Descrates Mind And Body Dualism Analysis

Philosopher Descrates asked: “What am I?“ this was Descrates way of trying to determine what his being was made of. If Descrates were a person for example, when he died he would no longer be a person but, rather a corpse. Mind and body dualism is the distinct characteristic of both the body and the mind. Descrates believed that the mind could function without the body. The belief was that the body was possibly non-existent, something like an image of the imagination, which he argued was uncertain. Descrates draws out a difference between imagination and intellect. The imagination for instance: “1) Requires additional effort, 2) Is not a required part of the essence of my mind, and 3)depends on something distinct from me.” (South University

Online). I agree with Desrates in this particular belief because when a person is paralyzed, the body cannot move and the individual is unable to interact however, the person is able to hear and feel emotions and although the body is not working, the mind still is.
Another example of mind and body dualism is that an individual carries what is called a free will.

Free will is making choices and decisions that is not forced or driven by an external force but, instead comes from a intellect within on right and wrong. If an individual goes too far with his free will or takes advantage of having a free will then that results in the errors that humans tend to always commit. “Descartes thus concludes: 1)There can be both free will and God. 2)We can attain correct knowledge about ourselves and the world if we are careful to never judge anything that we do not clearly and distinctly understand.” (South University

Online).
As described in our lecture, Descrates also felt that just because we have the ability to imagine things, does not mean that they actually do exist but, that does not necessarily mean that they can also be absolutely nothing, this could be because at some point we had or have the knowledge of that thing that is being imagined. Along with his new perception of God’s existence, Descrates points out the following: “Perceive them as objects of pure mathematics, and the perfect, infinite, non-deceptive God in his proof is capable of bringing them about.” (South University Online).
At some point Descrate believed that everything was questionable. The existence of God was questionable, everything we think we know is questionable and even our own existence is questionable thus leading to the creation of the Cartesian method, which includes these main points: “1) Never accept anything as true anything that can be doubted. Even a remote doubt is sufficient to require that a belief/assertion be examined.
2) Divide ideas/beliefs about which one is uncertain into as many parts as possible (i.e., divide and conquer) 3) Proceed to examine each section of knowledge/belief step-by-step, even if these beliefs/ideas are not generally considered to follow from one another.
4) Be exhaustive!

Review all beliefs for clarity and coherence.”(South University Online) Different from Descrate and his philosophy, empiricist John Locke had different thoughts on the mind and body. Locke felt that what really lead to knowledge of things was our experiences beginning at the time we are born, he believed that our brains were blank with no knowledge or information and only existed until our senses activated at the time we were born. Locke believed that as an individual lives life and grows older we are then filled with experiences that allows our mind to communicate with our bodies, something that Descrate was unable to answer since he believed that the mind and the body were totally separate. Locke also thought that some things just are for example, an object just is, whether it be broken, dissolved, melted, cut it just is because it remains the same, same volume, ounces and weight, this is known as the primary qualities, the secondary qualities he believed were created in the

mind.

Kantian Idealism and Phenomenology

The Kantian idealism was brought up by Immanuel Kant. The Kantian emerged from the disagreement with Hume’s ideas which, were thought to be too extreme however, did agree that knowledge began with sensation except Kant’s argument was that the brain or mind was not blank but, was programmed with intuition and senses so that when we do have experiences the programmed structure makes these experiences meaningful and makes it possible to have knowledge in the first place. Kant also believed that these structures were not necessarily enough for a person to have knowledge without judgment. “This led to his table of all possible a priori forms of judgment: Quantity: universal, particular, singular Relation: categorical, hypothetical, disjunctive Modality: problematic (those that express logical possibility), assertoric, apodictic (those that express logical necessity)”(South University Online). Kant, unlike Locke and Hume’s ideas believed that the self is the subject that is conscious of itself, as well as the world around it. (South University Online).