Self-Identity Qualities

They exist as substances and according to Descartes they are the only two substances that exist in the universe. His argument for dualism is, “…on the one hand I have a clear and distinct idea of myself, insofar as I am merely a thinking thing and not an extended thing, and because on the other hand I have a distinct idea of a body, insofar as it is merely an extended thing and not a thinking thing…(50)”. Descartes says that we exist insofar as we are unextended thinking things and thus can exist without a physical body (50). Furthermore, Descartes reasons that there are certain things that the mind can do that the body cannot do and vice versa (50-51). For instance, Descartes says that the ability to imagine and understand things must exist solely in the mind because there is no available option for the body to understand on its own (51). Much in the same way he reasons that the mind cannot move or change shape and thus must exist in some other substance (51). It is here that we see Descartes’ distinction between mind and body and how they do not exist in the same realm as one another. Descartes also makes the distinction between mind and body by saying the body is divisible at all times and the mind can never be divided (53). That is to say that he thinks that the body can be split up into smaller sections each of which are then considered in their own right, but the mind, however, is always one substance and cannot be divided up into smaller

Mind-body dualism is usually seen as the central issue in philosophy of the mind. The problem with mind-body dualism is that it is unknown whether the mind really is a separate entity from the human body as Descartes states in his argument, or whether the mind is the brain itself. Descartes believed that in a person existed two major components, the physical body and the nonphysical body which was called the mind or soul. As a scientist, Descartes believed in mechanical theories of matter, however, he was also very religious and did not believe people could merely be mechanical creatures that ran like “clockwork.” And so, it was Descartes who argued that the mind directed thoughts. To account for this, he split the world into two parts,

In philosophy, the issue of personal identity concerns the conditions under which a person at one time is the same person at another time. An analysis of personal identity

Descartes dualism proposal is an interesting concept due to its simplicity. Yet, being so simply makes one more and more want to dismiss. His argument begins with what is known as Real Distinction. This is the term used to describe a substance or non-physical object that exists on due to the help of a higher being or power—be it God or science, though Descartes would likely argue for God. The mind, in Descartes view, can only exist because of this higher power. One knows the mind exists simply due to being able to ask the question of its existence. However, to prove that the body exists one must think about the physical nature, shape, and sensations of said body. In Descartes sixth meditation he discusses the idea that a person can conceive their mind without their body, but cannot conceive of the reverse. This argument seems to be the most sounds.

Descartes believes that since the mind and the body are two different things, then they can exist separately. This is the theory of dualism.

When Descartes published his ideas in his Meditations on First Philosophy, his ideas were not new, but nonetheless groundbreaking. He proposed there were two separate types of matter or stuff that can exist independent of each other. These are physical substances and mental substances. The physical can only occupy space in the real world, and cannot do any of the things we attribute to mental faculties, such as thinking and reasoning. Though the mental cannot be present in the material world, it can surely have an effect on what the physical body does. Substance dualism, therefore, gives way to the idea of an immortal soul that occupies a different realm than our physical bodies.

Substance Dualism, also known as Cartesian dualism, argues that the mind has distinct substances from the body, making them two very different things. The mind is something which thinks, making it an immaterial substance different from the body which is physical and thus a material substance in contrast with the body. The initial source of this idea was founded by Descartes in ‘The Meditation of First Philosophy’, focusing on his sixth meditation where he concludes that he is distinct from his body (Descartes, 1641). The reasons he gives for substance dualism is that the body is essentially extended, whilst the mind is not. This can be understood in his argument from clear and distinct perception, where his first premise holds that he can clearly

In the philosophical area of dualism, the positions that mental phenomena are, in some respects, non-physical, or that the mind and body are not identical are investigated. In Descartes’ Meditations II and VI, he stated “I consider myself as having a face, hands, arms, and all that system of members composed on bones and flesh as seen in a corpse which I designated by the name body” (Descartes 1641, 9). Even with this information, he concluded that his “essence consists solely in the fact that (he) is a thinking thing” (Descartes 1641, 28). It is obvious that he assumes that his essence cannot be physical, even though he possesses physicality, but that there is more to his existence than just the ownership of a body. Throughout Meditation II and Meditation VI from Meditations on First Philosophy, he argues his conclusion by the use of various examples and thoughts of his own to highlight that he believes that we do exist, that people contain a deeper being in their soul (which, can be argued, is where essence is found), and how the mind and body works when it comes to gaining experience and feeling sensations.

The question on personal identity has been a philosophical debate for a long time. Philosophers over time have tried to argue what being a person that one is, from one day to the necessarily contains. In their endless search for philosophical bases on the same, multiple questions on the issues of life and death arise such that the correct answers to personal identity determine the changes that one person undergoes, or may undergo without being extinct but rather continuing to exist. Personal identity philosophical theory confronts the most ultimate questions on our existence as well as who we are and if by any chance there is a possibility of life after death. In attempts to distinguish change in a person in survival and after death, a criterion of personal identity over time is given. Such criterion specifies all the necessary and sufficient conditions that must prevail for a person to continue to exist (Perry et al,103)

Dualism being the brainchild of Réne Descartes was subsequently labeled as Cartesian Dualism. This theory holds that one possesses an entity called the soul, which can exist independently of the body (the soul can be translated to the mind). Descartes argues that there are two fundamentally different kinds of substances, one

Rene Descartes theory of dualism is the presumption that the human mind and body are two distinct entities that work together to create a person. He believed that they interacted through a structure within the brain known as the pineal gland (Alleydog, 2017). Descartes’ theory of the mind was that it was a “nonextended substance and that it was involved in diverse activities such as imagining, feeling and rational thought” (Britannica, 2017). However, Descartes believed the extended substance or matter, is affected by the human mind and can produce specific mental events. An example of this would be an individual’s willingness for their arm to raise which then causes their arm to raise. This is known as interactionism and is part of Descartes dualism theory

Firstly, Descartes does have the right to hold that the mind and body are two completely separate things, with different essences, as he has explained this by the argument that both the mind and the body have their own conscious roles. According to Descartes, the mind will always be

To say that Descartes was a dualist is to say that he believed the mind and body are two separate and distinguishable essences. The immaterial mind and the material body although separate, causally interact. According to Descartes there was a clear separation between humans and animals in regards to mind body dualism. He believed that animals were nothing more than simple machines incapable of reason and language. That they lacked a mind unlike humans, who have a sound reasoning mind and mechanical body. -Erica Trujillo

According to his belief mind was a "thinking thing" and an immaterial substance. This "thing" was the essence of himself that which doubts, believes, hopes, and thinks. The body "the thing that exists" regulates normal bodily functions (such as heart and liver). I can’t agree with Descartes, because my thinking of mind-body problem is that we are the whole being, the one, the mind cannot exist without the body and the body cannot exist without the mind. A body without a mind is a zombie and a mind without the body is just nothing, electrical impulses or an energy. Mind is a very powerful substance but it cannot exist without the body, although I agree with him regarding the mind is the leader in here. There have been too many uncertainties with this theory and many philosophers argued the potential of it. Although the theory of separate mind and body can make sense to some people, spiritualist might believe it, but rational human beings would not. Although I do not agree with dualism, I believe in the spirit or soul and there are too many questions that cannot be answered at the moment. There are studies regarding the human energy sources and I can see how Descartes came to this decision, because most of electrical actions are in the

During the 17TH century under the encouragement of Descartes, one of the most influential rationalists of this period, interactions of the body and mind provoked multitudinous debates. Descartes accepted dualism, the metaphysical stance that mind and body are essentially separate entities, two distinct substances with different natures that interact, mutually influencing one another. The body being mortal, a machine that followed mechanical laws whereas, the mind was immortal, a spiritual being.