Rene Descartes and the Mind-Body Problem
Descartes was very influential in the field of psychology. Some of his concepts are still utilized in the world of psychology today. His most profound contribution to psychology was the mind-body problem. This problem is one that has been discussed and debated about for a long length of time.
Mind-body Problem
What is the mind-body problem? The mind-body problem is the main question of trying to distinguish between the qualities of the mental and physical (Schulz & Schulz, 2016). Many scholars seemed to always argue about the mind and body as to whether they were separate or essentially the same thing. Descartes decided to tackle this question head on and he came up with some interesting answers to
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Hall also found that the bodies voluntary and involuntary movements are located in certain regions with the brain and body. Hall’s contribution to the mind-body problem was in being able to show how the body can affect the mind and the mind effect the body by the voluntary (Mind) movements and the involuntary (body) movements. Flourens: Flourens work consisted of using the extirpation method. He destroyed animal parts, for the purpose of observing the brain and spinal cords. Through his work Flourens found the areas of the brain responsible higher mental functioning, sight and hearing of humans and the areas that control our coordination, heartbeat, respiration, and other important functions of the body. His contributions to the mind-body problem was to further dissect how the brain and to determine which exact areas of the brain affect the body. Gall: Gall was responsible for mapping the brain and he functions as well as he was able to confirm that the brain did have white and grey matter; nerve fibers connected to both sides of the brain and opposite sides of the spinal cord; fibers are connecting to both halves of the brain. Gall further contributed to the understanding of the mind-body problem by showing that it was possible to find specific brain functions in certain areas of the brain. Galvani: Galvani suggested that nerves were electrical and that if stimulated by electricity they would twitch. Galvani showed how the body can affect the mind and its interactions and reactions. Cajal: found the direction nerve impulses traveled in the brain and within the spinal cord. Cajal contributed to the mind-body problem by determining how impulses from the body can affect the brain. Weber: Weber is responsible for the two-point threshold which proved that the sensations of the body can
Review of Descartes: An Intellectual Biography and Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain
In defining mind and matter, Descartes is simultaneously equating the mind with the soul whilst proving it to be distinct from the body and matter. Many philosophers of mind have attempted to address the mind-body problem, proving the relationship between the above two elements. Famously addressed by Descartes, he explored the relationship between consciousness and the brain as he provided several arguments in defence to his stance to the explanation of the union between the mind (or soul) and the body. One of which is the argument from indivisibility:
In his work, Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes narrates the search for certainty in order to recreate all knowledge. He begins with “radical doubt.” He asks a simple question “Is there any one thing of which we can be absolutely certain?” that provides the main question of his analysis. Proceeding forward, he states that the ground of his foundation is the self – evident knowledge of the “thinking thing,” which he himself is. Moving up the tower of certainty, he focuses on those ideas that can be supported by his original foundation. In such a way, Descartes’s goal is to establish all of human knowledge of firm foundations. Thus, Descartes gains this knowledge from the natural light by using it to reference his main claims, specifically
Descartes continues the distinction in the Sixth Meditation, where he observes the body is by its nature divisible where the mind is completely indivisible. Descartes knows his body and mind are unified although, when something is cut off from the body such as an arm, nothing is lost from the mind. The body is a physical substance that can be described by quantitative qualities like size, shape and extension. Allowing for it to be divided into parts, for example a cake like the body has a certain size, shape and dimensions that can be divided into multiple smaller sizes. The mind is a qualitative substance that cannot be divided, such as smell; there cannot be half or a quarter of a smell. The mind is not an a corporeal or extended substance like the body therefore it is not capable of being divisible. Since the body and the mind do not share the same property of being divisible or indivisible the mind and body are distinctly different. Descartes claim for mind body dualism can be seen as false, I will argue that the m...
Descartes’s approach to understanding the difference between mind and matter initially began by him doubting all truths which he had grown up believing to be true. He believed that if anything he held to be true was ever deceiving, he would reject its reliability all together. This extreme doubt resulted in Descartes
Only halfway; too many things are left up in the air, and the language is not quite clear. The mind and body can each exist separately and independently of one another. But they also need one another to work properly. This relationship is why the mind and body argument was shown with the sailor and ship scenario. By claiming that the mind and body were similarly related to each other as the sailor and the ship, Descartes was giving the average but intuitive reader something to ponder about while trying to make up his or her own mind about the relation between mind and body.
The teaching of Descartes has influenced many minds since his writings. Descartes' belief that clear and distinct perceptions come from the intellect and not the senses was critical to his ultimate goal in Meditations on First Philosophy, for now he has successfully created a foundation of true and certain facts on which to base a sold, scientific belief structure. He has proven himself to exist in some form, to think and therefore feel, and explains how he knows objects or concepts to be real.
Rene Descartes certainly didn't lack for credentials. As the "Father of Rationalism," "Father of Modern Philosophy," and originator of Cartesian geometry, he had more than enough interests to fill his spare time. But his role as "Father of Skepticism" helped popularize a major change in thinking about the nature of human experience. Dualism, or the doctrine that mind and body are of two distinct natures, is one of the key philosophical problems inherited by psychology. In both philosophy and psychology there have been several attempts to reconcile the mind and body.
Every since Plato introduced the idea of dualism thousands of years ago meta-physicians have been faced with the mind-body problem. Even so Plato idea of dualism did not become a major issue of debate in the philosophical world until the seventeenth century when French philosopher Rene Descartes publicized his ideas concerning the mental and physical world. During this paper, I will analyze the issue of individuation and identity in Descartes’ philosophical view of the mind-body dualism. I will first start by explaining the structure of Cartesian dualism. I will also analyze the challenges of individuation and identity as they interact with Descartes. With a bit of luck, subsequently breaking down Descartes’ reasoning and later on offering my response, I can present wit a high degree of confidence that the problems of individuation and identity offer a hindrance to the Cartesians’ principle of mind-body dualism. I give a critical analysis of these two problems, I will first explain the basis of Descartes’ philosophical views.
Outline and assess Descartes' arguments for the conclusion that mind and body are distinct substances.
René Descartes was the 17th century, French philosopher responsible for many well-known philosophical arguments, such as Cartesian dualism. Briefly discussed previously, according to dualism, brains and the bodies are physical things; the mind, which is a nonphysical object, is distinct from both the brain and from all other body parts (Sober 204). Sober makes a point to note Descartes never denied that there are causal interactions between mental and physical aspects (such as medication healing ailments), and this recognition di...
body and whether or not he is successful. While I agree with his theory that the mind and body are distinct, I do not believe the mind is non-extended and I do not agree with Descartes’ assertion that the mind is capable of existence beyond the body.
While the great philosophical distinction between mind and body in western thought can be traced to the Greeks, it is to the influential work of René Descartes, French mathematician, philosopher, and physiologist, that we owe the first systematic account of the mind/body relationship. As the 19th century progressed, the problem of the relationship of mind to brain became ever more pressing.
In short, I summarized Descartes position of the relationship of the mind and body. After that I discussed two objections to his argument which were related to the mind existing without the body and that the mind is not divisible while I discussed how Descartes might respond to these arguments. These arguments adequately show that Descartes argument for mind/body dualism is false.
Descartes is a very well-known philosopher and has influenced much of modern philosophy. He is also commonly held as the father of the mind-body problem, thus any paper covering the major answers of the problem would not be complete without covering his argument. It is in Descartes’ most famous work, Meditations, that he gives his view for dualism. Descartes holds that mind and body are com...