What Is The Difference Between Rene Descartes Mind And Body

Descartes thinks that the mind is better known than the body. However I do not believe that is accurate, I believe this because Descartes seems to make a mistake in regards to how the mind and the body are perceived. He thinks that they are distinctly different, and that the mind is better known. This is a false assumption that will be explored throughout the duration of this paper. Descartes famously defended the Cartesian dualist view. This view being that the mind and body are separate. They are separate in terms of substance, because they share no property with one another. Descartes first proposed the idea of doubting existence. He touched on the idea that he could doubt that his physical experiences, that his body was really there. But …show more content…
Whereas the mind is always thinking and therefore cannot be a trick. This comes from his mantra “I think therefore I am.” He believes that since the mind and body share no properties with one another they are completely different substances. One of the examples he puts forward is the notion that the body is divisible, while the mind is not. This notion can work in terms of physical objects and even one’s own body. But what if one’s brain were to be damaged. There is a multitude of neurological evidence which supports how the brain is the center in which Descartes calls the “mind.” Things like biological reactions and electrical signals in the brain when a person feels emotion or pain, etc. Building on to this idea, Descartes believes that the mind is not divisible, however, there are instances of mental trauma which can cause a person to regress mentally. This can imply that a person does not have a complete mental state. This can be said about any mental illness, they impede the ability of the individual’s mental process. These illnesses also have biological factors which can be empirically measured. Therefore there must be a correlation between the mind and the body, as one effect on the body seems to be causing additional effects on the mind. There are conceivable instances of the mind and body being separate, but that does not always mean everything conceivable can …show more content…
Unfortunately there are too many unknowns in regards to the argument. The mind and body are classified as different things, due to the fact that they have different properties. But thinking about the mind and body can be a subjective process. What you think about a particular thing is not an actual property of that thing. It is something you are subjectively determining. With that in mind each individuals view on dualism differs slightly, as the properties are often determined subjectively. Essentially Descartes says that he can doubt that his body exists, this comes from his distrust of senses and perception. Whereas he can’t doubt his mind due to the fact that he is always a thinking thing. But whether or not he can doubt his body and or mind is all dependent on him. There may be another person who does not doubt their body or their