism with focus on the mind (spirit) and materialism with focus on the body (matter), and re-evaluates them in the light of Eastern non-dualistic thinking. True to Eastern tradition, he emphasizes that there exists no clear distinction between body and mind. While this is mainly an Eastern point of view, Yuasa acknowledged that similar thoughts have been expressed also by some Western thinkers, for example Merleau-Ponty. Yasuo goes further than existing philosophical tradition in postulating that the unity of body and mind is not a natural state or innate relationship, but rather a state to be achieved. He points out the crucial role of self-cultivation for achieving such 'oneness of body–mind'.
Black-and-white dualism
Day, Light, and Good are often linked together, in opposition to night, darkness, and evil. These contrasting metaphors may go back as far as human history, and appear in many cultures, including both the ancient Chinese and the ancient Persians. The philosophy of neoplatonism is strongly imbued with the metaphor of goodness as light.
Nondualism
The "New Age movement" is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational psychology, holistic health, parapsychology, consciousness research and quantum physics".
The New Age aims to create "a spirituality without borders or confining dogmas" that is inclusive and pluralistic. It holds to "a holistic worldview", emphasising that the Mind, Body and Spirit are interrelated and that there is a form of monism and unity throughout the universe. It attempts to create "a worldview that includes both science and spirituality" and embraces a number of forms of mainstream science as well as other forms of science that are considered fringe.
Metaphysics
Substance dualism is a classical theory in which mind and body are essentially different, with the mind having some of the attributes traditionally assigned to the soul, and which creates an immediate conceptual puzzle about how the two interact. Idealism postulates that material objects do not exist unless perceived and only as perceptions. Panpsychism and panexperientialism, are property dualist theories in which everything "has" or "is" a mind rather than everything exists "in" a mind. Neutral monism postulates that existence consists of a single substance that in itself is neither mental nor physical, but is capable of mental and physical aspects or attributesthus it implies a dual-aspect theory. For the last century, the dominant theories have been science-inspired including materialistic monism, Type identity theory, token identity theory, functionalism, reductive physicalism, nonreductive physicalism, eliminative materialism, anomalous monism, property dualism, epiphenomenalism and emergence.
Nondualism
Taoism's "wu wei" (Chinese "wu", not; "wei", doing) is a term with various translations and interpretations designed to distinguish it from passivity. The concept of Yin and Yang, often mistakenly conceived of as a symbol of dualism, is actually meant to convey the notion that all apparent opposites are complementary parts of a non-dual whole.
Mortimer J. Adler
Adler was a self-proclaimed "moderate dualist", and viewed the positions of psychophysical dualism and materialistic monism to be opposite sides of two extremes. Regarding dualism, he dismissed the extreme form of dualism that stemmed from such philosophers as Plato (body and soul) and Descartes (mind and matter), as well as the theory of extreme monism and the mind–brain identity theory. After eliminating the extremes, Adler subscribed to a more moderate form of dualism. He believed that the brain is only a necessary, but not a sufficient, condition for conceptual thought; that an "immaterial intellect" is also requisite as a condition; and that the difference between human and animal behavior is a radical difference in kind. Adler defended this position against many challenges to dualistic theories.
Dualistic cosmology
Alternatively, "dualism" can mean the tendency of humans to perceive and understand the world as being divided into two overarching categories. In this sense, it is dualistic when one perceives a tree as a thing separate from everything surrounding it. This form of ontological dualism exists in Taoism and Confucianism, beliefs that divide the universe into the complementary oppositions of yin and yang. In traditions such as classical Hinduism, Zen Buddhism or Islamic Sufism, a key to enlightenment is "transcending" this sort of dualistic thinking, without merely substituting dualism with monism or pluralism.
History of France
Amidst this turmoil, René Descartes sought answers to philosophical questions through the use of logic and reason and formulated what would be called Cartesian Dualism in 1641.
List of philosophies
Danish philosophy -
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Dualistic cosmology -
Dvaita
Nondualism
The Asian idea of nondualism developed in the Vedic and post-Vedic Hindu philosophies, as well as in the Buddhist traditions. The oldest traces of nondualism in Indian thought are found as "Advaita" in the earlier Hindu Upanishads such as Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, as well as other pre-Buddhist Upanishads such as the Chandogya Upanishad, which emphasizes the unity of individual soul called Atman and the Supreme called Brahman. In Hinduism, nondualism has more commonly become associated with the Advaita Vedanta tradition of Adi Shankara.
Philosophy of mind
The most frequently used argument in favor of dualism appeals to the common-sense intuition that conscious experience is distinct from inanimate matter. If asked what the mind is, the average person would usually respond by identifying it with their self, their personality, their soul, or some other such entity. They would almost certainly deny that the mind simply is the brain, or vice versa, finding the idea that there is just one ontological entity at play to be too mechanistic, or simply unintelligible. Many modern philosophers of mind think that these intuitions are misleading and that we should use our critical faculties, along with empirical evidence from the sciences, to examine these assumptions to determine whether there is any real basis to them.
Wiccan views of divinity
Wiccan theology largely revolves around ontological dualism. Ontological dualism is traditionally a sacred gender polarity between the complementary polar opposites of male and female, who are regarded as divine lovers. This kind of dualism is common to various religions; for example, Taoism, where it is represented through yin and yang, and Hinduism, where the lingam and the yoni are symbols of the sacred sexual union of a supreme god and goddess (often Shiva and Shakti). Ontological dualism is distinct from moral dualism in that moral dualism posits a supreme force of good and a supreme force of evil. There is no supreme force of evil in Wicca.
Quietism (philosophy)
Contemporary discussion of quietism can be traced back to Ludwig Wittgenstein, whose work greatly influenced the Ordinary Language philosophers. One of the early 'ordinary language' works, Gilbert Ryle's "The Concept of Mind", attempted to demonstrate that dualism arises from a failure to appreciate that mental vocabulary and physical vocabulary are simply different ways of describing one and the same thing, namely human behaviour. J. L. Austin's "Sense and Sensibilia" took a similar approach to the problems of skepticism and the reliability of sense perception, arguing that they arise only by misconstruing ordinary language, not because there is anything genuinely wrong with empirical evidence. Norman Malcolm, a friend of Wittgenstein's, took a quietist approach to skeptical problems in the philosophy of mind. More recently, the philosophers John McDowell and Richard Rorty have taken explicitly quietist positions.
Spiritualism (philosophy)
In philosophy, spiritualism is the notion, shared by a wide variety of systems of thought, that there is an immaterial reality that cannot be perceived by the senses. This includes philosophies that postulate a personal God, the immortality of the soul, or the immortality of the intellect or will, as well as any systems of thought that assume a universal mind or cosmic forces lying beyond the reach of purely materialistic interpretations. Generally, any philosophical position, be it dualism, monism, atheism, theism, pantheism, idealism or any other, is compatible with spiritualism as long as it allows for a reality beyond matter. Theism is an example of a dualist spiritualist philosophy, while pantheism is an example of monist spiritualism.
Ethical dualism
One of the most known and clear-cut interpretations of ethical dualism is the one conceptualized by Zoroastrianism, the ancient Persian religion, which bases its thought on the figure of the prophet Zoroaster (or Zarathustra), who claimed the existence of two original and contrasting principles, Ahura Mazda and Ahriman, respectively representing the forces of Good and Evil. The world is therefore identified as the battleground between these two contrasting entities, also associated with light and darkness.
Phaedo
The "Phaedo" has come to be considered a seminal formulation, from which "a whole range of dualities, which have become deeply ingrained in Western philosophy, theology, and psychology over two millennia, received their classic formulation: soul and body, mind and matter, intellect and sense, reason and emotion, reality and appearance, unity and plurality, perfection and imperfection, immortal and mortal, permanence and change, eternal and temporal, divine and human, heaven and earth."
Mind–body problem
In religious philosophy of Eastern monotheism, dualism denotes a binary opposition of an idea that contains two essential parts. The first formal concept of a "mind-body" split may be found in the ""divinity - secularity"" dualism of the ancient Persian religion of Zoroastrianism around the mid-fifth century BC. Gnosticism is a modern name for a variety of ancient dualistic ideas inspired by Judaism popular in the first and second century AD. These ideas later seem to have been incorporated into Galen's ""tripartite soul"" that led into both the Christian sentiments expressed in the later Augustinian theodicy and Avicenna’s Platonism in Islamic Philosophy.
Kabbalah
Although Kabbalah propounds the Unity of God, one of the most serious and sustained criticisms is that it may lead away from monotheism, and instead promote dualism, the belief that there is a supernatural counterpart to God. The dualistic system holds that there is a good power versus an evil power. There are two primary models of Gnostic-dualistic cosmology: the first, which goes back to Zoroastrianism, believes creation is ontologically divided between good and evil forces; the second, found largely in Greco-Roman metaphysics like Neo-Platonism, argues that the universe knew a primordial harmony, but that a cosmic disruption yielded a second, evil dimension to reality. This second model influenced the cosmology of the Kabbalah.
Ancient philosophy
The six schools of Indian philosophy are:
See also: "Dualism, Dualism (philosophy of mind)"
Western philosophy
The most notable work of this German idealism was G.W.F. Hegel's "Phenomenology of Spirit", of 1807. Hegel admitted his ideas were not new, but that all the previous philosophies had been incomplete. His goal was to correctly finish their job. Hegel asserts that the twin aims of philosophy are to account for the contradictions apparent in human experience (which arise, for instance, out of the supposed contradictions between "being" and "not being"), and also simultaneously to resolve and preserve these contradictions by showing their compatibility at a higher level of examination ("being" and "not being" are resolved with "becoming"). This program of acceptance and reconciliation of contradictions is known as the "Hegelian dialectic".
Materialism
Materialism typically contrasts with dualism, phenomenalism, idealism, vitalism, and dual-aspect monism. Its materiality can, in some ways, be linked to the concept of determinism, as espoused by Enlightenment thinkers.
Philosophy of mind
If consciousness (the mind) can exist independently of physical reality (the brain), one must explain how physical memories are created concerning consciousness. Dualism must therefore explain how consciousness affects physical reality. One possible explanation is that of a miracle, proposed by Arnold Geulincx and Nicolas Malebranche, where all mind–body interactions require the direct intervention of God.
Thinking about Consciousness
Not to be confused with property dualism, or ontological dualism, conceptual dualism suggests that we have two different ways of thinking about the properties of a single substance. The distinctness between these different kinds of concepts is what causes the 'intuition of distinctness,' which Papineau suggests is responsible for dualism, and why it is such an attractive hypothesis.
French philosophy
The Duration can only be grasped through intuition, the sympathy by which one is transported into an object to grasp what is unique and ineffable within it. Intuition is a complete philosophical method that involves placing oneself within the Duration, and expanding it into a continuous heterogeneity, differentiating the extremities within it to create a dualism, before showing them to in fact be one. An example of this is Duration itself, which is neither a multiplicity or a unity. But depending on which point of view one recreates it from, one will either reconstruct it as a unity or a multiplicity. Hence substance pluralism and substance monism are in fact two representations of the same phenomenon.
Nondualism
According to Espín and Nickoloff, "nondualism" is the thought in some Hindu, Buddhist and Taoist schools, which
According to Jeff Foster,
Jeff Foster further explains
David Loy, who sees non-duality between subject and object as a common thread in Taoism, Mahayana Buddhism, and Advaita Vedanta, distinguishes "Five Flavors Of Nonduality":
Dialectical monism
As a monism, dialectical monism is opposed to traditional dualism despite its emphasis on "twoness." In dialectical monism, the appearance of duality is seen as arising from the mind's need to impose divisions and boundaries upon an essentially unified whole. Thus, for the dialectical monist, reality is ultimately one but can only be "experienced" in terms of division.
Animal consciousness
The mind–body problem in philosophy examines the relationship between mind and matter, and in particular the relationship between consciousness and the brain. A variety of approaches have been proposed. Most are either dualist or monist. Dualism maintains a rigid distinction between the realms of mind and matter. Monism maintains that there is only one kind of stuff, and that mind and matter are both aspects of it. The problem was addressed by pre-Aristotelian philosophers, and was famously addressed by René Descartes in the 17th century, resulting in Cartesian dualism. Descartes believed that humans only, and not other animals have this non-physical mind.
Dualistic cosmology
For example, Mazdaism (Mazdean Zoroastrianism) is both dualistic and monotheistic (but not monist by definition) since in that philosophy God—the Creator—is purely good, and the antithesis—which is also uncreated–is an absolute one. Zurvanism (Zurvanite Zoroastrianism), Manichaeism, and Mandaeism are representative of dualistic "and" monist philosophies since each has a supreme and transcendental First Principle from which the two equal-but-opposite entities then emanate. This is also true for the lesser-known Christian gnostic religions, such as Bogomils, Catharism, and so on. More complex forms of monist dualism also exist, for instance in Hermeticism, where "Nous" "thought"—that is described to have created man—brings forth both good and evil, dependent on interpretation, whether it receives prompting from the God or from the Demon. Duality with pluralism is considered a logical fallacy.
Substance theory
"Substance" is a key concept in ontology and metaphysics, which may be classified into monist, dualist, or pluralist varieties according to how many substances or individuals are said to populate, furnish, or exist in the world. According to monistic views, there is only one substance. Stoicism and Spinoza, for example, hold monistic views, that pneuma or God, respectively, is the one substance in the world. These modes of thinking are sometimes associated with the idea of immanence. Dualism sees the world as being composed of two fundamental substances, for example, the Cartesian substance dualism of mind and matter. Pluralist philosophies include Plato's Theory of Forms and Aristotle's hylomorphic categories.