Joel A. Geles
Professor Welte
PHI 101A
3 November 2017
Rene Descartes’ mind body dualism is a theory that there is a distinctive separation between the soul and the body. He believes there must be a separate physical reality from a non-physical one. His argument is essentially matter makes up the physical surroundings, such as your body. Separately, the non-physical takes up no physical space, such as you soul. Descartes thought process is as follows: I have a clear and distinct idea of the mind as a thinking, non-extended thing (premise 1). I have a clear and distinct idea of body as an extended, non-thinking thing (premise 2). Therefore, the mind is really distinct from the body and can exist without it. Initially this assumption may seem unmerited and too straight forward, but there is a deeper level to it. Descartes doctrine of “clear and distinct” ideas are used as the premise for his prior distinctions made. Descartes clear and distinct ideas of what is true are the core of his argument for mind body dualism.
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The body can easily be imagined as a distinct entity on its own. For example; a rock is a body without a mind, therefore the body can exist without the mind. The slight problem arises with premise 1. Descartes turns to a very complicated explanation as to why it is clear and distinct that a mind can exist without a body. He turns to the existence of God. Descartes believes he has established that God will not deceive with absolute, complete certainty. He has to consider anything contradicting this conclusion to be false based on this idea. Moreover, Descartes claims that he cannot help but believe clear and distinct ideas to be