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Descartes Mind/Body Problem

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The Mind/Body Problem has been a topic of much discussion for many centuries, dating back to philosophers even before Aristotle. The problem addresses the question that if there is a mind that is immaterial and distinct from the material body, then how can something immaterial control something that is material? How are are the mind and body related? Common theories that arise from this problem are centered around two viewpoints: the mind and body are two distinct entities or they are a single entity. The stance of Dualism in philosophy of the mind is based on the idea that the mind and body are two fundamentally different kinds of things. Dualism includes many subcategories that work to distinguish how the mind and body relate if they are separate. Some of these include the …show more content…

The mind/body problem is a common topic in philosophy of the mind with many different theories attempting to answer a fundamental question about the relationship between the mind and the body. The philosopher that brought this ancient problem to modern philosophy was René Descartes. Throughout the vast number of writings that we have of Descartes’, he talks about many different philosophical questions and the answers that he has for them. Included in his works are many entries that have to do with the mind/body problem. Descartes’ theory about the mind/body problem gave us Mind-Body Dualism and is now placed in the subcategory of Substance Dualism. He believed that the mind and body were two distinct entities or substances, where the mind is an immaterial entity and the body is a material entity. His argument for why the mind and body must be two different things is clearly stated in his Sixth Meditation: “[T]he fact that I can clearly and distinctly understand one thing apart from another is enough to make me certain that the two things are distinct, since they are capable of being separated, at least by God. … Thus, simply by

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Descartes Response To Princess Elisabeth: Summary

213 Words | 1 Pages

He further to response to Princess Elisabeth question by introducing to her what is called (Cartesian Dualism) he uses these to explain to her that the mind, soul and the body are not the same and can never be same, which came to conclude that your mind cannot be your body and your body cannot be your mind. He also explains

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Dr Hyde Duality

1026 Words | 5 Pages

In the novel, Stevenson makes a saint in Dr. Jekyll, who mindful of the wickedness in his own being, and tired of the trickery in his life, prevails by method for his analyses on himself in liberating the unadulterated insidiousness part of his being as Mr. Hyde, so each can enjoy an existence free by the requests of the other. As Dr. Jekyll says, “With every day and from both sides of my intelligence, the moral and intellectual, I thus drew steadily to that truth by whose partial discovery I have been doomed to such a dreadful shipwreck: that man is not truly one, but truly two” (Stevenson, 74). He additionally includes, “It was on the moral side, and in my own person, that I learned to recognize the thorough and primitive duality of man;

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Descartes Superman Objection To Clark Kent

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The author uses this objection as an example to prove that Descartes’s idea of the mind and body existing without each because he imagines It, is wrong. Visualizing is not a very dependable way of proving something

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Arguments Against Substance Dualism

445 Words | 2 Pages

Substance dualism is the belief that there are three parts to a person: the mind, the brain and the physical body. The theory holds that although the mind and the brain interact, it is the mind that makes decisions. In other words, the brain’s sole purpose is to transfer sensory information about the world to the mind, and in turn, the mind transfers the decision back to the brain, which then tells the physical body what to do. The question is whether or not substance dualism should be taken seriously. Before continuing to argue for substance dualism, it is important to note that the definition of the mind which substance dualism speaks of is separate from the traditional definition and understanding of the mind in modern society, which usually includes the brain.

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Descartes Sixth Meditation Analysis

1919 Words | 8 Pages

Conclusion: The mind is substantively different from the body and indeed matter in general. Because in this conception the mind is substantively distinct from the body it becomes plausible for us to doubt the intuitive connection between mind and body. Indeed there are many aspects of the external world that do not appear to have minds and yet appear none the less real in spite of this for example mountains, sticks or lamps, given this we can begin to rationalize that perhaps minds can exist without bodies, and we only lack the capacity to perceive them.

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Descartes Meditation 6 Essay

668 Words | 3 Pages

In which Descartes builds refinement between physical body and mind. Through this approach in mind, Descartes’s feels he can feel his existence through materialist things in life. He can now tell apart from his imagination and alertness in his soul and can think his thoughts apart. Creative ability needs a body, intellection does not; subsequently, creative energy is not part of the ideal of brain. He concurs the fact that though body can live without brain vise versa however, in God’s existence the two work hand in hand.

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Pros And Cons Of Dualism

762 Words | 4 Pages

Arguments for dualism The most frequently used argument in favour of dualism appeals to the common-sense intuition that conscious experience is distinct from inanimate matter. If asked what the mind is, the average person would usually respond by identifying it with their self, their personality, their soul, or some other such entity. They would almost certainly deny that the mind simply is the brain, or vice versa, finding the idea that there is just one ontological entity at play to be too mechanistic, or simply unintelligible. Many modern philosophers of mind think that these intuitions are misleading and that we should use our critical faculties, along with empirical evidence from the sciences, to examine these assumptions to determine whether there is any real basis to them.

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Arguments Against Dualism

600 Words | 3 Pages

The question for philosophers of mind is, if the mind is immaterial and invisible, then how can we know whether or not it exists? Dualism’s answer is that human beings do have a mental component distinct from our physical bodies. It embraces the existence of free will and other mental aspects that seem to make humans unique from other creatures. To support dualism, Jaegwon Kim presents the following argument: “Suppose I am identical with this body of mine.” (Jaegwon Kim, Philosophy of Mind, page 42).

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In this paper I will explain Elizabeth of Bohemia’s main argument against Cartesian dualism. I will also explain why Churchland rejects Cartesian dualism and her arguments against it and what alternatives she has in mind. At the end I will explain why I think a Cartesian mind is not plausible. Descartes believed in Cartesian Dualism, which is saying that the mind and body are two different things. He says that the body can be divided into pieces but the mind/soul are indivisible.

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Gestalt's Post-Amnesia Myfanwy

690 Words | 3 Pages

I think the author was a dualist, because of the characters he created. If he was a monist he would have gone against his own beliefs of the mind body problem. Gestalt and Myfanwy both show how the mind is separate from the body. Gestalt is able to control five bodies with one mind and the conscious can jump from one body to the next. Gestalt’s mind is not a part of the body but connected to it in another way.

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703 Words | 3 Pages

This paper will critically examine the Cartesian dualist position and the notion that it can offer a plausible account of the mind and body. Proposed criticisms deal with both the logical and empirical conceivability of dualist assertions, their incompatibility with physical truths, and the reducibility of the position to absurdity. Cartesian Dualism, or substance dualism, is a metaphysical position which maintains that the mind and body consist in two separate and ontologically distinct substances. On this view, the mind is understood to be an essentially thinking substance with no spatial extension; whereas the body is a physical, non-thinking substance extended in space. Though they share no common properties, substance dualists maintain

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1267 Words | 6 Pages

Phil307 Siyabonga Madlala 211523172 In the philosophy of mind, physicalism is offered as a view advocating for that everything is wholly physical. Like many other views physicalism has arguments against it. This essay seeks to explain the epistemic argument against physicalism, and using the knowledge argument to better support the epistemic argument against physicalism. It will also in light of the epistemic argument against physicalism give responses that support physicalism, in doing so the essay will be using the type B physicalism as the most correct view.

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1477 Words | 6 Pages

There are two theories given regarding the self and the body by different scholars, in this case, we have Jehle, Lowe and Kim who have different views regarding the body and the soul. Jehle and Lowe share similar point of view by suggesting that there is a higher probability for the body and soul to interact but on the other hand, Kim is against the idea that there is a relationship between the self and the body. They both further explain their argument by suggesting different views that may imply both the soul and the body casually interact or there is no interaction between the soul and the body. In addition, Lowe investigates deeper and uses Non-Cartesian substance dualism (NCSD) to prove that there is a possibility for the self and the body to interact at some point.

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1212 Words | 5 Pages

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The Mind/Brain Correction

428 Words | 2 Pages

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