Rene Descartes was born 31st March 1596 in Turin, Italy. He was the son of a provincial gentleman. He received education in the Jesuit college of La Fleche at around 1606-1614. He studied humanity and later philosophy. In philosophy, he based most on Aristotelian manual. He had a not so positive opinion of the philosophers who preceded him. He wanted to discover the truth by himself and simply not just accept the works done by other philosophers. He believed in himself hence vowed not to accept anything as a truth if he was not clearly known to him. This way, he created what can be considered as the Descartes’ method.
Descartes' method: It is founded on the understanding that philosophy according to Descartes is founded on a doubtful and shaky grounds, unlike the method used in mathematics which was clear, certain and indubitable. So, he sets out to give a strong foundation to philosophy. His main objective was therefore to find one thing which is certain and indubitable upon which the whole philosophy will be founded. He, therefore, begins a journey that will see him doubt and question everything that he once considered to be known to him (Vesey and Descartes, 19640. His level of doubt such that he doubted his very own existence (Descartes and Veitch, 1873)
Cogito Ergo Sum: One thing that Descartes seems to have accepted is that in order for him to doubt which is an act of thinking per se, he must first exist. It follows therefore that the only thing that Descartes can affirm so far as indubitable truth is the ‘Cogito Ergo Sum’ that ‘I think, therefore I exist.’ On this Descartes says: “I do not now admit anything which is not necessarily true: to speak accurately I am not more than a thing which thinks that is to say a mind or a soul or an understanding or a reason which are terms whose significance was formerly unknown to me. I am, however, a real thing and really exist; but what thing? I have answered: a thing which thinks.” (Vesey and Descartes, 1964)
Descartes only discovery so far is that he is a thinking being, whether he has a body or what else exists is yet to be discovered by him. Through his methodical doubt, he furthers concludes that all clear and distinct ideas are in themselves truth since it is only such things that can be considered to be indubitable. He then delves into affirming the existence of God arguing that he Descartes as a finite being cannot have an idea of infinite God's existence, this way he ends up affirming the existence of God. For Descartes God is a perfect being that is a being without any defect or imperfection in His essence, that said, therefore, God cannot deceive him at all since deceit is an imperfection meant for imperfect beings.
Body and soul
The whole drift of Descartes thought is in the direction of dualism; this means that there are two different kinds of substances in nature. We know a substance by attribute and since we clearly and distinctly know two quite different attributes which include thought and extension, must be of two different substances. Another one is spiritual and corporal, mind, and body. Descartes defines a substance as an existing thing which requires nothing but itself to exist (Stumpf, 1993).
Based on this, Descartes affirms that he exists as a thinking being, that is, he is a mind or soul, but then he is thrilled with the fact that he can do some things using some bodily organs such as hands, legs, hands etc. this makes him conclude that he is a body (an extended substance) which completely differences from the thinking being (soul or mind). In short, Descartes concludes that he has two distinct substance: spiritual substance considered as mind whose essence is to think and the material substance considered as the body whose essence is an extension. For Descartes therefore, mind and body are two clearly distinct substance capable of existing independently of each other. This is what is known as the Cartesian dualism.
According to Descartes, body and mind are both finite depending on Gods existence. God is an infinite being who needs nothing to exist. God is absolute, that the eternal world which is known by our senses is not a fiction, but a genuine reality. But Descartes strict dualism made it different, for him, to describe how the mind and body could interact upon each other. If each substance is complete, independent and the mind must dwell in the body apart in an oyster, or as he called to give in a metaphoric way as a pilot in a ship. The question was, “where did they interact?” Having no suitable answer he said the two substances interact at the pineal gland, which is the appendage of the brain. The gland produces and regulates the hormone which regulates sleep pattern. Descartes started on how we can discriminate by thoughts and phenomenology of what is in the body and what is in the soul. Anything that we can experience we attribute to the body and anything that we cannot conceive as being in the body is attributed to the soul. This dualistic concept is one of the sources of Descartes Neo-Platonism of the body and the soul.
Problems raised against Cartesian dualism
Despite the fact that Descartes solved the issue of interaction between the body and the mind by presenting the pineal gland theory, there are still more problems that modern philosophy and science raise against the Cartesian dualism. A problem raised against the Cartesian dualism lies in what he tried to answer that is: how can mind and body interact if they are two beings that differ essentially? The arguments fronted by Descartes in favor of dualism are generally reasonable in so far as it is looked at based on the premises of Descartes himself. The assumption that essentially human beings are ‘thinking beings' is founded on the understanding of the clear and distinct perception as Descartes explains which in turn is based on the acceptance that the radical doubt (Cartesian methodical doubt) is in fact valid.
It is indeed understandable in philosophy that having two different or distinct aspects of reality is a non-issue in itself. In the modern science it is argued that everything in the world is made of or composed of more than one element, and furthermore, the relationship between these elements is not a problem since it is resolved through the fundamental force. However, in Descartes world, fundamentally it the problem consist of, the effect of say body which is material can have an effect on the mind which is immaterial. The interaction of Descartes is based on sensation rather than it being an act of the intellect.
The greatest weakness of Descartes pineal gland as the center of interaction between body and mind is that it does not explain the howness of this interaction. Descartes compares the pineal gland with a pilot steering a ship. This comparison seems to be far-fetched to be true for instance if a ship suffers a breakdown, the pilot of the same does not feel any pain, but when any part of the body breaks, the individual suffers pain.
The other issue based on the Cartesian conclusion that the mind is a distinct entity from the body, would easily make one ask: Is there a possibility of more than one mind occupying one body at the same time? It is a known scientific fact that the mind is a product of brain activity, such that if a person suffers from mental disorders then the same will be presented as brain disorders. What Descartes did not clarify, is how immaterial mind can indeed affect and condition the material world given that the material world is a closed one.
In summary, the Cartesian pineal gland theory is not philosophically grounded hence the many criticisms that it has faced, for instance, one would ask whether the gland is physical, and it was so, how did it end up being part of the brain. Descartes in his letter to Princess Elizabeth of the Palatine who was one his admirers, said that the whole issue of mind and body and how they interact is best understood by not thinking about it, hence Descartes considers it as one of the many mysteries of life that has to be accepted as it is without being comprehended.
From this line of thought, many philosophers have considered and indeed argue that the Cartesian dualism is simply a myth that even Descartes himself gave up on it, by making it be a mystery. As a way of giving an alternative to the Cartesian dualism, different philosophers came up with other theories like materialism, idealism, behaviorisms, and the theory of pre-established harmony among others.
Work cited
Descartes, R. and Veitch, J. (1873). The Meditations and selections from the Principles of a philosophy of Descartes. Edinburgh: W. Blackwood.
Stumpf, S. (1993). Socrates to Sartre: a history of philosophy. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Vesey, G. and Descartes, R. (1964). Body and mind. London: Allen and Unwin.
Vesey, G. and Descartes, R. (1964). Body and mind. London: Allen and Unwin.
