Chapter 15: Descartes

Descartes Overview One of the most common-sense views of reality is technically known as mind-matter dualism: We have bodies and we have minds, and these are essentially different substances—a view that dates back to Plato and can be found in world religions and ancient mythologies. This chapter explores Rene Descartes’ expression of this metaphysical theory and the problem it gives rise to, namely, the mind-body problem: whether and/or how two different substances can be related to one another.

Descartes Overview It also reflects some contemporary concepts of mind and has given rise to a rich discussion about the just what the relation and distinction is between the mind and the brain. Most importantly, Descartes sets the stage of modern philosophy with its dominant plot: the study of human self-consciousness—that the only way to understand reality is to understand the self (the I, or consciousness) for which it exists. If consciousness constitutes reality, then knowledge of consciousness equals knowledge of reality

Descartes Descartes’ Life: World Traveler and Intellectual Explorer Descartes’ Philosophical Agenda The Discovery of Method

Descartes Finding the Foundations of Knowledge Method of Doubt The Foundations of Certainty The Nature of the Self The Criterion of Truth

Descartes Metaphysics: God, World, Mind and Bodies The Causal Argument for God’s Existence Criticism’s of Descartes’ Causal Argument for God Further Arguments for God’s Existence (the ontological argument) God and the Validity of Reason

Descartes Metaphysics: God, World, Mind and Bodies The Existence of the Physical World The Mind-Body Relation Descartes’ Compromise Interactionism Parallelism (Geulincx) Occasionalism (Malebranch)

Descartes Evaluation and Significance