Nishtha Patel
December 13, 2014
PHILO 1100-091
The Mind and Body Problem
The issue of the origins of consciousness has been a problem that has philosophers and scientists alike, puzzled for years. Is it a matter of science? Can it be explained through neurobiological processes or is it just something that simply cannot be reduced to words? Rene Descartes had struggled to explain this problem through his idea of substance dualism. This idea states that the mind and body are of two separate worlds, the physical world and the mental world. He then goes on by describing himself as a “thinking thing” and questions the existence with the mind and body thus bringing the questions of the material and the immaterial. From this sprouts the mind-body problem, the connection between mental phenomena and the physical world on which the mind depends. In this philosophical essay, I will question whether the mind and body coexist or if they are two separate entities that make us who we are.
One of the first arguments made in Cartesian Dualism is the argument of doubt. Descartes starts to doubt the perception of his body, but handedly cannot conceive the possibility that he is without a mind. This is because he of the very act of doubting that he is a thinking thing, there has to be something that is doing the doubting as. He continues to make the argument by saying as followed:
I am certain that I am a thinking thing
I am not certain that I am a physical thing
Therefore, I am not a
The main argument Descartes used to prove dualism is that he could doubt everything, including the existence of his own body, and that of the material world, for he could be dreaming or being fooled. The only thing he could not doubt was the existence of his own mind, for in order to doubt, it is necessary to exist. He concluded that his mind (the thing that thinks), was a distinct and independent entity from the physical world, although interaction between the two existed somewhere in the pineal gland.
Descartian dualism is one of the most long lasting legacies of Rene Descartes’ philosophy. He argues that the mind and body operate as separate entities able to exist without one another. That is, the mind is a thinking, non-extended entity and the body is non-thinking and extended. His belief elicited a debate over the nature of the mind and body that has spanned centuries, a debate that is still vociferously argued today. In this essay, I will try and tackle Descartes claim and come to some conclusion as to whether Descartes is correct to say that the mind and body are distinct.
What is the mind-body problem? The mind-body problem asks the question, are the mind and body separate substances of elements of the same substance? In this paper I wish to propose, and try to provide support for Descartes notion of the immaterial mind, by critically discussing the view of substance dualism, pertaining to the relationship between the mind and body. The two arguments of which I will provide in this paper to support this view are divisibility and disembodied existence. There are two fundamentally different substances in this universe, physical and mental properties, this paper will explore both of these substances (8).
The Synopsis: Star Trek Episode “The Measure of a Man” deals with the thought that android could have physical and mental properties. In order to fully understand or evaluate this we have to have a clear understanding of the Mind/Body Problems and solutions. Humans are material objects consisting of physical and mental properties. Physical properties examples are height, weight, color, shape or size and mental properties are awareness, consciousness, feeling, thinking, emotions and senses. The problem arises because these properties interact where intentional or unintentional continuously. Hasker discusses several mind/body solutions such as idealism, materialism, behaviorism, dualism, and
In Descartes Meditations on First Philosophy, he introduces the divisibility argument for his idea of mind-body dualism. It argues that the mind is distinct from the body and that they are different "substances". The argument has two premises; the mind is indivisible and the body is divisible. In this essay, I will interpret Descartes' argument by discussing the key points of these premises and how they are supported. I will also be incorporating my own thoughts on the argument to determine whether the divisibility argument is enough to validate the idea of mind-body dualism.
In this documentary of Stephen Fry, The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive, actor and comedian Stephen Fry goes on a journey to deepen his understanding of his mental illness. Fry starts by looking into his own past, beginning when he was just a young boy in boarding school, and searches for any signs that may have been a precursor of his eventual diagnosis. Fry also spends a good portion of the documentary talking to others’ with his shared diagnosis and listens to each of their own unique experiences and stories. Then Fry takes a deeper look into medications and treatments that are commonly used to treat bipolar disorder including electroconvulsive therapy, ETC, cognitive-behavioral therapy, CBT, and a common bipolar drug called Lithium. While doing so, Fry talks to those who have already been through or administer these various treatments, considering if he should start due to the increasing severity of his own depressive and manic states. Fry explains that although the depressive states of this illness is tremendous, the manic states are ones that have contributed considerably to his career. Just like many people suffering from bipolar disorder, he wouldn’t trade his life now for one without this mental illness.
In Meditation six: Concerning the Existence of Material Things, and the Real Distinction between Mind and Body, Rene Descartes wrote of his distinctions between the mind and the body, first by reviewing all things that he believed to be true, then assessing the causes and later calling them into doubt, and then finally by considering what he must now believe. By analyzing Descartes’ writing, this paper will explicate Descartes’ view on bodies and animals, and if animals have minds. Before explicating the answer to those questions, Descartes’ distinctions between the mind and the body should first be summarized and explained.
In this paper, I will discuss the “Divisibility argument” on Descartes mind- body dualism presented on Descartes meditations. I will claim that the mind and the body are in fact different as Descartes argument suggests, but I will more rather neglect and explain why his belief that the mind is indivisible is wrong. I also will discuss how Descartes argument on the body’s divisibility is reasonable, and the reasons why I believe this argument is true.
In his Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes states “I have a clear and distinct idea of myself, in as far as I am only a thinking and unextended thing, and as, on the other hand, I possess a distinct idea of body, in as far as it is only an extended and unthinking thing”. [1] The concept that the mind is an intangible, thinking entity while the body is a tangible entity not capable of thought is known as Cartesian Dualism. The purpose of this essay is to examine how Descartes tries to prove that the mind or soul is, in its essential nature, entirely distinct from the
The mind-body problem, which is still debated even today, raises the question about the relationship between the mind and the body. Theorists, such as René Descartes and Thomas Nagel, have written extensively on the problem but they have many dissenting beliefs. Descartes, a dualist, contends that the mind and body are two different substances that can exist separately. Conversely, Nagel, a dual aspect theorist, contends that the mind and body are not substances but different properties. However, although Nagel illustrates the problems with Descartes= theory, Nagel=s theory runs into the problem of panpsychism. In this paper, both arguments will be discussed to determine which, if either, side is stronger.
is and also who brought the mind and body problem to light. This will be done by
This paper will attempt to explain Descartes’ first argument for the distinction that exists between mind and body. Dualism is a necessary aspect of Descartes’ metaphysics and epistemology. This distinction is important within the larger framework of Meditations on First Philosophy (1641) because after doubting everything (body, extension, senses, etc.), Descartes comes to the conclusion that because he doubts, he must be a thinking thing and therefore exist (p.43). This means that the mind must be separate and independent from the body. One can doubt that the body exists while leaving the mind intact. To doubt that the mind exists, however, is contradictory. For if the mind does not exist, how, or with what, is that doubt being accomplished.
The concept of mind and body interactions has been debated among many modern philosophers. Some believe that our minds and bodies are different things, thus existing separately, while others believe that they exist as a whole. In this paper, I will be introducing two rationalist philosophical views regarding this topic, one which is by Rene Descartes and the other by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. Rationalists, in philosophical terms, are the ones who obtain their knowledge through reasoning rather than the human senses. Descartes and Leibniz both have similar perspectives, but Leibniz takes a slightly different approach to improve Descartes’ argument. This paper will first show Descartes’ original argument, an example that proves the argument to be invalid, and then lastly, a revised version of the argument with Leibniz’s help.
In Meditation Six entitled “Concerning the Existence of Material Things, and Real Distinction between the Mind and Body”, one important thing Descartes explores is the relationship between the mind and body. Descartes believes the mind and body are separated and they are two difference substances. He believes this to be clearly and distinctly true which is a Cartesian quality for true knowledge. I, on the other hand, disagree that the mind and body are separate and that the mind can exist without the body. First, I will present Descartes position on mind/body dualism and his proof for such ideas. Secondly, I will discuss why I think his argument is weak and offer my own ideas that dispute his reasoning while I keep in mind how he might
Within some stage of an individual’s lifetime, certain suffering or different forms of grief will undoubtedly be experienced. An example of this is a poor prognosis of a newly diagnosed condition. Research has found that as a whole, individuals will experience detrimental effects to their physical, emotional, cognitive, and behavioural states when this situation occurs (Leming & G, 2015). These effects, if not identified and monitored, could add further psychological impact to the patient’s physical health and mental state possibly creating greater negative effects to the body, than the poor diagnosis itself (Rogers-Clark, McCarthy & Martin-McDonald, 2005). The human body and mind, through a range of internal and external factors, develops responses to this negative diagnoses (Rogers-Clark, McCarthy & Martin-McDonald, 2005).