Descartes' Correlation Between Mind and Body

Rene Descartes once said, “There is a great difference between mind and body”. This statement comes from the idea that Descartes believed there were two substances that made up reality. One of the substances in reality Descartes called extension, or material being, meaning it takes up space. The other has to do with the mind, or thought, immaterial. This is called dualistic metaphysic’s. Descartes began his exploration on the material and immaterial by way of epistemological detour. This is simply finding out metaphysical truth by ways of epistemological analysis. The question at stake is one that has continued on for centuries, how are the mind and body independent of each other?

To come up with an idea of how mind and body work together, Descartes had two ideas that he played with. The first had to do with the material being and how it is subject to obey physical laws. The second idea is how the mind was able to move the matter. This is confusing because it blows up the idea that matter, specifically the human body, always obey’s the law of matter. How can a thought cause an action? Descartes toyed with different theory’s. One such theory, which even Descartes thought to be insane, was that the mind, by vital spirits, interacted with the physical body in the brain. This symbolic thinking didn’t last. After contemplating this mind and matter connection, it is believed that some of Descartes attendants came up with a theory to explain the interaction between material and immaterial. The idea is known as parallelism. It goes like this, the mind doesn’t make the body move. What actually occurs, they believed, was that an idea of an action takes place and then an action really happens. They thought that it was the wi...

... middle of paper ...

...ou may groan about it and in your mind your not really in it. However, once you get started you begin to get into the action of exercise you are all in mind and body. When your done with your workout you are ready for what ever else comes at you. Physically you are stronger and I believe that because of the endorphins that are involved within your body you become mentally recharged as well. Again, I can base this on personal experience. To get up and go do some sort of activity isn’t always a priority. But it is a necessity. I agree with Descartes in this theory of mind and body being connected. I have experienced it in my personal day to day, and have seen first hand how you physical state can send you mental state into a tailspin. It is impressive the ideas that Descartes derived, and I can see how even today we tend to lean on some of those same concepts.