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Research Paper On Melinda Descartes

620 Words3 Pages

Sherley Ly
Professor Matthew
PHIL1301
19 February 2018
Essay 2: Descartes

At this point, Melinda and Melissa are still on opposing sides of one another, each having their own context of the soul. Based on Descartes's argument, the mind and body are considered as two separate substances. He isn't absolute that he has a body; however, he uses the scholastic definition of a soul. He believes that the soul can be vegetative or rational, meaning it could be unconscious or sensible. This means that the soul can exist in many forms. Of the two sisters, Melinda would be most likely to adopt to Descartes's point of view. Since the beginning of Matthew's incident, Melinda was persistent in arguing that Matthew is alive and to keep him hooked to …show more content…

He mentioned that perceptions, such as walking and nutrition, are attributes of the soul. However, they rely on the body to thrive; therefore, they aren't considered to be independent to the body and doesn't belong to himself. Rather, those characteristics belong to the body. Alternatively, Descartes believes that thinking is what "properly belongs to myself" (Medication 2). Thinking is his and his alone; it doesn't correlate to any other bodily function. This evidently leads to him proposing to prove that there is a soul; the basis of the mind. For Descartes, the soul is intellectual, leading him to raise the possibility that the self is essentially a thinking being. A mind. Melinda would utilize Descartes's presentation of the soul being the mind to argue that, although Matthew's bodily functions have ended, his mind is still present because the mind and soul are presumably the same. Therefore, he is alive. It doesn't matter that Matthew won't be able to gain movement. The fact that his mind is still somewhat functioning through machines, he should be considered …show more content…

Since Melinda agrees with Descartes' view of the soul being the mind, Melissa can argue with the evidence that Matthew is brain dead. Since the mind correlates with the brain, if the brain is dead the mind complies. What is the mind without its brain? Descartes also mentioned that thinking is an essential property of the soul (Mediation 2). If Matthew is announced brain dead with enough medical evidence to prove that status, then he will not be able to think regardless of being kept alive through machines. In a vegetative state, the person is unconscious and has no awareness of themselves or their environment. Therefore, without the ability to think, his soul, his mind is absent. He's just a body preserved through machines and, without it, Matthew would flat line shortly after the

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