According to Rene Descartes, the mind is an immaterial substance and a “thinking thing.” He notes that the mind is the essence of oneself, which beliefs, thinks, doubts and hopes. The body –the material thing – controls the normal functions of the body. Descartes affirms that animals only have the body but lack the soul (the distinguishing trait between animals and humans). The principal claim of his argument, which is often referred to as Cartesian Dualism, is that the mind and the material body, although ontologically separate substances, causally interact. Mental actions thus have impacts on physical events, and vice versa. On the other hand, Plato referred to the material world as a shadow of a higher reality, which comprises of concepts that he described as Forms (Frede and Reis 10-11). He notes that objects in individuals’ world “play a role in” these Forms, which confer meaning and identity to material objects. In his argument, Plato states that the soul is from the world of Form, which make it immortal while the body is from the material world. He believed that the body was temporally united with the soul and only at death that these can be separated, thereby returning to the world of Forms.
Descartes believed that the body and the mind are distinct from each other, and thus one’s thoughts (mind) are independent of the body. He uses an example of a sailor in a ship to support his argument in which the body is represented by a ship while the sailor signifies the mind. In this example, the mind is like a navigator to the body. He notes that the two, especially the mind cannot depend on the body because both can be perceived independently of one another as having distinct variations. However, bodily sensations such as hunger, pain, and thirst show that the mind is not merely present in the body, but the two are firmly joined together and intermingle with each other to form a unit ("Plato " Descartes"). If this was not the instance, an individual could not experience pain when the body is hurt and would recognize damage using intellectual comprehension, similarly to a sailor, who views damaged and broken things by sight in the ship. Descartes adds that with the existence of God, things can be understood separately. The practical consequence of this is the probability of life after death in which the soul can survive the demise of the body.
Descartes, however, believed that the body is powerless to link itself with the mind. It is only through God, a third supreme being of boundless power that the union between these two can occur. Therefore this union falls within the causes of supernatural. Although the arguments by these two theorists are often grouped with nondualist theories, both Descartes’ mind-body dualism and Plato’s soul-body dualism are profoundly different. The main difference lies in Descartes’ rejection and Plato’s acceptance of the notion that the soul is alike with what animates the body ("Plato " Descartes"). In his argument, Plato offers an instance of intellectual exercise, which loosens the soul’s attachment to the body and therefore, the Phaedo is an exercise in saving the soul. Descartes Meditations, which follows a path from doubt to himself and then to God who is Holy aimed at establishing something lasting and firm in the field sciences.
Works Cited
"Plato " Descartes". Newdualism.Org, 2018, http://www.newdualism.org/papers/S.Broadie/Soul-and-Body.htm. Accessed 22 Mar 2018.
Frede, Dorothea, and Burkhard Reis, eds. Body and soul in ancient philosophy. Walter de Gruyter, 2009.
