Substance Dualism In Descartes The Talk

Improved Essays
Substance Dualism is the view that the brain and body are particular. It pictures the world as comprising of two autonomous areas, the mental and the material, each with its own unmistakable characterizing properties. We have clear and particular mindfulness that the body is physical consequently it is spatially transitory and produced using particles which take after physical laws. It has measurements, mass, surface and so on.
We likewise have clear and particular mindfulness that the brain is non-physical subsequently isn't produced using particles or takes after physical laws. The pith of the body is to be broadened while the embodiment of the brain is to think. The mind is consistently particular and an autonomous element to the body.
…show more content…
He defines the body as an extended thing and not a thing that thinks (Descartes, p. 176). This property must be there as it has a place with this embodiment. On the off chance that reasoning stops, then he doesn't exist, a contention which he tries to demonstrate in his initial works in The Talk. He has a reasonable comprehension of what thought is. This permits him conceivably to be non-stretched out as spatial transience isn't basic to him. He likewise has an unmistakable thought of the body, see that it is just a broadened and negligent thing. On the off chance that we consider a protest, we understand that its essential broadened and its quintessence isn't considering. For instance, the embodiment of a stone is to be stretched out not to be a reasoning thing. It is difficult to fathom a stone considering and in the event that we would it be able to be certainly not a pith of the …show more content…
Descartes utilizes the word conceivable as in it is intelligently applied in this way not self-conflicting that he can exist without his body. This is on the grounds that it is conceivable to imagine something being broadened and non-considering. Likewise, it is conceivable to imagine something being non-broadened and being a reasoning thing. For instance, we can imagine my mind considering yet having no spatial fleetingness. God can make a world where whatever is possible is magically conceivable in light of the fact that everything which I catch plainly and unmistakably can be made by God. Subsequently, anything possible turns into a real truth. For instance, God cannot make a square circle as it isn't powerfully conceivable. However, God can make me, a reasoning thing, unmistakable from my expanded body since they might be made to exist in the division in any event by the supremacy of God. Subsequently, it is conceivable that my mind can exist without my body bringing about having a body not being essential to me.
Through neuroscience research, it is possible to see that Descartes immaterial explanation of thinking being the essence of the mind is a lot simpler than getting a brain dependent theory. Every substance is thought to have its own laws and its own scope of properties; thus research on the cerebrum wouldn't yield any information about the brain. As the conceivable

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    His initial premise, doubting reality, follows the process of thinking regarding the mind's perception of its environment. The body and mind are separate in Descartes' understanding. Though they work in tandem, human experience is dependent on the mind. The body is merely a vessel for the mind, and its senses cannot be trusted to determine reality. The mind, then, is what must be examined to determine the scope of reality.…

    • 1051 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The conceivability argument is based on the premise that the mind is a thinking thing, while the body is not. The argument claims that (1) it’s conceivable for me to exist without having a body, (2) whatever is conceivable is possible, (3) thus, it is possible for me to exist and not have a body, (4) if it is possible for me to exist without having a body, then having a body is not essential to me. Plato believed that the mind was immortal and was what continued to live on after the death of the body. Descartes believed the same, even going as far as saying that the mind can continue as a disembodied existence. Some would object to Descartes’ argument stating that while it is valid, it may not be sound.…

    • 1328 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Descartes does not take into consideration what happens when the brain is damaged, under the influence of drugs and alcohol or affected by mental health. If minds and bodies were really distinct, then the mental substance would not be compromised and not be affected by each other. In my opinion, this is the strongest argument against substance dualism as it addresses the problem that in order for the mind and body to actually be separate, these influences would have no impact on the…

    • 915 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Dualism vs Materialism The mind/body problem, the question of what is the relationship between the mind and the body, is commonly seen as a key issue in the philosophy of the mind (Sober, 2013, p. 204). The two categories of views discussed in Sober’s ‘Core Questions in Philosophy’ that attempt to resolve the mind/body problem are dualism and materialism. Dualism is the theory that the mind and the brain are two fundamentally different substances (Sober, 2013, p. 204). Conversely, materialism says that matter is the one and only fundamental substance in nature, and the notion that mental phenomena are a result of physical interactions follows (Sober, 2013, p. 204).…

    • 985 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I argue that substance dualism is true. Substance dualism claims that people and bodies are distinct. People, such as you and I, are nonphysical beings. We are connected human bodies, but we are not bodies. The reason is that (1) If we can exist without bodies, then we cannot be bodies.…

    • 1137 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Descartes is used his ability to think to ponder the possibilities. If the mind is indeed affiliated with the functioning of the body, then it is plausible for the mind to exist without the body. So to be able to know what is possible here, we first need some self- inflicted excuse to think that the mind is something totally from the body, such as the argument from indivisibility. Even at that point in our reasoning, it’s extremely important that we are still cautious, thus using what we can conceive of as a test of…

    • 706 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    They are unable to provide enough examples as to how the mind interacts with the body to create movement, or having to force oneself to stay awake even though the body is beginning to fall asleep. For Descartes he came up with the idea that the communication happens in the pineal gland of the brain, but his explanation was vague and he did not go into many details, allowing it to simply be an unsolved mystery. Descartes strong belief in dualism would cause him to have an objection to the materialistic views, he might argue that materialistic views could not occur because the mind can exist without the body, and the body without the mind. Gilbert Ryle was a philosopher who argued against Descartes with “the dogma of the ghost in the machine”, stating that the mind-body dualism was confusing the separate entities as being compatible. Descartes argument could be flawed because of the movement of the body, as to be able to cause movement the mind has to think about it and communicate to the body to produce that movement in the…

    • 1186 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    It can also be cognizant of bodily things, such as seeing, hearing, and feeling. Although he can do all of these things, Descartes decides they are only true when he is awake, and false when he is asleep. Sensing and thinking are one and the same. He finds it odd that bodily things are more distinctly known than the “I”, even though he knows he exists. Descartes realizes what is happening, and lets his mind “wander” and doesn’t confine it to limits.…

    • 1180 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    On the other hand, the counter-argument can be taken to the extreme in terms of George Berkeley’s subjective idealism theory. Berkeley was a monist, so he thought that there are no material objects whatsoever, only the minds that perceive it. It does make sense, since Descartes does not provide sufficient evidence how an immaterial substance interacts with a material one (how minds interact with bodies). Conceptualize the material world as existing within the mind of the immaterial being.…

    • 1240 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Substance dualism is a philosophical position that claims that two kinds of substances constitute reality: mental substances (for example, minds) and physical substances (for example, tables). Philosophers use the word “substance” to denote a fundamental aspect of reality that cannot be broken down further. In other words, substance dualism claims there are two fundamental aspects of reality that are irreducible. Philosophers have argued for the truth of substance dualism in several ways. One type of argument claims that there is a gap between understanding the mind and the brain; these are called explanatory gap arguments.…

    • 1112 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Cartesian Dualism, a theory coined by Rene Descartes and examined within his sixth mediation of Meditations of First Philosophy, explains and theorizes the idea of the mind and body as two distinct substances. The theory states that the mind is not merely a physical brain as another organ of the body, but rather the non-materialistic mind and material body are two different entities. The body, having elements of extension have a reality with spatial relevance as it entails form, texture, location and weight. In comparison, the mind has non-spatial components that consist of humans’ realm of thought as it includes consciousness, images, emotions beliefs and desires. Cartesian Dualism presents many simple and seemingly rational arguments such…

    • 1950 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    The argument in Descartes’ Sixth Meditation for the real distinction between the mind and the body ultimately secures his dualist position. Despite his argument appearing to make some mildly questionable leaps and seemingly ignore one potentially devastating point altogether, his position is clear and strong. I will begin by reconstructing Descartes’ argument, cover the grievances listed above, and then hope to argue that, despite these objections, Descartes’ position remains a sound metaphysical view. In the Sixth Meditation, Descartes begins by declaring that, firstly, all things one can clearly and distinctly perceive can be created by God, and secondly, if one can clearly and distinctly perceive one thing without calling to mind another,…

    • 1415 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In contrast, dualist theorists, such as Plato and Descartes, hold that man is composed of two utterly distinct substances. In dualism, the mind and the body are not only different but they exist separately of each other. They are “as different and distinct as the…

    • 961 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Meditation 6, we learn that Descartes comes to the conclusion that the mind and body are two separate entities. His belief is that through the idea that mind and body are separate entities, without the other, one can still exist. He comes to this conclusion by arguing that the mind, a non-extended thinking thing, is an entirely different being than the body, an extended thinking thing, is. He believes that the mind and soul are united to the body but still can be separated from each other and still exist.…

    • 499 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    However, upon a closer and more rigorous examination, it is revealed that this argument is not as unsubstantiated as it seems to be. In order to understand how Descartes justifies his assertion, the concept of “clear and distinct idea” needs to be understood. Descartes’ “clear and distinct idea” involves the argument that an idea becomes clear when sharp intellectual perception is applied to it, similar to how a physical object becomes visually clear when sharp visual perception is applied to the physical object. Furthermore, the idea is distinct if it is not only clear but also excludes all other ideas that does not belong to it (Skirry). Thus, Descartes argued that the body is distinct from the mind because, after applying acute intellectual perception, Descartes perceived that the idea of the mind excludes the idea of body and the idea of the body excludes the idea of the mind therefore the mind is separate and different from the body (Skirry).…

    • 1742 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays