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Philosophical legacy Assignment PDF

   

Added on  2021-05-31

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Running head: CASE STUDY 1Case studyStudent’s NameInstitutional Affiliation

Running head: CASE STUDY 2Mind-body Dualism-IndivisibilityIntroductionDescartes Rene is highly remembered for his philosophical legacy in which he arguedthat the mind and the body are really distinct and different from each other. His thesis on thedistinction of the mind and the body is today referred to as the "mind-body dualism." In hisargument, he asserts that the state of the mind which is a thinking but non-extended thing iscompletely distinct from that of the body which he notes is an extended but not a thinking thing.He believes that the mind is an immaterial thing that is non-extended and engages in varioustasks such as willing, feeling, rational thought and even the aspect of imagination. The humanbody he considers to be casually different from other types of the matter because it is affected bythe mind to produce some kind of response and mental events (Britannica, 2017). For hisreasoning, therefore, he concludes that it is, therefore, possible that either the body or the mindcan exist independently (Mohammed, 2017). Descartes’ argument leaves very important questions to ask about the causal interactionof the body and mind if his theory was to go by; First, how is it possible that the mind can causesome of our body parts to move, for instance when one lifts his/her hands to ask a question andsecondly, how possible is it that some of the bodily organs cause a sensation in the mind when inreal sense their natures are very different? As a proponent and advocate for the position ofDescartes’ philosophy on indivisibility, this article will, therefore, defend the mind-body dualismby concisely explaining the position taken by the philosopher.Looking at one's surrounding, everything that surrounds us is not necessarily material.There are things in our environment or in us that are not material in appearance or in nature. The

Running head: CASE STUDY 3distinction of whether something is material or immaterial is what Descartes tries to make usunderstand. In his argument, he asserts that everything that is material in nature and appearancewould be defined by extension, in other words, able to occupy space and that that material cannotshare that space with another. Matter occupies space, even when split, the particles extend tooccupy their own unique space. Descartes refers to those things that can extend to occupy their unique space as “resextensa,” meaning matter for that matter. Matter can physically extend. On the other hand, themind, the belief, and emotions are not physical things in nature thus cannot extend or cannot beextended by any means or split into particles that can really occupy space just like other matter.Descartes refers to these things as "res cogitans." In this context, therefore, Descartes' assertionimplies that a human being is both a material thing and also a thought like a thing. If a substancecan be measured say for instance in length, width and breadth, then it is a material thing else, it isa thought like a thing. Human beings for this though, are considered both in the sense that theyconsist of the material such as bones and flesh and also immaterial/ thought-like because of theemotions, spirit, beliefs and the mind in general (Ask a Philosopher, 2011). On a natural thought, human beings are taken to be similar with other animals and evento non-living things such as chairs and boxes, that they are also material things. And that we takeup similar space and share some other similarities such as the presence of limbs. According toDescartes though, a human being is viewed as very different and non-material things, that we areunlike other material things such as chairs because our body parts are distinct from us. Hisobjective, therefore, is to persuade us as we consume his philosophy that as humans, we aretotally separate in structure and reason from our body hence his theory of dualism, humans andtheir bodies are two things and not one.

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