The mind and body have been studied throughout time both in conjunction and individually. Ancient philosophies such as Plato’s (Silverman, 2013) viewed the body as temporary where as the mind was from another world therefore being able to transport. This means that the two were only united until the death or decay of the body and because the mind was from another world, it was the only thing capable of viewing universal truths. These philosophies are still being represented in 20th century literature. However, thanks to the development of both society and technology these ancient philosophies are being challenged in the way that more recent works of literature are viewing the body as either equally or even more powerful than the mind.
The Body by Hanif Kureishi is a prime example of the mind overpowering the body. In this novel we have Adam an old man who is realizing he has reached an age where his body is beginning to fail his mind. He is becoming unable to do the things he used to (like perform sexually) yet his mind continues to wonder and explore allowing him to be somewhat at ease with his current situation. When he is introduced to the idea early on in the story of being able to chose a new “better performing” body while still keeping his mind; Adam is at first very intrigued and sees this technological advancement as an opportunity to continue his career as a writer. Although he is a pretty independent character, he still asks his wife for permission to leave except he does not give her a specific reason why; this suggests that his morality is in a good place because he wants to make sure his wife knows he plans on returning meaning this body switch is meant to be a temporary escape to complete the things his mind wanted to before death. After Adam is in this “newbody” his mind is completely unaltered. This is where Plato’s philosophy is accepted. This transplanting shows that the mind is powerful enough to stay intact while the body once dead just decays. Throughout the rest of the novel Adam continues to keep his initial personality and morality to drive his actions in this new body. Even after a few years of going as Leo (the name of the body he was in control of) he had reached his limit of new experiences and soon realizes he is ready to face death. This self acceptance shows how powerful the mind is because even after all the countless hookups and world adventures, Adam still planed on completing his promise to his wife of returning and his body was nothing but a material possession to him. Adam remains conscious of both his past and his new reality showing that the mind can and is capable of knowing universal truths. Adam realizes one of these truths the moment that he is put in danger due to the “value and perfection” of his new body. When he is hunted for by an elite group, Adam realizes that those with power are the ones who try to make the body as powerful as the mind but fail because no matter how many body transplants are performed, the mind of these people will always remain corrupt and envious of these …show more content…
This novel takes place during the fear of the nuclear war, and this nuclear fear was the cause of Jon Osterman’s (Dr. Manhattan) transformation from a human body to the body of something never seen. This nuclear explosion transformed him so much physically he had the power to transport and do many other unbelievable things as well. Throughout the novel Dr. Manhattan’s biggest struggle is his want and desire to relate with humanity once again to be seen as just a …show more content…
Artificl Intellegence as seen through the movie is the ability to have a man made wiring and programing of a “robot” (in this case Ava) that acts and reacts the same way any human would. According to Saul McLeod (McLeod, 2007), this kind of testing has begun on this area as a way to hopefully prove that human minds are “wired” to the body therefore a body is more powerful than the
The Body by Hanif Kureishi is a prime example of the mind overpowering the body. In this novel we have Adam an old man who is realizing he has reached an age where his body is beginning to fail his mind. He is becoming unable to do the things he used to (like perform sexually) yet his mind continues to wonder and explore allowing him to be somewhat at ease with his current situation. When he is introduced to the idea early on in the story of being able to chose a new “better performing” body while still keeping his mind; Adam is at first very intrigued and sees this technological advancement as an opportunity to continue his career as a writer. Although he is a pretty independent character, he still asks his wife for permission to leave except he does not give her a specific reason why; this suggests that his morality is in a good place because he wants to make sure his wife knows he plans on returning meaning this body switch is meant to be a temporary escape to complete the things his mind wanted to before death. After Adam is in this “newbody” his mind is completely unaltered. This is where Plato’s philosophy is accepted. This transplanting shows that the mind is powerful enough to stay intact while the body once dead just decays. Throughout the rest of the novel Adam continues to keep his initial personality and morality to drive his actions in this new body. Even after a few years of going as Leo (the name of the body he was in control of) he had reached his limit of new experiences and soon realizes he is ready to face death. This self acceptance shows how powerful the mind is because even after all the countless hookups and world adventures, Adam still planed on completing his promise to his wife of returning and his body was nothing but a material possession to him. Adam remains conscious of both his past and his new reality showing that the mind can and is capable of knowing universal truths. Adam realizes one of these truths the moment that he is put in danger due to the “value and perfection” of his new body. When he is hunted for by an elite group, Adam realizes that those with power are the ones who try to make the body as powerful as the mind but fail because no matter how many body transplants are performed, the mind of these people will always remain corrupt and envious of these …show more content…
This novel takes place during the fear of the nuclear war, and this nuclear fear was the cause of Jon Osterman’s (Dr. Manhattan) transformation from a human body to the body of something never seen. This nuclear explosion transformed him so much physically he had the power to transport and do many other unbelievable things as well. Throughout the novel Dr. Manhattan’s biggest struggle is his want and desire to relate with humanity once again to be seen as just a …show more content…
Artificl Intellegence as seen through the movie is the ability to have a man made wiring and programing of a “robot” (in this case Ava) that acts and reacts the same way any human would. According to Saul McLeod (McLeod, 2007), this kind of testing has begun on this area as a way to hopefully prove that human minds are “wired” to the body therefore a body is more powerful than the