Introduction
Rene Descartes’ book “Meditations on First Philosophy” in 1641 had a big influence on philosophy (Kemerling). Through his meditations, Descartes talks about many subjects like his method of doubt and his proposed dualism between mind and body. This essay will talk briefly about the basic ideas in Descartes’ method of doubt. It will also discuss his ideas of the dualism between mind and body. In some ways, Descartes’ method of doubting is related to the “mind-body dualism” (“Dualism”).
What Are the Basic Ideas in Descartes’ Method of Doubt?
The main concept of Descartes’ method of doubt is “to defeat skepticism on its own ground. Begin by doubting the truth of everything—not only the evidence of the senses and the more extravagant cultural presuppositions, but even the fundamental process of reasoning itself”. Descartes says that if a fact is proven to be true after this process, it will be undoubted (Kemerling). This method has some basic idea:
- The Human Senses Are Not Trustworthy: Everything that the human senses perceive is not real. A person shouldn’t believe what his senses tell him (Kemerling).
- Everything in This World Is A Part of A Big Dream: This idea is based on the fact that no matter how real the dreams seem to be like for a dreamer, they are still unreal. As a result, it is concluded that it is possible that everything that a human perceives by his senses is just a dream. “On this supposition, it is possible to doubt that any physical thing really exists, that there is an external world at all” (Kemerling).
- Humans Are Getting Deceived: Descartes believes that there is an “Omnipotent God”. But he says that this God is deceiving the human mind. Descartes says that God deceives humans using two methods: 1. God makes the human mind believe in facts that are not real. 2. If someone believes in a true fact, God will change that fact so that he makes this person’s belief false. As a result, Descartes says that it’s impossible to believe in anything even if it’s true. But Descartes says that there are two other possible deceivers: 1. The person himself. 2. An “evil demon” (Kemerling).
How Is Descartes’ Method of Doubting Related to His Mind-Body Dualism?
Descartes says that the mind shouldn’t believe anything that the senses tell about the external world. He doesn’t trust his body. The thing that he doesn’t doubt is that he is thinking. So, he trusts his mind (Kemerling). “His famous line, ‘I think, therefore I am,’ lays the foundation for his mind-body dualism. He has established that he has a mind without needing to assume that he has a body” (Kidd). Descartes says that the mind and the body are totally different from each other but they work as one unit. “Imagination and sensory perception could not exist without a mind to contain them. Similarly, there are modes of extension that cannot exist without a body to contain them”. Descartes proves that God exists. He says that the idea of God’s existence comes only from God, not from a human mind. He also says that God is not a deceiver and his power is infinite. So, God won’t let a mind believe in false beliefs (“Dualism”). Both Descartes’ method of doubt and his mind-body dualism distrust the human senses and believe in God’s infinite power. But they have a lot of differences.
Conclusion
There are many contrasts in Descartes’ ideas. In his method of doubt, he says that the world could be unreal and that God is a deceiver. But in his mind-body dualism, he doubts how things seem to be like but he doesn’t deny that they exist (“Dualism”). His mind-body dualism depends on believing that God is not a deceiver.
Works Cited
- Kemerling, Garth. “Descartes: Starting with Doubt.” 2001.
- Kidd, Bryan. “Rene Descartes: Mind-Body Dualism.” 2002.
- “Meditations on First Philosophy: Sixth Meditation, Part 2: Mind-body dualism.” SparkNotes. 2009. Web.