Cartesian Dualism Flashcards
What is Descartes view of the Soul?
Descartes posits the soul as a separate, non-physical substance, distinct from the body, allowing for a disembodied existence. This immortal thinking entity, he believes, is the essence of a person’s identity and consciousness and the only thing he can be certain of due to his phrase, ‘I think therefore I am’.
Cartesian Doubt
Cartesian doubt refers to the method of systematic doubt introduced by the philosopher René Descartes. It involves doubting all beliefs and opinions in order to reach a foundation of absolute certainty.
Meditation 1
René Descartes’ Meditation 1 explores the concept of Cartesian doubt, where Descartes doubts everything, including his senses and memories. Despite doubts, he ultimately realizes his existence as a thinking being, expressing his certainty in his statement “I think, therefore am.”
Argument of Personhood
The mind, or consciousness, holds the essence of personhood, and a person with a face or body transplant remains the same person due to their shared consciousness.
Leibniz’s law
Leibniz’s law states that if two things are identical to each other, then they must have all the same properties. Applied to Descartes’ view, this means that if the mind and body are truly separate entities, they should have different properties or characteristics. Descartes argues that the mind is proven, indivisible and non-extended. Yet the body is doubted, divisible and extended.
The argument here goes:
I can be sure that my mind exists.
I cannot be sure that my body exists.
By application of Leibniz’ law, mind and body must be two separate substances (because if they were the same thing, we would be able to be certain the body existed as well).
Mind Body Problem (Descartes)
How can the non-physical soul interact with the physical body. Descartes’ theory fails to give a coherent account of how mind and body interact when one is physical/spatial and the other non-physical/non-spatial. Descartes claimed that the two interact via the pineal gland in the brain, but this is speculative.
The Masked Man Fallacy
Portrays that doubting is not a property of a thing. We cannot assume that two entities are separate merely due to the fact that we view them as seeming different.
