Philosophy essay

John Ubom

Surovell

Phil 4370

Cartesian Dualism

Introduction

As stated by Descartes (1), dualism is a term used to refer to the existence of two fundamental categories of kinds of things in a given domain. Dualism is the direct opposite of monism which denotes the occurrence of a single category or kind of principle or thing. Pluralism on the other hand refers to the existence of many categories or kinds. Cartesian dualism is a concept advanced by Rene Descartes proposing that the mind or soul is totally different from the body. Rene regarded the mind as the non-extended thinking thing while the body was the extended non-thinking thing. The argument gave rise to the famous mind body-body dualism problem eliciting reaction from scholars such as Lowe, Elizabeth, Princess of Bohemia, and Richardson. This study therefore summarizes the argument as well as the objections to it.

Cartesian Dualism, according to Descartes, implies that human beings exist in two different forms . He believed that one exists in the form of matter referring to the physical being that is able to walk, talk and play. Then, Rene states that there is another form known as the mind, which is the non-physical being similar to the soul and has the ability to think, recall, and doubt. Further, Rene indicated that matter performed its duty according to its own laws until when the mind interferes with it. As such, the human mind is simply tasked with pulling the levers that allow the body to perform its duty. The main contention therefore is how the non-physical mind would react with the physical body. In her correspondence with Rene, Elizabeth, Princess of Bohemia requested that he explains how an immaterial substance could act on material being (Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia and René, 11). The exchange reveals that she agrees with Rene’s idea of efficient causation between the mind and the body but she also wishes to revisit the theory.

On the contrary, Lowe proposed the non-Cartesian substance dualism whereby he argues that the mind-body relationship is one that takes place between two distinct substances which are not necessarily separable. The proposal differs from Cartesian dualism with regards to the category of modes of individual substances or objects under consideration. In other words, Cartesian dualism maintains that the subjects are immaterial and non-physical in nature but non-Cartesian dualism does not insist on such (Lowe, 49). On the same note, Richardson (20) argues that it is a fair thing to object to the proposals of Cartesian dualism simply because it makes the mind and body totally diverse in nature. Richardson further states that since dualism makes the mind immaterial and non-extended, it is unintelligible to explain how it would act on a physical system that is heterogeneous. Additionally, Richardson terms Rene’s argument as a myth and states that the proponents of Cartesian dualism are creating a link of transaction between the mind and the body where no link can exist.

In conclusion, Rene Descartes brought forth the idea of mind-body dualism and argued that the mind and the body were separable and distinct from each other. Rene believed that the mind was non-physical and non-extended whereas the body was physical and extended. In a series of correspondence, Elizabeth asked Rene to explain the nature of interaction between the two. Nonetheless, she agreed with the idea of efficient causation between the mind and the body. However, two scholars namely Lowe and Richardson dismissed Rene’s claims stating that the mind does not necessarily need to be immaterial to influence the body. In addition, they fail to understand how immaterial substance could act on a physical substance.

Works Cited

Descartes, Rene. ‘Meditation VI’, in Meditations on the First Philosophy, J. Cottingham (trans.), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1996. Print.

Lowe, Jonathan. Non-Cartesian Substance Dualism. Erkenntnis, 65 (1): 5–23. 2006. Print.

Richardson, Robert. The ‘Scandal’ of Cartesian Interactionism. Mind, Volume XCI, Issue 361, 1 January 1982, Pages 20–37. Print.

Elisabeth of Bohemia and Descartes, René. The Correspondence between Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia and René Descartes, Lisa Shapiro (ed. and transl.), Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 2007. Print. 

Lowe, Jonathan, ‘An Introduction to the philosophy of mind. Mind, Bodies and People. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1996. Print

Descartes, Rene. ‘The ‘scandal’ of Cartesian Interactionism, Mind (1982) Vol. xci, 20-37.

University of Cincinnati

�Generally refer to authors by their last names.

�The previous paragraph has a characterization of Cartesian dualism; no need to re-state it, or to give a different characterization.