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Descartes’ Meditations

Explore Descartes' Meditations on the existence of mind and body, the accuracy of perceptions, and the proof of God's existence. Dive into the concept of dualism and the arguments for the distinction between mind and matter.

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Descartes’ Meditations

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  1. Descartes’ Meditations

  2. Descartes’ Meditations ? C & D perceptions are accurate God exists I exist(as a thinking thing)

  3. What else do I clearly & distinctly perceive? • Truths of mathematics & geometry (p. 44) • Corporeal things exist (p. 52). • Though I may be wrong about (some of) their qualities. • I am distinct from my body (p. 51).

  4. Descartes’ Meditations Physical objects exist Math Geom. C & D perceptions are accurate God exists I exist(as a thinking thing)

  5. Science Physical objects exist Math Geom. C & D perceptions are accurate God exists I exist(as a thinking thing)

  6. Descartes’ Dualism • Reality is made up of two different kinds of stuff (“dualism”) --Mind and Matter. • Opposed to a more scientific view: Reality is made up of only one kind of stuff (“Monism”)-- • Matter: “Physicalism” or “Materialism”. • Mind is just a complicated arrangement of matter, not different in kind.

  7. Descartes’ Dualism • How could Descartes show there are two kinds of stuff? • Descartes proves that mind is distinct from body. • In Meditation 2, proof of his own existence as a “thinking thing” makes no reference to matter. • But are they really distinct?

  8. Descartes’ Dualism • First proof that mind & body are distinct (p. 51): • Mind is essentially thinking & non-extended. • Body is essentially non-thinking & extended. •  Mind  Body. And I can exist without my body! (Immortality)

  9. Descartes’ Dualism • First proof that mind & body are distinct (p. 51): • Mind is essentially thinking & non-extended. • Body is essentially non-thinking & extended. •  Mind  Body. Is it valid?

  10. Leibniz’s Law • Gottfried Leibniz (1646-1716) • If this and that thing are really the same thing, then they have to have all the same properties. • If this and that have different properties, then they are different things.

  11. Descartes’ Dualism • First proof that mind & body are distinct (p. 51): • Body is essentially non-thinking & extended. • What does that mean? • Physical things necessarily have a location and take up space. • True by definition? • Do we know body is essentially non-thinking? • Could computer-robots think?

  12. Alan Turing (1912-1954) Inventor of computers

  13. Could computers think? • “Computing Machinery and Intelligence”(1950) • The Turing Test (a guessing game): • By just asking questions and receiving typed answers from a computer and a person hidden from view, could you tell which was which within a certain time limit? If not, the computer passes the test for thinking.

  14. Descartes’ Dualism • First proof that mind & body are distinct (p. 51): • Mind is essentially thinking & non-extended. • True by definition? • Do we know mind is essentially non-extended? • Can we tell just by reflection?

  15. Descartes’ Dualism • First proof that mind & body are distinct (p. 51): • Mind is essentially thinking & non-extended. • Body is essentially non-thinking & extended. •  Mind  Body. What is true in the premisses doesn’t validly lead to that conclusion.

  16. Descartes’ Dualism • Second proof that mind & body are distinct(p. 56): • Mind is essentially indivisible. • Body is essentially divisible. •  Mind  Body.

  17. Descartes’ Dualism • Second proof that mind & body are distinct(p. 56): • “Mind is essentially indivisible.” • Is this true?

  18. Split-Brain Patients

  19. Freud’s Psychoanalysis • Three parts of the soul: • Ego, Id, and Superego • Conscious/Unconscious • Psyche = Soul/Mind • Analysis = Break into Parts.

  20. Multiple Personalities? • Not aware of each other. • Mind has separate parts? • There are separate minds in the same body? Ron Bloomberg “Split Personality” 1948

  21. Descartes’ Dualism • Second proof that mind & body are distinct(p. 56): • Body is essentially divisible. • Is this true? • Are time and space infinitely divisible? • Conceptually? • Yes. • Experimentally/Physically? • We don’t know.

  22. Descartes’ Dualism • My proof that Water & H20 are distinct: • Water is essentially homogeneous. • H20 is essentially non-homogeneous. •  Water  H20. Can I figure these things out just by thinking about it? Just because I conceive these as being different doesn’t mean they are different.

  23. Descartes’ Dualism • Can we tell matter is essentially non-thinking just by “thinking about it”? • Perhaps my thinking self (mind/soul) depends on my physical self (brain/body) just like the characteristics of water depend on its being H20.

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