Descartes ' Meditations On First Philosophy Essay

René Descartes believed that the mind and body are separate; that the senses could not always be trusted, but that because we as humans are able to think about our existence, we possess some sort of entity separate than our fleshly body. I believe this separate entity to be a soul”an immaterial and

In the Sixth Meditation, Descartes makes a point that there is a distinction between mind and body. It is in Meditation Two when Descartes believes he has shown the mind to be better known than the body. In Meditation Six, however, he goes on to claim that, as he knows his mind and knows clearly and distinctly that its essence consists purely of thought. Also, that bodies' essences consist purely of extension, and that he can conceive of his mind and body as existing separately. By the power of God, anything that can be clearly and distinctly conceived of as existing separately from something else can be created as existing separately. However, Descartes claims that the mind and body have been created separated without good reason. This

Like many people today, Descartes believed that the mind and soul were separate. He believed that the mind’s purpose was only for “thinking” and “non-extended” things. While, the body is an extension; non-thinking. Descartes thought that the mind and body were different substances, thus they

This essay will critically discuss and analyse how Descartes makes his argument for the separability of the mind and body in the Meditations on First Philosophy. In this text, Descartes argues for the distinction between the mind and body through reasoning that they are two very distinct and non-identical substances. Furthermore, he argues that because they are so clearly distinct from each other that the mind does not need to rely on the body to exist and that the body does not need to mind to exist, therefore, the mind and body can be separated. Firstly, he provides reasoning that they are different substances through doubting the existence of all material things around him, including his own body. Furthermore, while he can doubt the existence of his material body Descartes claims that there is no way for him to doubt the existence of his own mind. Secondly, he provides an argument that the mind and body are distinct substances due to them having other different properties; he does this by arguing that the body is divisible into parts while the mind is not. Therefore, because the mind and body do not have the same properties they are non-identical substances. Thirdly, he provides an argument that builds atop the first two, this argument is that because he can conceive so clearly that his mind and body are different they must be separable in some way.

However, one must remember that by “mind” Descartes meant only “a thing that thinks” (Meditations, p. 20), which is to say that thinking is the essence of the mind. From this kernel of truth Descartes builds up the rest of his understanding of the mind and part of this understanding is that the mind is entirely accessible to itself and in this sense is one unified thing. However, today the

Rene Descartes’ third meditation from his book Meditations on First Philosophy, examines Descartes’ arguments for the existence of God. The purpose of this essay will be to explore Descartes’ reasoning and proofs of God’s existence. In the third meditation, Descartes states two arguments attempting to prove God’s existence, the Trademark argument and the traditional Cosmological argument. Although his arguments are strong and relatively truthful, they do no prove the existence of God.

that you exist is proof that you in fact exist as how can you doubt

Descartes makes the claim that both the body and the mind are two separate entities. This is what is often referred to as his dualism view. According to Descartes, both the body and the mind are two completely different components and neither is needed for the other one to exist. To Descartes the mind is simply a thinking thing, while the body is an extended and unthinking object or thing. However, these two things interact with one another. Descartes goes on to state that actions taken by the mind can cause bodily effects, while bodily effects may affect the mind. Both the body and the mind work together in order for us as humans to survive and get around in the world. An example of this is when we are hungry the mind sends our body a signal

“I do not observe that aught necessarily belongs to my nature or essence beyond my being a thinking thing [or substance whose whole essence or nature is merely thinking]. And although I may, or rather, as will shortly say, although I certainly do possess a body with which I am very closely conjoined”. (Descartes IV) Descartes also shows the mind does not depend on body because the mind and the body can be conceived independently of one another having distinct difference. He gives the example of this by saying “I am present to my body in the way a sailor is present in a ship."( Descartes IV)

Descartes’s conception of the self and how the self relates to the body started with how Descartes viewed the self in Meditations on First Philosophy. Descartes wanted to start a new foundation with philosophy and so he used reason to find truths that were unboubtful. Since sense data can deceive you, Descartes could not trust things he saw, heard, or felt. “I have noticed that the sense are sometimes deceptive; and it is a mark of prudence never to place our complete trust in those who have deceived us even once” (Descartes, 1993, p.14). However, he realized it was possible to overcome senses due to reason. A person can doubt what they see, since it could be a dream or an insane state, but person’s existence is undoubtful because it is self-evident.

On the one hand, the body is supposed to be a sort of thing that has extensions: it has shapes, it has size, it occupies certain spatial position, and it can be in rest or in motion (AT 43, 78). On the other hand, from previous meditations, Descartes concludes that “I” am only a thinking thing from the observation that thinking is what could survive even if there were an all-power deceiving God (AT 27). And here, the “I” can be understood in terms of the mind that does not include a corporeal body since Descartes was meditating as if he didn’t even have a body (AT 27). Thus, it seems that we can understand the mind and the body clearly and distinctly from each other in that the mind is a thinking thing and not an extended thing, whereas the body an extended thing and not a thinking thing. In other words,

The mind and body for Descartes are two forms of substances that he distinguishes as being separate from one another in operations. This belief by Descartes come from his meditations where he excludes everything he has known including his physical body. Keeping in mind that everything is an illusion, Descartes tells himself if he is being deceived then to be deceived he must exist. Furthermore, Descartes concludes that since he is somehow able to think, he must exist,

The mind, by contrast, is unextended, has no location in space and is indivisible. Body and mind have a different essential, defining properties: bodies are extended, but do not think; minds think but are not extended. Descartes argued that the mind interacts with the body at the pineal gland. This from of duality proposes that the mind controls the body, but that the body can also influence the otherwise rational mind, such as when people act out of passion. I think that Descartes has many strengths throughout his work, but he doesn’t show any proof to it all.

This paper will attempt to explain Descartes’ first argument for the distinction that exists between mind and body. Dualism is a necessary aspect of Descartes’ metaphysics and epistemology. This distinction is important within the larger framework of Meditations on First Philosophy (1641) because after doubting everything (body, extension, senses, etc.), Descartes comes to the conclusion that because he doubts, he must be a thinking thing and therefore exist (p.43). This means that the mind must be separate and independent from the body. One can doubt that the body exists while leaving the mind intact. To doubt that the mind exists, however, is contradictory. For if the mind does not exist, how, or with what, is that doubt being accomplished.

Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy (1641) contains six Meditations. In the first two of these Descartes addresses doubt and certainty. By the end of the second Meditation Descartes establishes the possibility of certainty by concluding that he is a “thinking thing” and that this is beyond doubt. Having established the possibility of certainty, Descartes attempts to prove the existence of God. The argument he presents in the Third Meditation for the existence of God has been nicknamed the ‘Trademark’ argument. This argument deals with types of ideas, of which there are three, a principle called the Causal Adequacy principle, and a sliding scale of reality. The argument concludes that the idea of a God that is a perfect being is an innate idea that is real and was caused by God and therefore God is real. This argument will be explained with the greater detail in the next paragraph. In the Fifth Meditation Descartes again addresses the existence of God with an argument for His existence. This argument is a variation of St. Anselm’s ontological argument. This argument is also framed around his theory of ideas, as well as his principle of ‘clear and distinct perception’ and is explained and discussed in paragraph three. The paragraphs following these will discuss how convincing these two arguments from Descartes are and will deal with various objections. Many of these objections are strong enough that it will be clear why Descartes’ case has failed to convince everyone.