Argument

• Descartes was a substance dualist- he argued that mind and body are distinct substances with different essential properties
• He bang from a standpoint of absolute scepticism about reality:

  • Sense experience could be deceptive
  • Intellect-based ideas could be mistaken
• He had three proofs for the existence of the soul
• First proof: Argument from Doubt

  • He could doubt the existence of his body
  • This ability to doubt meant he could not doubt his existence as a thinking being
  • Therefore, as a thinking being, he was not identical with his body
• Second proof: Argument from Divisibility and Non-divisibility

  • All bodies take up space and so are divisible
  • Mental states, however, do not and so are not divisible
  • This means that minds are radically different from bodies
• Third proof: Argument from Clear and Distinct Perception

  • He attributed his perception of two different things to God having created two different things
  • So he had a clear and distinct perception of himself as a thinking being and of his body as a non-thinking being
  • He and his body could exist apart from each other
  • So he was distinct from his body
  • As the mind.soul was not located in space and had no parts to decay, it was immortal
• What are Descartes' three arguments for the existence of the soul?

  1. Argument from Doubt
  2. Argument from Divisibility and Non-divisibility
  3. Argument from Clear and Distinct Perception