Descartes' Perspective on Mind-Body Dualism

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For Descartes, this argument doesn’t imply that the creation of the mind and body as separate entities was created inexplicably by God. Instead, he infers that the essence of the mind and body exist as separate and distinct entities. It is natural that these substances are independent of one another. As a result, Descartes’ mind and body argument does not require the appeal to God’s omnipotence, providing that his separate notions are the truth and he clearly observes that the substance of the mind and body are essentially different (Voss, 1993, pp 17). From this, he can establish that the mind and body exist as separate entities, that is, if they exist at all.
Furthermore, Descartes uses the argument of indivisibility to emphasise the relationship between the mind and body as two distinct entities. Descartes claims that the mind and body are two separate, distinct entities since they do not have the same properties. He progresses this idea by arguing that unlike the mind, the body has several parts which can be split: “when I consider my mind, that is to say myself insofar as I am only a thinking thing, I can distinguish no parts” (Ariew & Watkins, 2000, pp 53). A person uses their entire mind to think, doubt, desire, choose, etc. These are simply different ways to think, they are not …show more content…

The analysis of Descartes’ arguments for the separation of the mind and body as two clear and distinct entities that comprise of his arguments from doubt, clear and distinct perception, indivisibility and the appeal to God’s omnipotence has also been explored. Ultimately, the account of Descartes on the relationship between the mind and the body encompasses the idea that the two entities don’t have causal, mechanical relations between one another, however, they are somewhat connected to one another as an interactive

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