Lesson 4: Descartes; a dualist view

1

Make a list of everything that makes up ‘you’ What could you get rid of and still be ‘you’?

Rene Descartes: biographyRene Descartes was born in 1596 in France. He studied under Jesuit priests. He studied Aristotelian physics and maths.He was fascinated with proving his ideas with REASON. He wrote The Meditations on First Philosophy in 1641.

We have met some of ideas before….But what did he think about the body and soul?

Complete the tableDescartes started from a position of Philosophical doubt.

Column B represents ordinary, every day doubt, Column C represents philosophical doubt. Hopefully, for every tick in column B you also have a tick in column C. However the reverse is not true.

For Descartes, this was an academic exercise. He wanted to use scepticism to help him understand what he could be certain of.

The CogitoThrough a process of elimination, Descartes decides that the only thing that he cannot doubt is:

‘cogito ergo sum’

I think therefore I am.

What does this mean?What is the ‘I’ that Descartes is referring to?

Body and Mind

Descartes makes distinctions between things that are mind and things that are the body. Examples are:

5

Unextended

DivisibleIndivisible

IndubitableDubitable

Extended

Can be known a priori Can be known a posteriori

Takes up space

Takes up no space

Relationship between mind and body

They are independent substances.They can exist apart and will be separated at death.In this life they exist in causal interaction with one another.The body and mind communicate with each other via a small organ in the centre of the brain called the pineal glandAlthough distinct substances, the mind and body are in intimate union.

Discuss…

Gilbert Ryle

Gilbert Ryle (1900 – 1976) famously criticised Descartes. He described Descartes’ model as ‘the ghost in the machine. He used two different examples to highlight Descartes mistake:

7

Cambridge UniversityDescertes is making a "Category-mistake.”

A foreigner visiting Cambridge for the first time is shown a number of colleges, libraries, playing fields, museums, scientific departments and administrative offices. He then asks "But where is the university? I have seen where the members of the Colleges live, where the Registrar works, where the scientists experiment and the rest. But I have not yet seen the University in which reside and work the members of your University." It has then to be explained to him that the University is not another collateral institution, some ulterior counterpart to the colleges, laboratories and offices which he has seen. The University is just the way in which all that he has already seen is organized. ....

8

GlovesSimilarly, one may say that he bought a left-hand glove and a right-hand glove, but not that he bought a left-hand glove, a right-hand glove and a pair of gloves.

Ryle was a monist. He argued for philosophical behaviourism. He saw all supposed ‘mental’ events as really a way of referring to complex patterns of behaviour.

9

Draw and Label 2 men: Descartes and Ryle

10

Annotate them both with what they believe about the body and soul. Then annotate them further with the strengths and weaknesses of their ideas.

Descartes Ryle

Strengths and WeaknessesIt seems as though my mind is more than my brain. Mental and Physical realms have different properties. There is no place in the brain where electric simulation can cause a person to believe or decide.Life after death may be possible.

Brain damage caused by trauma or disease compromises our mental power.

11

Questions to consider

If you side with Ryle– What then, is humanity? – Where do we get ideas of Justice, truth and love

from?If you are a materialist, you cannot be a dualist or

believe in rebirth, but you could believe in bodily resurrection. Can you explain why?

12