Descarte’s Arguemnt For The Existence Of The Soul

Question 1

Was Descartes a dualist or monist?

Answer 1

René Descartes held a substance dualist view of the soul, arguing that the mind (or soul) and the body are two fundamentally distinct substances with different essential properties

Question 2

What is Descartes “Argument of Doubt”?

Answer 2

-His first key argument is known as the Argument from Doubt. Descartes began by applying radical doubt to everything he could possibly question—including the existence of the physical world, his senses, and even his body
-However, he realised that while he could doubt the existence of his body, he could not doubt the fact that he was thinking

Question 3

What did Descartes mean by “Cogito, ergo sum”?

Answer 3

-“Cogito, ergo sum” =“ I think, therefore I am”
-He famously concluded this from his argument of doubt
-This statement underpinned his belief that the soul is a non-material, thinking substance
-He reasoned that if the act of thinking cannot be doubted, then the self that thinks must certainly exist, even if the body does not
-This led him to believe that the soul, as the thinking mind, is distinct and can exist independently of the physical body
-Therefore, Descartes viewed the soul as the seat of consciousness, knowledge and identity, capable of existing even if the body did not

Question 4

What was Descartes’ argument if divisibility?

Answer 4

-Descartes also defended the soul’s existence through what is called the Argument from Divisibility
-He observed that the body is divisible, as it is made up of physical parts that can be broken or altered. In contrast, the mind or soul is not extended in space and therefore cannot be divided

Question 5

What did Descartes mean by “the body is always divisible, while the mind is utterly indivisible” ?

Answer 5

-Descartes argued that “the body is always divisible, while the mind is utterly indivisible,” meaning that while you can lose a limb or have your body damaged without losing your ability to think, you cannot lose parts of your mind in the same way
-The soul cannot be broken down into smaller parts, because it is a unified, thinking substance

Question 6

What was Descartes’ third argument?

Answer 6

• The difference in properties between body and soul led Descartes to conclude that the mind and body must be two different substances
  -He reinforced this through his third argument, clear and distinct perception, claiming that because he could clearly conceive of himself as a non-extended thinking thing, and of his body as an extended non-thinking thing, they must be separate and able to exist apart

Question 7

What did Descartes believe about the pineal gland?

Answer 7

-Though Descartes believed the mind and body were radically different substances, he argued that they could interact through the pineal gland
-He saw the mind as a non-physical, thinking substance and the body as a physical, extended one, yet still claimed they could influence one another
-To explain how this was possible, he proposed that the pineal gland—a small part of the brain located between the two hemispheres—was the point at which this interaction occurred
-Descartes chose this gland because, in the 17th century, its function was not yet understood, and he believed it was the only part of the brain not duplicated in both hemispheres, making it unique