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Descartes Coherent Conception Argument Analysis

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1. Dualism is an idea that attempts to answer the mind-body problem by arguing that the mind and body are two distinct substances. Descartes’ coherent conception argument is a form of interactionistic dualism, which states that if the mind and body are undoubtedly separate than they interact in a casual relationship. This argument states that anything a person coherently conceives can be made possible by some power. It then states that if a person distinctly understands the mind and body are separate substances than some power can make it such that the mind and body are separate. The theory then goes on to state that if it is logically possible for the mind and body to exist separate from each other, then they are distinct substance, and therefore the mind and body are separate substance. Antoine Arnauld’s argument that Descartes doesn’t have a complete understanding of the mind convinces me that Descartes’ second premise is not true. It can be coherently conceived that even though Descartes’ believes he has a complete …show more content…

The type identity claim is a theory that argues that what it is to be “a” is the exact same for what it is to be “b”. This would mean the same as saying “a” and “b” have an identical identity during all instances. If the statement “Apples are fruit” was a type identity claim, it would mean that every time we have an apple we have a fruit and that every time we have a fruit we have an apple. The first part of the statement is true, an apple is a fruit, but just because we have a fruit doesn’t mean we always have an apple, which disproves the theory. The fruit statement would be a token identity interpretation, which tells us whenever we find an “a” we will find “b” for the reason that they seem to go together, not because they are the same. In this instance, we have an apple, so we also have a fruit, but the token theory tells us that they do not share the exact same identity, which is why we can still find a fruit that is not an

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213 Words | 1 Pages

CHIDIEBUBE OPARA PHIL 1301 PROF BROWN July 10, 2017 PRINCESS ELISABETH First, in my essay about what Princess Elisabeth was asking Descartes to clarify was about the meditation. This meditation was to give an expression of how the mind and the body interact to one another. Next, In Descartes response to Princess Elisabeth, he claims that the mind and the body are the two different important substances in our human beings.

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768 Words | 4 Pages

1.) What does it mean to say that Descartes was a dualist and an interactionist? According to Descartes, How did humans differ from animals? To say that Descartes was a dualist is to say that he believed the mind and body are two separate and distinguishable essences. The immaterial mind and the material body although separate, causally interact.

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In this paper I will explain Elizabeth of Bohemia’s main argument against Cartesian dualism. I will also explain why Churchland rejects Cartesian dualism and her arguments against it and what alternatives she has in mind. At the end I will explain why I think a Cartesian mind is not plausible. Descartes believed in Cartesian Dualism, which is saying that the mind and body are two different things. He says that the body can be divided into pieces but the mind/soul are indivisible.

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This view leads us to understand that our actions do not come from the mind. A problem with this view could be that as an individual, you have experienced your own thoughts and desires that seem to affect my actions, so it cannot be true that the mind does not affect the body. An epiphenomenalist might answer this by saying that it is true that you might have these desires/thoughts but they are “impotent epiphenomena”, while the person might have them, they are unable to affect anything. Type-type identity theory is the “…mental states are physical states of the brain” (Churchland 26). Every thought or mental state is tied to a physical one.

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403 Words | 2 Pages

If the phrase “all ravens are black” (statement 1) is logically equivalent to the statement “everything non-black is a non-raven” (statement 2), with the latter seeming to be confirmed by “this apple is green”, then “all ravens are black” should be too. However, this does not seem to be the case—but why isn't it? In the next couple hundred words I hope to explain my theory that the two statements are not, in fact, as equivalent as one might assume from the phrase “logically equivalent”. First, let me say that logically equivalent is not the same as equivalent. Logically equivalent refers to the equivalence of truth values between expressions, while equivalent refers more or less to two or more things being identical.

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In this paper, I will deliver a reconstruction of Descartes’ Cogito Argument and my reasoning to validate it as indubitable. I will do so by justifying my interpretations through valid arguments and claim, by showcasing examples with reasoning. Rene Descartes is a French Philosopher of the 17th century, who formulated the philosophical Cogito argument by the name of ‘cogito ergo sum,’ also known as “I think, therefore, I am.” Rene was a skeptic philosopher amongst many scholastic philosophers of his time. To interpret his cogito argument as indubitable and whether it could serve as a foundational belief, he took a skeptical approach towards the relations between thoughts and existence.

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172 Words | 1 Pages

Therefore, Descartes argues that the mind and the body must be two logically distinct

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In the sixth meditation, Descartes postulates that there exists a fundamental difference in the natures of both mind and body which necessitates that they be considered as separate and distinct entities, rather than one stemming from the other or vice versa. This essay will endeavour to provide a critical objection to Descartes’ conception of the nature of mind and body and will then further commit to elucidating a suitably Cartesian-esque response to the same objection. (Descartes,1641) In the sixth meditation Descartes approaches this point of dualism between mind and matter, which would become a famous axiom in his body of philosophical work, in numerous ways. To wit Descartes postulates that he has clear and distinct perceptions of both

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884 Words | 4 Pages

In this paper, I will deliver a reconstruction of Descartes’ Cogito Argument and my reasoning to validate it as indubitable. I will do so by justifying my interpretations through valid arguments and claim, by showcasing examples with reasoning. Rene Descartes is a French Philosopher of the 17th century, who formulated the philosophical Cogito argument by the name of ‘cogito ergo sum,’ also known as “I think, therefore, I am.” Rene was a skeptic philosopher amongst many scholastic philosophers at his time. He took a skeptical approach towards the relations between thoughts and existence, to interpret his cogito argument as indubitable and whether it could serve as a foundational belief.

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724 Words | 3 Pages

Plantinga states that this confusion comes about as a result of ambiguity surrounding the issue of what property God must necessarily have. This paper will examine

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The debate of the existence of God has always been a controversial topic and has been going on for centuries. Till this day it is still a debate. We have people who strongly believe in God and others who questions his existence. Those who have strong faith will try to convince everyone who does not believe in God that he exits. They will try to come up with arguments to show he is real and good.

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In his philosophical thesis, of the ‘Mind-Body dualism’ Rene Descartes argues that the mind and the body are really distinct, one of the most deepest and long lasting legacies. Perhaps the strongest argument that Descartes gives for his claim is that the non extended thinking thing like the Mind cannot exist without the extended non thinking thing like the Body. Since they both are substances, and are completely different from each other. This paper will present his thesis in detail and also how his claim is critiqued by two of his successors concluding with a personal stand.

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810 Words | 4 Pages

Have you ever watched curiosity get the best of someone, or heard the age old saying curiosity killed the cat? In the story Young Goodman Brown, Nathaniel Hawthorne illustrates this perfectly by showing just what happens when you start to question those around you. Young Goodman Brown represents an allegory by using religious imagery, character names, and struggles between good and evil. For example, the main characters’ names, Young Goodman Brown and Faith, could symbolize the innocence of youth and how temptations are always lurking.

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This paper will critically examine the Cartesian dualist position and the notion that it can offer a plausible account of the mind and body. Proposed criticisms deal with both the logical and empirical conceivability of dualist assertions, their incompatibility with physical truths, and the reducibility of the position to absurdity. Cartesian Dualism, or substance dualism, is a metaphysical position which maintains that the mind and body consist in two separate and ontologically distinct substances. On this view, the mind is understood to be an essentially thinking substance with no spatial extension; whereas the body is a physical, non-thinking substance extended in space. Though they share no common properties, substance dualists maintain

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1744 Words | 7 Pages

But may believe even Descartes isn’t exactly clear on the inner working of the relationship (Robinson, Howard). Spinoza’s substance monism cleverly dissolves this issue by labeling mind (thought) and body (extension) as attributes to a common and singular substance. Other substance pluralist philosophies are also denied when we truly capture the infinite extent of

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