Descartes s Argument For The Separability Of The Mind And...

This essay will critically discuss and analyse how Descartes makes his argument for the separability of the mind and body in the Meditations on First Philosophy. In this text, Descartes argues for the distinction between the mind and body through reasoning that they are two very distinct and non-identical substances. Furthermore, he argues that because they are so clearly distinct from each other that the mind does not need to rely on the body to exist and that the body does not need to mind to exist, therefore, the mind and body can be separated. Firstly, he provides reasoning that they are different substances through doubting the existence of all material things around him, including his own body. Furthermore, while he can doubt the existence of his material body Descartes claims that there is no way for him to doubt the existence of his own mind. Secondly, he provides an argument that the mind and body are distinct substances due to them having other different properties; he does this by arguing that the body is divisible into parts while the mind is not. Therefore, because the mind and body do not have the same properties they are non-identical substances. Thirdly, he provides an argument that builds atop the first two, this argument is that because he can conceive so clearly that his mind and body are different they must be separable in some way. Firstly in the second meditation, Descartes provides reasoning that the mind and body are two clearly distinct substances,Show MoreRelatedDescartes Myth-Gilbert Ryle1044 Words   |  5 Pagesï » ¿Gilbert RyleÂ’s The Concept of Mind Gilbert Ryle (1900-76) was a philosopher who taught at Oxford and who made important contributions to the philosophy of mind and to ordinary language philosophy. His most important writings included Philosophical Arguments (1945), The Concept of Mind (1949), Dilemmas (1954), Plato s Progress (1966), and On Thinking (1979). The Concept of Mind (1949) is a critique of the notion that the mind is distinct from the body, and it is a rejection of the theory that