Mind & Body

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Mind and Body

The mind-body problem is perhaps the tested criticism of all of Descartes’ ideas. The mind-body problem is the result of Descartes’ strict rationality and his metaphysical findings. It has haunted modern philosophers since the time of Descartes, and will continue to remain a problem for many years. Even Descartes’ followers realize that the problem is so deeply ingrained into his dualistic philosophy that they attempted to alter his metaphysical scheme to present a more acceptable answer to this problem.
Descartes begins his metaphysical quest with doubt. He doubts everything he knows right down to the smallest little detail. All he is then left with is his doubt, which he realizes cannot exist unless he is a thinking think, or the cogito. This is the first thing Descartes proves to be real through reason. Next, Descartes proves the existence of God. He does so through his principles of causality in an effort to overcome solipsism. After his proof of the existence of God, Descartes is left to prove the existence of the physical world. He proves that the physical world exists as the cause of our ideas of it. This all said and done, we are left with three things in the universe that are known to be real: cogito (unextended), physical world (extended), and God. This leaves Descartes with a very dualistic metaphysical scheme. You have the physical world in one hand, a very measurable world that exists physically; and the mind (or cogito) on the other, an immeasurable thing that takes up no space. These are the two primary substances of the world, with God as an infinite substance. This leads us into the mind-body problem.
The mind-body problem exists because of the strict dualism Descartes has led himself into. How can the mind (unextended) and the body (extended) come together in the human to exist in such unity? The mind and body are the two substances that make up reality, and both are diametrically opposed su...