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Cartesian Dualism: An Analysis Of The Human Mind On Issues

1554 Words7 Pages

Name: Tina Abadi
Professor: Avron Kulak
Course: Humanities 1840 9.0A

An Analysis of the Human Mind on Issues
Pascal, Descartes, and Montaigne hold individual opinions on the concepts of the thought, the soul, and God that they argue out in their texts using the themes of reason and thought, also presented in this paper. The mind-body debate has been the subject of key philosophical debates for ages. While philosophers like Descartes believe in Cartesian dualism -that the immaterial mind though causally linked to the material body, are ontologically different- others like Pascal and Montaigne believe that the mind and body are intertwined. The mind refers to one’s consciousness, thoughts and mental processes. The body on the other hand refers to the concrete empirical substance whose performance is subject to measurement and regulation. The goal of this paper, therefore, is to explore Pascal’s, Montaigne’s and Descartes’ philosophy on the relationship between the mind and the body is one of the reciprocity. …show more content…

His concentration on Descartes is linked to the former’s mathematical and scientific pursuits. As mentioned in the introductory paragraph, Descartes equates the mind with one’s consciousness. It is different from the brain, which usually denotes intelligence. The brain is often non-physical without the body. However, Descartes argues that, the mind and body are two entities that can, and must, be separated. He believes that the mind is solely based on thought with the body being just an

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