Descartes Dualism

• Descartes looks at the soul from a Catholic perspective - he invented substance dualism.
• Substance Dualism

  Descartes argued that the mind and body are distinct substances with different essential properties. Matter is res extensa (extended thing) and mind is res cognita (Metal substance).
• Rene Descartes (1596-1650) - Cartesian Dualism 


  The rational mind and the soul are synonymous. The mind is distinct from the body, but makes contact with the body within the brain. In the 'mind' are all feelings and sensations that we can experience but not locate. The mind is not located in the body and is not the same as the brain
• Cartesian Dualism

  The mind is described as 'non-corporeal' - it is a substance that is distinct from material or bodily substance. The mind and the body are different things. Unlike the mind, which has no material form, the physical body is material
• Cartesian Dualism

  The mind is where all non-physical experience take place. The body performs all physical activities. The mind and the body interact with one another, the mind can cause events in the body and the body can cause events in the mind
• Descartes three proofs

  1 - The argument from doubt - I can doubt that my body exists, But I cannot doubt that I exist as a thinking thing. Therefore, because I am a thinking thing, I am not identical with my body. This is the basis of the argument "Cognito, ergo sum" - I think therefore I am.
• Descartes three proofs

  2 - The argument from Divisibility and Non-divisibility - All bodies are extended in space, and are therefore divisable. Minds are not extended in space, and are therefore not-divisable. Minds are therefore radically different from bodies. Bodies exist in 3D, and also exist in space and time. The mind does not have physicality like the body does. The body can be broken down, the mind cannot be broken down. The difference between the two suggests that the mind is seperate from the body
• Descartes three proofs

  3 - The argument from clear and distinct perception - Whatever I clearly and distinctly perceive as two different things can be created by God as two different things. I have a clear and distinct idea of myself as a non-extended thinking thing. I have a clear and distinct idea of my body as an non-extended, thinking thing. So I and my body can exist apart from each other, and therefore I am distinct from my body
• Criticisms of Descartes three proofs 


  It could be argued that our consciousness is actually a product of the human brain
• Criticisms of Descartes three proofs

  Neuroscience tells us that the mind depends on the physical brain
• Criticisms of Descartes three proofs

  Descartes uses God and Fideism, which are rejected by Englightenment thinking and academic arguments
• Criticisms of Descartes three proofs

  The pineal gland is problematic and there is not proof this is where the mind interacts with the body
• Criticisms of Cartesian Dualism

  Argument from physicalism - Things are matter only, a "soul" or the "mind" is not needed to explain the nature of persons. Everything has a cause. There is no soul, as everything can be understood as existing as matter. There is only the brain and not the mind
• Criticisms of Cartesian Dualism

  The argument from Functionalism - Cognitive science compares the mind as an information processing system, like a computer. Mental states consist of sensory inputs and behavioural outputs. The mind is not a thing, it is a function, its function is to input data and generate the right outcome. Therefore, we do not have a mind, our mind is something that happens when we experience sensory data.