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Descartes's Legacies Of Cartesian Dualism

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Cartesianism is the philosophical and scientific tradition developed from the writings of Rene Descartes. It is a form of rationalism, given that Cartesians believe that specific knowledge can be derived through reason from innate ideas. One of the most notable legacies of Cartesianism is the development of the concept of Cartesian dualism in the 17th century. This idea states that the mind and body are separate entities—the mind can exist outside the body, and the body cannot think. Descartes proposed that the mind and body are distinct entities, with the mind immaterial and the body being a physical substance. Cartesian dualism is historically vital for having given rise to increasing thought regarding the famous mind–body problem. This dualistic view has influenced how psychologists conceptualize and study the mind and its relationship to the body (Ausch, 2015). Descartes also raised the question of consciousness (“I think, therefore I am”) and argued that you could not …show more content…

For example, Aristotle believed all living things possessed a series of souls in a hierarchy and believed the soul to be any organism's natural and final state. Descartes rejected these beliefs and insisted that only God and human beings have the will to live, have a spirit, and have an end (Watson, 2016). Cartesians further believed that science consisted of looking for the laws that govern the motions of bodies and not for the final causes. Descartes then positioned the human soul out of deterministic nature (like God's). As our bodies are a part of nature, the ability to control movements is inexplicable and is inconsistent with mechanistic determinism based on Cartesian ideologies. In Descartes's system, this capacity is some sort of magical force. Furthermore, the entire backbone on which Descartes based his ideologies stems from his insistence on proof of God's

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