Descartes proposes that his mind and body are seperate entities that are in independent of each other but united in him. The body uses the faculties of sense and imagination to interact with the external world while the mind understands and makes judgments, which is to affirm or deny ideas. He reasons the two are separate in that: 1) mind is indivisible whereas the body can be divided into parts 2) The mind can operate independent of most body parts (with the brain as an exception) 3) The body has an interface that communicates with the mind (nervous system). It is this mind/body union that Descartes uses to restore the credibility of the physical world. The body uses its senses to inform the mind of bodies that must exist, since they indeed produce a sensation, and the mind wills which bodies should be desired or avoided. The cooperation of body and mind to pursue pleasure and avoid pain is the work of God's goodness, according to Descartes, and must be true.
This account of Mind/Body dualism is very alluring. Based on experience, it makes sense. One learns not to touch a stove by burning their hand. One knows when to eat when hunger is felt. In terms of thinking, forming ideas, judgments, etc. one doesn't necessarily use his/her entire body to do so. But can Mind and Body really be separate entities? Can one exist without the other? Or is it that the mind is simply a sophisticated feature of humans, but still bound by mortal flesh? The mind, as powerful as it can be, cannot live beyond the body because it is part of the body (the brain); it is not a separate entity.
The sciences have observed just how much the mental lives of people are tied to the brain. Different parts of the brain serve different functions. Sensation, perception, judgments, all the aspects of the mind, have been tied to parts of the brain. It has been shown how damage to the brain affects the performance of the mind.
How, and where, can a mind exist without a body? There has yet to be a credible account of someone having ideas and making judgments after their body has perished. Would that be the equivalent of a ghost? Descartes says he exists because he is a thinking thing, which is true. His body IS the thinking thing.
This account of Mind/Body dualism is very alluring. Based on experience, it makes sense. One learns not to touch a stove by burning their hand. One knows when to eat when hunger is felt. In terms of thinking, forming ideas, judgments, etc. one doesn't necessarily use his/her entire body to do so. But can Mind and Body really be separate entities? Can one exist without the other? Or is it that the mind is simply a sophisticated feature of humans, but still bound by mortal flesh? The mind, as powerful as it can be, cannot live beyond the body because it is part of the body (the brain); it is not a separate entity.
The sciences have observed just how much the mental lives of people are tied to the brain. Different parts of the brain serve different functions. Sensation, perception, judgments, all the aspects of the mind, have been tied to parts of the brain. It has been shown how damage to the brain affects the performance of the mind.
How, and where, can a mind exist without a body? There has yet to be a credible account of someone having ideas and making judgments after their body has perished. Would that be the equivalent of a ghost? Descartes says he exists because he is a thinking thing, which is true. His body IS the thinking thing.
Moreover, from a physics standpoint, it's never been clear to me exactly how something which lacks matter (literally, immaterial) could ever control or induce a physical reaction in something which is material. It defies the law of conservation of energy. Either the "mind" must be the brain, or physics is bunk.
ReplyDeleteIt's like saying that a ghost could knock down the first domino in one of those Rube Goldberg machines. That's just not how physics works.
I have a notion very basic but very effective to define whatis the mind unlike the body, in this case would be better to refer the braininstead the body, being that is the brain which commands the functions of allour senses, touch, sight, hearing, smell and taste, through our body and themind which actually is that that makes the decisions based on experience andintelligent thoughts. For Descartes the mind is nonmaterial entity which lacksmotion and extension and does not follow the law of nature; which is for me ahuman faculty, invisible, infinite and what makes us being a thinking thing.The brain is an organ instead, it's a machine that human (or mind) uses to leadour body to do things. Brain can't do thing on its own, that's why needs themind (our most authentic self, our essence)
ReplyDeleteI believe dualism has been a much sustained attempt toexplain the mind-body problem, but I don’t think Descartes or someone else candear to say he knows his mind with the certainty he claimed