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Dualism
The term (derived from the Latin word duo) refers to a philosophical position that assumes that there is a nonmaterial or spiritual reality over and beyond the physical reality. Therefore, our beings are not only composed of a body. There are different types of dualism. The mind-body dualism assumes that the body and mind are separate although interacting entities. This concept originated with Rene Descartes (1596–1650), a French mathematician and philosopher. He popularized the concept of reality as dichotomized into matter, or spatial substance, and spirit, or thinking substance, that includes God. The material substance is physical, and it is assumed to be the basis of the empirical world (i.e., what we see, hear, or sense). The spiritual substance is the nonmaterial world that forms ...