René Descartes

1. Compare and contrast the views of John Searle and Rene Descartes on dualism.is composed of two substances: mind and body. One is physical and one is non-phyical. Rene Descartes views on dualism are known as substance and simple dualism. He believed that reality was composed of two substances, one being the mind which consists of inmaterial thing such as thoughts and emotions. Then the Bosy which existered in the material space. However, John Searle’s views on dualism where known as…

To live in a static state of mind is to restrict the joy one may find in life. Oliver Sacks, Maggie Nelson, and Robert Thurman all suggest that one’s perception of the world, as well as the flexibility of their state of mind, directly correlates with how they exist within it. Specifically, Thurman’s work “Wisdom” claims that it is necessary for one to abandon the idea of having a fixed and strict self but rather open up one’s mind to become a flexible thinker, allowing one to create human…

conscious mind works. I will argue that there is no pragmatic paradox with the idea of time as the current model of physics proves time does not flow; however, there is a pragmatic paradox with the statement “I do not exist”, as I will prove using Descartes’ cogito. First, I will discuss the meaning of a pragmatic paradox, particularly using the definitions provided by Sorenson. However, before I define a pragmatic paradox, let’s recall the definition of a logical paradox to contrast it…

While those who believe that activities that are attributed to the mind, are just activities of the body are called materialist. Dualist believe that the Mind and the body are two separate entities. According to Rene Descartes, who was a dualist, “we can think of the self without a body, so it is not a body; we cannot think of the self without thinking, which is not a material act. So, the self must be a thinking, immaterial mind with a material body” (p. 79). This view…

Philosophy. Dubbed the “Father of Modern Philosophy”, Descartes was a philosopher in Sweden who taught others philosophy, and was also a huge advocate for mathematics, specifically geometry. He doubts everything that his senses inform his of, and even the reasoning procedure, because he wants to conquer skepticism. He knows, however, that he is real because he has the ability to think. By looking at Meditations of First Philosophy by Descartes, one can see that knowledge can’t…

Depression: It means being continually sad or unhappy. It is usually accompanied by lethargy and loss of appetite and sleep disturbances. The patient normally withdraws from his friends and becomes less social. Seligman (1973), said depression psychiatry "cold”, because of its diagnostic frequency. It is usually easy to see when someone is depressed What Are the Main Causes of Depression? Depression can occur due to a variety of reasons such as: • Abuse: Misuse, Past physical, sexual, or…

around us is always false. Descartes is trying to prove his point off of logic instead of actual evidence. Descartes is putting too much faith on the mind over the physical world. When he explains an evil being manipulating our thoughts and senses he still cannot prove that the evil being actually exists. So Descartes is still going off of assumptions to prove his theory. He tries to resolve this problem by doubting everything around us in the physical world. Descartes proposes that if we doubt…

René Descartes first builds up his position in Meditations on First Philosophy by starting with pushing aside all that we know and learned as it was based on the empiricist thinking, that our beliefs are to be based on our sense experience, which is the perceived foundation of how everyone thinks. This way of thinking, according to Descartes, should be abandon as it is a defective way to do so when learning. Even thinking by numbers and figures are not a good foundation when gaining knowledge in…

Descarte begins by making two very clear distinctions between the body and the mind. The mind is a nonmaterial essence that can exist without the body and will last forever. In contrast the essence of material things like the body are extend things that are void of the capacity to think. He defines the body as a mode of himself. He upholds that all he knows for sure is that he is a thinking thing and that thinking is the only thing that makes him exist. So nothing else can be identified with him…

Descartes was a great proponent of interactionist dualism. “In the philosophy of mind, dualism is the theory that the mental and the physical[,] or mind and body[,] are […] radically different” in nature. In addition, “interactionism is the view that mind and body […] causally influence each other.” In this essay, I will argue that Descartes’ view on interactionist dualism is incorrect. I will do so by: 1) presenting Descartes’ argument for dualism; 2) objecting to his arguments; 3) considering…