Descartes wants to prove the mind is distinct from the body to show that it can survive without the body, to show the possibility of afterlife
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The Conceivability Argument
The mind: A thinking, non-extended thing. The body: An extended, non-thinking things. So the mind is distinct from the body and can exist without it.
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Clarity and Distinctness
Descartes, Principles of Philosophy
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Clarity
Sharp, unclouded, intellectual vision - before the mind's eye
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Distinct
Can be conceived alone, without anything else
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God
God, not a deceiver, guarantees what I apprehend as clear and distinct as true
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The Divisibility Argument
Material body is always divisible, infinitely so. I can always chop matter in two, even the apparently smallest part. But the mind is not divisible.
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Criticisms
What about faculties of the mind? Memory vs imagination.
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The Divisibility Argument (continued)
Mind and matter are not just different in any way. Divisibility and indivisibility are contradictory properties. Body and mind are therefore opposed to each other – they are radically different
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Substance Dualism
Substance: what stands under.
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Descartes definition of Substance
Descartes: Substance is that which bears modes (properties) but is not a property of anything else
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(Un)created substance
Uncreated substance - a thing dependent on nothing but God
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Substance
Substance, attribute, mode. There are two substances: thought and extension.
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So two different types of substance
Thinking substance and extended substance.
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The Mind-Body Problem
How do these two radically different substances interact? How do I lift my arm?
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Descartes response
Thesis of the pituitary gland as the meeting of mind and body
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Other cards in this set
Card 2
Front
Arnauld, Mersenne, Gassendi
Back
Objectors
Card 3
Front
Partly scientifc, party religious
Back
Card 4
Front
Everything is to be explained mechanically
Back
Card 5
Front
Descartes wants to prove the mind is distinct from the body to show that it can survive without the body, to show the possibility of afterlife
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