Descartes Mind and Body
Descartes has a very distinct thought when thinking about the mind, and how it relates to the body, or more specifically then brain. He seems to want to explain that the mind in itself is independent from the body. A body is merely a physical entity that could be proven to be true scientifically and also can be proven through the senses. Such things are not possible with the meta-physical mind because it is independent of the body. Building on his previous premises, Descartes finally proves whether material things exist or not and determines whether his mind and body are separate from each other or not. In Meditation Six, Descartes lays the foundation for dualism which has become one of the most important arguments in philosophy. Renee begins with his premises to finding this out in his first Meditation. He assumes that there are no such things as physical bodies. He uses the dream argument to set him free of the things he thinks he knows. By doing this, he can only begin his argument with things that he is absolutely certain of. He continues to ponder thoughts in Meditation two where he establishes one thing that he assumes has to be true, and that is that if he is doing the thinking, then he must be real. Here is where you begin to see his famous, “I think, therefore I am” line which is showing that he acknowledges that he has a mind, without being sure if he has a body. In Meditation three he begins to attempt to prove that God is real. He believes that is he can prove that God is real, and that he is all powerful and all good then he will be able to prove other truths. He comes to think that God has to exist because the idea could not have come from within himself. In Meditation six he tries to begin to show you that there is a material world. Since God is all powerful and all good, then he would not have mislead us in thinking that there was such thing as a material world, if there truly was not. He then thinks about why there are evil
Cited: Kemerling, Garth. “Descartes: God and Human Nature.” Philosophypages. 18 October 2006. 2 March 2008. <http://www.philosophypages.com/hy/4d.htm>