MIND AND BODY SUBSTANCE DUALISM THE MIND BODY

MIND AND BODY SUBSTANCE DUALISM

THE MIND BODY PROBLEM • THE PROBLEM, BASICALLY, CONCERNS WHAT THE MIND IS. • IS THE MIND… • THE SAME AS THE BODY, PHYSICALISTS CONTEND? AS MATERIALISTS AND • OR, IS IT DIFFERENT? • IF THE MIND IS THE SAME, WHY DOES IT NOT FEEL THAT WAY. • AND, THE MIND IS DIFFERENT, HOW CAN IT INTERACT WITH THE BODY.

BODY OR MIND QUALITIES BODY PROPERTIES • COLOR • WEIGHT • IT IS PUBLIC, IN ANYONE CAN ACCESS IT • UNCONSCIOUS • IT FOLLOWS LAWS MIND PROPERTIES • NO COLOR • WEIGHTLESS • IT IS PRIVATE, ALWAYS FROM PERSON ESSENTIALLY IN THAT IT IS EXPERIENCE THE FIRST • IT IS CONSCIOUS, AND HOSTS EMOTIONS, CREATIVITY, ETC • IT IS FREE

SUBSTANCE DUALISM • PLATO, AUGUSTINE, DESCARTES, BROAD, ETC. , WERE DUALISTS • DUALISM, IN A WAY, IS A VERY NATURAL AND INTUITIVE POSITION • THE BODY IS PHYSICAL • THE MIND IS NOT PHYSICAL, BUT IS SPIRITUAL. • MIND AND BODY INTERACT CAUSALLY, AND SO SO ALL THE TIME.

THE COGITO • DESCARTES BEGINS BY REPEATING THAT ANYTHING THAT HE CAN DOUBT WILL BE TREATED AS FALSE. • PERHAPS, HE HOPES, HE WILL FIND SOMETHING CERTAIN. • I HAVE CONVINCED MYSELF THAT THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING IN THE WORLD, NO SKY, NO EARTH, NO MINDS AND NO BODIES. DOES IT FOLLOW THAT I DO NOT EXIST? NO: IF I CONVINCED MYSELF OF SOMETHING, THEN I CERTAINLY EXISTED. • EVEN IF GOD IS DECEIVING HIM, IT IS NO MATTER. • DESCARTES SAYS IN THAT CASE TOO, HE EXISTS, SINCE HE IS THINKING ABOUT BEING DECEIVED.

WHO IS THAT? • DESCARTES NOTES THAT HE DOES NOT KNOW WHAT THIS BEING IS. • WHO IS DOING THIS DOUBTING, THAT HE MAY BE DECEIVED? • WHAT DID I THINK I WAS. A MAN. BUT WHAT IS A MAN? A RATIONAL ANIMAL? NO, FOR THEN I SHOULD HAVE TO INQUIRE WHAT AN ANIMAL IS, AND WHAT RATIONALITY IS. DESCARTES THEN ASKS IF HE MAY BE DEPENDENT ON HIS SENSES. • DESCARTES NOTICES THAT HE CANNOT BE HIS SENSES. • NOR IS HE ANYTHING THAT REQUIRES THEM, AND SO IS INDEPENDENT OF ALL BODIES.

THINKING SUBSTANCE • DESCARTES SAYS THE COGITO SHOWS HIM WHAT HIS ESSENCE IS. • THINKING, HE SAYS, IS IS ESSENCE. WHAT ABOUT THINKING? HERE I MAKE MY REAL DISCOVERYTHOUGHT ALONE IS INSEPARABLE FROM ME. I AM, I EXIST- THAT IS CERTAIN. BUT FOR HOW LONG? FOR AS LONG AS I AM THINKING. AFTER ALL, IT COULD BE THAT WERE IT TO TOTALLY CEASE THINKING, I SHOULD CEASE TO EXIST. • DESCARTES, THEN, SAYS THAT HE IS A THING THAT THINKS. • AGAIN, HE IDENTIFIES A MIND WITH BEING AN INTELLECT, INTELLIGENCE, OR REASONING BEING.

WHAT IS THE SELF, ANYWAY? • YET WHAT IS A THINKING SUBSTANCE, REALLY? • DESCARTES SAYS THAT HE IS DOUBTING, UNDERSTANDING, AND WILLING ARE KIND OF THINKING. • AND, HE INSISTS THAT HE IS THE SAME BEING DOING ALL THIS. • STILL, HE ACKNOWLEDGES THAT HE, WHATEVER HE IS, DOES NOT SEEM DISTINCT. • SO, HE CANNOT IMAGINE IT, AS SUCH.

THE WAX • DESCARTES THEN INVESTIGATES WHETHER BODIES HAVE ESSENTIAL QUALITIES, AS SUCH. • CONSIDER A PIECE OF WAX. • DESCARTES SAYS THAT • EVEN AS I SPEAK, I PUT THE WAX BY THE FIRE, AND LOOK. THE RESIDUAL TASTE IS ELIMINATED, THE SMELL GOES AWAY, THE COLOR CHANGES, THE SHAPE IS LOST, THE SIZE INCREASES, IT BECOMES LIQUID, AND IF YOU STRIKE IT, IT NO LONGER MAKES A SOUND. • WHAT IS THE WAX, ESSENTIALLY? • ALL THAT IS LEFT, DESCARTES SAYS, IS MERELY SOMETHING EXTENDED, FLEXIBLE, AND CHANGEABLE. • BUT THIS IS KNOWN NOT BY THE IMAGINATION, BUT BY THE MIND.

JUDGMENTAL? • AS DESCARTES SAYS, INADEQUATE HERE. ORDINARY WAYS OF TALKING ARE • EVEN IF WE SAY THAT WE KNOW THE WAX BY SIGHT, SMELL, ETC. , WE DO NOT. • JUDGEMENT IS NECESSARY. • IF I LOOK OUT THE WINDOW AND SEE MEN CROSSING THE SQUARE, I NORMALLY SAY THAT I HAVE SEEN THE MEN THEMSELVES. YET I DO SEE ANY MORE THAN HATS AND COATS WHICH COULD CONCEAL AUTOMATONS? I JUDGE THAT THEY ARE MEN. • DESCARTES SEPARATES SENSES FROM JUDGMENT. • WHEN WE LOOK CAREFULLY AT WAX, MEN, OR ANYTHING, JUDGEMENT IS REQUIRED AS WELL. • BUT THIS REVEALS MUCH HOW WE KNOW THINGS.

INTERNAL TRANSPARENCY • DESCARTES INFERS THAT WE KNOW WHAT WE ARE THINKING BETTER THAN THINGS EXTERNAL TO US. • SUCH KNOWLEDGE, HE SAYS, IS MORE CERTAIN. • IN PARTICULAR, SUCH KNOWLEDGE SIS TRANSPARENT TO US, AND IS ALMOST IMMUNE FROM ERROR. • MINDS ARE TRANSPARENT TO THEMSELVES.

SUBSTANCE DUALISM • PERHAPS, DESCARTES SAYS, HE IS DEPENDENT ON HIS BODY. • WHAT IF, HE ASKS, HE IS REALLY SOME THIN VAPOR THAT PERMEATES THE LIMBS, AND SO IS PHYSICAL, AFTER ALL? • YET HE DENIES THIS. • IT IS QUITE CERTAIN THAT KNOWLEDGE OF IT DOES NOT DEPEND ON THINGS OF WHOSE EXISTENCE I AM QUITE IGNORANT OF. IT CANNOT DEPEND ON THINGS I INVENT IN MY IMAGINATION. • BUT THIS DOES NOT FOLLOW. • DESCARTES CANNOT JUST ASSUME THAT SINCE HE DOES KNOW THAT DUALISM IS FALSE, IT IS TRUE. • DOES HE HAVE ANY OTHER ARGUMENT?

THE ARGUMENT FOR DUALISM • DESCARTES OFFERS A FAMOUS ARGUMENT FROM CONCEIVABILITY FOR SUBSTANCE DUALISM. • IN HIS LAST MEDITATION, HE SAYS • EVERYTHING WHICH I CAN CLEARLY AND DISTINCTLY UNDERSTAND IS CAPABLE OF BEING CREATED BY GOD, BUT THE POWER THAT BRINGS THINGS ABOUT IS NOT RELEVANT. SIMPLY BY KNOWING THAT I EXIST AND SEEING AT THE SAME TIME THAT NOTHING ELSE BELONGS TO MY ESSENCE EXCEPT THAT I AM A THINKING THING, I CAN INFER CORRECTLY THAT MY ESSENCE CONSISTS SOLELY IN THE FACT THAT I AM A THINKING THING. • SO, DESCARTES IS A THINKING SUBSTANCE, ESSENTIALLY. THINKING IS NOT PHYSICAL, BUT SPIRITUAL. • SUBSTANCE DUALISM IS TRUE.

INTERACTION • DESCARTES, THOUGH, MUST ACCOUNT FOR HOW MIND AND BODY INTERACT CAUSALLY. • TO DO THIS, HE FIRST SAYS THAT THE TWO ARE CLOSELY UNITE. • DESCARTES CALLS THIS THEIR SUBSTANTIAL UNION. • BUT AS DESCARTES NOTES, MIND AND BODY INTERACT IN THE PINEAL GLAND. • THIS GLAND SENDS SIGNALS BACK AND FORTH.

PROBLEM FOR CONCEIVABILITY • DESCARTES SAYS THAT SINCE WE CAN CONCEIVE OF MIND AND BODY SEPARATION, THEY ARE DIFFERENT. • BUT PERHAPS, CONCEIVABILITY IS ALL PSYCHOLOGICAL. • I CAN CONCEIVE THAT CATS CAN EXIST WHILE NOT BEING MAMMALS, BUT BEING SPIRITS. • SO, CATS ARE NOT MAMMALS. • HOWEVER, THIS CONCEIVABILITY IS IN OUR HEADS. • YET DESCARTES JUST DISMISSES THIS POSSIBILITY FOR MIND AND BODIES, AND DOES SO FOR NO REASON.

PROBLEM FOR SEPARABILITY • DESCARTES ASSUMES THAT SINCE MIND AND BODY HAVE DIFFERENT ESSENCES, THEY WILL SEPARATE. • BUT WHY? • EVEN IF MIND AND BODY DIFFERENT ESSENCES, THEY MAY NEVER SEPARATE. • THE ONE MAY DRAG THE OTHER DOWN.

ELIZABETH OF BOHEMIA • ELIZABETH NOTES THAT DESCARTES FAILS TO EXPLAIN MIND BODY INTERACTION. • AND, THIS IT SEEMS IMPOSSIBLE. • ALL MOVEMENT, SHE SAYS, IS DETERMINED PHYSICALLY, AND IS PROPORTIONAL. • BUT MINDS ARE NOT EVEN IN SPACE. • IT FOLLOWS THAT, RATHER THAN INTERACTING, MIND AND BODIES EXCLUDE EACH OTHER.

THE INTERACTION PROBLEM • DESCARTES EXPLAINS INTERACTION BY SUBSTANTIAL UNION AND IN THE PINEAL GLAND. • BUT THE UNION IS NOT INTERACTION. • AND LOCATING INTERACTION DOES NOT EXPLAIN IT. • DESCARTES FAILS TO EXPLAIN MIND AND INTERACTION, BUT JUST AVOIDS THE PROBLEM. BODY