Descartes Monism And Hedonism

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humans were no more than complex machines operating within a mechanical universe. For this reason, Hobbes was strictly a materialist, or monist, in the belief that the mind was purely a manifestation of chemical processes in the brain. He believed that behavior was not caused by the interactions between the physical body and an immaterial being or soul. Instead, he believed that all human behavior was dictated in accordance to the theory of hedonism which states that all human behavior is driven by the notion of maximizing pleasure and avoiding pain. It is difficult to agree with Hobbes philosophies about human behavior as hedonistic because there has been many arguments throughout history that have question the legitimacy of the theory of …show more content…

In one hand, Descartes was a dualist and supported the idea of a physical body as well as a non-physical mind. On the other Hand, Hobbes was a monist and did not believe in a non-physical mind, only in biochemical processes. Nevertheless, another philosopher attempted to explain the body-mind problem by combining these two opposite arguments. Baruch Spinoza was a Dutch philosopher whose beliefs and ideas caused the church to persecute and exile him. Much like Descartes, Espinoza believed that there was a physical body as well as a non-physical mind. However, unlike Descartes, he believed that these two entities were not separate but that they were similar to two sides of the same coin. What he meant by this is that both the physical body and the non-physical mind occupied the same plane of reality. He explained that God created everything including nature and that human’s physical bodies are part of nature. Thus, because human bodies produce thought and that thought is conscience, or soul, the two are inseparable. What is profound about Spinoza’s ideas is that he essentially combined physiology, philosophy and religion. Espinoza ultimately suffered for these philosophical beliefs because they undermined the church’s anthropomorphic interpretation of God. However, the impact that these notions had were that they gave the church an excuse to preach their religion and claim it as science, ultimately, strengthening the church. Shortly after, there were some members of the church who attempted to solve the body-mind problem by using Descartes ideas and injecting religious dogma; one of these members was Nicolas de Malebranche. Malebranche was a priest who possessed some philosophical ideas about the body-mind problem. Although he largely agreed with Descartes’s dualist position, he disagreed with him on how the two actually interacted. Malebranche believed

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