Descartes Meditation Two Analysis

Descartes argues that the mind and body are two different substances that interact with one another and it is this interaction that essentially makes up human beings. He establishes the existence of the mind in Meditation Two which can be simply supported by his famous quote “I think, therefore I am” (43). He doesn’t prove the existence of the body until Meditation Six, where he comes to the conclusion that God would not deceive him into thinking that something exists unless it actually did exist. Descartes believes that God, the mind, and the body are three different substances. Descartes contradicts himself with his idea that the mind and the body are different substances that can also form one, such as the human being.

Two things cannot be different substances and interact in the way Descartes describes the

mind and the body as doing so. A substance is defined as two things that possess different properties and can exist independently without the other. This is supported by the quote found in Modern Philosophy, “My ability clearly and distinctly to understand one thing without another suffices to make me certain that the one thing is different from the other, since they can be separated from each other, at least by God” (Ariew and Watkins 64). The nature, or attributes, of the mind can be described as “unextended” (67). This means that it is a non-physical substance and cannot take up space. It is also “indivisible” because it is unable to be separated into “parts” (67). The nature of the body on the other hand is “extended” (67). It is a physical substance and it takes up space. Since it takes up space, it can also be divided. This is Descartes’ theory of substance. But if the mind and body are two different substances, with different attributes, how can their properties cooperate with each other and exchange information?
The mind and the body are not two “clearly and distinct” substances (51). In order to exist, you must be thinking. You do not need a body to think, so you do not need a body to exist. The mind can exist without the body, but Descartes doesn’t clearly or reasonably explain how the body can exist without the mind. Descartes explanation and reasoning for mind/body dualism and theory of substance are conflicting and only seem to disprove each other.
These two substances, which are “clearly and distinctly” different, according to Descartes’ theory of substance, also interact with one another to form the duality of the mind and body (51).

The human being consists of the mind and the body. The following quote directly supports his theory of mind/body dualism, “Nature also teaches that I am present to my body not merely in the way that a sailor is present in a ship, but that I am most tightly joined and, so to speak, commingled with it, so much that I and the body constitute one single thing.” (65). This is simply saying that the mind influences the body and the body influences the mind. The mind affects the body by causing movement. When I want to stand up and walk across the room, I am thinking in my mind this action which is then acted out by signals being sent through my body. The body affects the mind by causing sensations. If I were to stub my toe as I am walking across the room, the feeling of pain is sent from my body and perceived by my mind as pain. He says that all of this happens in a part of the brain (67). But how can a space be specified for an unextended substance that doesn’t occupy

space?
Descartes theories of substance and mind/body dualism are not “clear and distinct” ideas, which is what he has stressed throughout all six of his Meditations. If two substances are different by means of extension and unextension, can they ever really be considered one thing? I think one would answer this by saying that the mind and body are in fact two different substances, but the human being is also a substance just made up of other substances. But this is not being clear and distinct. These claims cause confusion.
I don’t believe that the body can exist as two different substances the way Descartes describes it. If I exist because I think, then what happens when I am sleeping? He does say that dreaming is a form of thinking, but when we are not dreaming, do I still exist? When you are asleep you are not immediately aware of anything. He supports his reasoning for how the mind can exist without the body, but doesn’t give a real explanation as to how the body can exist without the mind. If the body cannot exist without the mind, then it cannot be a different substance. This causes me to doubt Descartes theory of substance and mind/body dualism. The mind, body, and God could essentially be made of the same substance and understood in a way different than how Descartes describes it in his Meditations.