René Descartes

René Descartes (1596-1650)

• A major proponent in the scientific revolution

MATHEMATICS• Invented the Cartesian coordinatesMECHANICS, COSMOLOGY, PHYSIOLOGY• Furthered the advancement of these

sciencesPHILOSOPHY• Dualism between body and soul

René Descartes

Dualist Metaphysics

• His view about man’s body and soul is somehow the same as that of Plato’s

• The presence of an absolute distinction between those who have incorporeal souls and those who do not have– Between all men and all animals (brutes)

• BRUTES – bodily machines having no rationality and sensation

– Absolute distinction• Supported by two tests proving that ONLY men are

rational soul– USE OF LANGUAGE– ALL-ROUND NATURE OF INTELLIGENCE

Animals have no

intelligence and

rationality as that of man,

therefore they are not capable of

communication through

which man is understood.

Consciousness and Dualism

• Our senses tend to deceive us, leading us to imagine of different things– since our senses tend to deceive us, we have the

tendency to imagine things – the imagination of things, which may not always

be true, is a reaction to the action made by the senses

• Everything that passes through the mind is not truer than the illusions while dreaming

• The one who is thinking must be something– “I am thinking, therefore I exist.”

• First principle Descartes was seeking

Man has the tendency to misinterpret

the actions of the senses,

thus resulting to his

imagination of things that may

or may not exist in the real

world.

Consciousness and Dualism

• Man is a substance and his essence (nature) is to be conscious– His being does not require place and does not depend

on any material object

• The rational soul is entirely different from the material body– The material object (body) and the formal object (soul)

are two different things and each is understood on an idea different from that of the other

• Even if the body is absent, the soul remains to be present as it is– The soul does not cease to exist even if the material

object, which is the body, is not present

SOUL BODY

The soul and the body are two

different things and man’s being does not depend on any material

object (body). The absence of the body does not

affect the existence of the soul. The soul

continues to live even if the body is not there to serve as the

soul’s residence. The soul is immortal.

Language and Rationality

• 2 means identifying the authentic man– Machines are unable to communicate

using words or other constructed signs– Machines’ actions are not caused by

their knowledge but by the disposition of their organs•ORGANS – in need of special arrangement

for each special action– Impossible for machines to act to different

circumstances of life because ONLY reason, that is only present in man, allows us to do such

Language and Rationality

• Man can make use of words by arranging them to form a sentence to express their thought and be understood.– No brute (animal) can do such not because they

lack organs (e.g. parrots, magpies)– They can talk but they are unaware of what they

say

• Brutes come up with signs to be understood by those who are with them and by those who have the chance to learn their language

• A very small amount of reason is needed in order to talk and express ideas

Man is created with the capability to speak and communicate with the

rest of his species. Only species like him is being

gifted with the intelligence to arrange words and compose a

sentence that may express his ideas and emotions. Animals and machines, on the other hand, does not posses

the reason and intelligence in order to

speak. Although in some cases, like those pf the

parrots, they only imitate what they hear

but they do not have the knowledge of what they

speak.

Language and Rationality

• It is inappropriate to compare a brute and a man because each is a different human organism created with distinct faculties and senses– Each has a whole different nature from the other and

should not be compared and weighed against• Natural movements (expressions of emotions)

can be imitated by machines and by brutes and should not be misunderstood

• Man must not think that brutes can talk, only that we do not understand them, because reason is required in order to do such

• Nature – that which acts in animals with accordance to the arrangements of their organs

Man and animals are not ought to be compared because each is being created

entirely different from the other.

THE RATIONAL SOUL

… cannot be extracted from the potentiality of matter.

The soul cannot be measured in terms of the capacity of the material

object.The soul is specially created and it is not enough that it resides in a human body.

To have feelings and appetite,

the soul and the body must be

united more closely.

When the material object dies, the soul does not die with it.

There are no causes by which the soul can be

destroyed, therefore it is IMMORTAL.