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Analysis Of Descartes Mind-Body Problems

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What is the Mind-Body Problem? How did Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia characterize this problem for Descartes’ Meditations? How did Descartes respond to her questions? How does he explain the relationship between the mind and the body? What views do we see from Malbranche, Spinoza and Leibniz?
The Mind-Body Problem is that the mind and body are not the same and they are two different substances. It is like the mind and body’s involvement exists in separate mental and physical realms. Descartes argued that the body is something that exists in the physical realm, where the mind is nonphysical and it is in the mental realm. He mentioned that the body works through senses while the mind functions by reasoning and thinking because reason cannot …show more content…
Nicolas Malebranche explained the problem of Mind-Body in Occasionalism. In Occasionalism God is the only causal agent and the creatures provide the occasion for the divine action. This was the view that God is the only agent of cause. Humans and other creatures would provide the occasion for divine action. While Baruch Spinoza addressed the problem of Mind-Body in God or Nature that God is the infinity and he does exist, and he is the only substance of the universe and the rest is from God. He argued that our mind is God and our body is the physical action of God. He mentioned in The Human Being that from many aspects of God, we only have two that are mind and body and our physical and mental events are the two aspects of God that we have access to. On the other hand, Leibniz addresses the problem of Mind-Body in the Matter and Thought and Denial of Mind-Body Interaction, Assertion of Preestablished Harmony. There he explains the union of soul and body which is, the soul is a created substance where the body is a composite of created substances. He explains the excellence of human minds and that God considers them preferable to other creatures. That is because minds express God rather than the world, but that the other substances express the world rather than …show more content…
Just the arguments: 100 of the most important arguments in Western philosophy. Chichester, West Sussex, U.K.: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011.

Descartes, René, and Desmond M. Clarke. Meditations and other metaphysical writings. London: Penguin, 2003

Kulstad, Mark, and Laurence Carlin. "Leibniz's Philosophy of Mind." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2013. Accessed November 06, 2017. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/leibniz-mind/.

Morris, William Edward, and Charlotte R. Brown. "David Hume." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2014. Accessed November 06, 2017. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hume/.

Nadler, Steven. "Baruch Spinoza." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2016. Accessed November 05, 2017. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/spinoza/.

Schmaltz, Tad. "Nicolas Malebranche." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2013. Accessed November 05, 2017.

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