Philosophy: Descartes Views on the Differentiation Between the Mind and the Body

Descartes views on the differentiation between the mind and the body has given rise to much thought regarding the interaction between these supposedly distinct substances. Through examining correlations between Princess Elizabeth of Bohemia it is evident that Descartes himself struggled to plausibly identify the interaction among the mental and material in relation to causation. This essay will investigate Elizabeth’s quires into the causational relationship between the mind and body by explaining and investigating Descartes distinction between the mental and physical as separate substances, Elizabeth’s concern in relation to the problem of interaction, and Descartes response to these concerns.

The idea that there are two fundamental kinds of distinct substances: material (physical thing) and mental (incorporeal, thinking thing) is a philosophical position inline with claims among theology that believe an independent sphere of existence, separate from that of the physical world, is occupied by immortal spirits (Hart 1996) and therefore may have been developed to substantiate the existence of God. Describing the mind as a “non-extended, thinking thing” and the body as an “extended, non-thinking thing,” Descartes insists in his 6th Meditation that even after great bodily change a material substance still remains itself only in an altered form. As such it follows that the basis of what make this thing that which it is must rely on a distinct non-extended substance. Descartes continues by explaining the possibility to the mind existing without the form of a material body, as a substance whose essence is thought, and therefore is undoubtedly distinct from the physical. While both being ontologically separate substances, the essential ...

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...ole. As Descartes starts in Principles, Part 1: “But we also experience within ourselves certain other things, which must not be referred either to the mind alone or to the body alone. These arises, as will be made clear in the appropriate place, from the close and intimate union of our mind with the body.” For example the motion of an eye can produce modes of sensation within the mind and it is that combination of both mental and physical in human beings that causes the perception of a chair (or whatever sight one may be viewing). As the mind acting on the body through voluntary action and the body on the mind through both perception and sensation is constantly experienced, an interaction between the mental and material in obvious. Descartes maintains that human beings possess the primal notion of substantial union however it is often perplexing and misapplied.

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