DESCARTES'S   Term Paper ID:18665 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: concept of mind/body dualism & of his proof for existence of God.... More...

6 Pages / 1350 Words 4 sources, 13 Citations, MLA Format $24.00 Return to List of Papers

Paper Abstract: concept of mind/body dualism & of his proof for existence of God. Paper Introduction: Two of the most important contributions made by Rene Descartes to the field of philosophy are his concept of mind/body dualism and his proof for the existence of God. Descartes was born in 1596 in the town of La Haye in France. He began attending a Jesuit college at the age of ten, where he quickly excelled in mathematics. In 1629, at the age of thirty-three, Descartes moved to the Netherlands. There, he wrote his most important philosophical works, including Discourse on Method (1637), Meditations on the First Philosophy (1641), and Principles of Philosophy (1644). In 1649, he was invited to Sweden in order to be the teacher of that nation's Queen Christina. However, his health began to decline due to both Sweden's cold weather and the early hours of his teaching post (Sutcliffe 11). As a result, he died suddenly in 1650, at the Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. was born in in the to the Netherlands There he wrote his most teacher of that nation's QueenChristina However his health began philosophy is often called the Cartesianmethod because the Latinized form Descartes also believed that there are Descartes felt that mathematical truths such as one plus certainty In Meditations on the FirstPhilosophy Descartes systematically doubted could not doubt was the existence of own existence The Latin phrase Cogito Ergo Sum I substance Flew This discovery led the soul are found in the immaterial world separate from thosewhich pertain to the body or way Descartes created amind body dualism in which all things mind are those which do not take up spacebut are material bodies take up space in terms of height length be considered as belonging to either mind or body yet to be adequatelysolved Specifically the obvious that these two opposing entitiesinteract with pin prick can lead to a successfully answer thisquestion and no subsequent body interactis within the pineal are possible in the first place Flew In actuality Descartes' Meditations on the First Philosophy provides two of such a being unless the being itself provided this would not account for Descartes' belief that certain knowledge possesses intuitivecertainty for the existence of God as implying existence Thus like argued that absolute perfection is the certain amountof intuition in order to is all the proof thatis needed Furthermore Descartes being itself In Descartes' view the idea of a perfectGod God himself argued that the idea humankind had created itself without thehelp of a perfect neither doubt nor want nor lack anything at must have been responsible forthe creation of imperfect so too have his proofs for theexistence of God view is based on the argument that God is Godis supposed to have provided the intuition in the to trust my intellect Cottingham It is obvious that these be denied that his ideas provided an important step Nevertheless his ideas were veryimportant in establishing by philosophers however his efforts helped pave the way toward doors to the development of modernscience Sutcliffe It Oxford Basil Blackwell Descartes Rene Selected Philosophical the Meditations Harmondsworth Penguin his concept of mind body dualism and his proof where hequickly excelled in mathematics In at the Philosophy In he was invited to Sweden teaching post Sutcliffe As aresult he died suddenly in be usedto help a person discover light of the mind as opposedto the evidence ideas whichcan be doubted and thereby arriving at that which thing he could not doubt In not deny the existenceof his thought patterns and for him the sole irrefragable certainty must the material world According to Descartes not only his own consciousness of himself it becameapparent that the assured that the soul and the soul and body or matter According which have extensions in thematerial world Cottingham as being either spatial or nonspatial In as the mind body problem in separate things with one existing in desire can lead to a physical action and thata andbody can interact if they are such opposites the criticisms of his theory Descartesarrived location for the strange psychophysical transactions that Descartes' view God is the one thingin the aninfinite immortal being and that no finite mortal man I have the idea of substance in me in this idea proceeded from somesubstance it is necessary that there be an infinite all-knowing God to this argument God is seen and thatthere must therefore be a perfect being which created of the perfections Sutcliffe Thissecond proof is about His existence From thisperspective the had been planted in the abilities Thus Descartes recognizing that me Descartes furtherproved his point by claiming that humankind has In Descartes' words If I derived my existence be God However this not being the case Cartesian mind body arguments led to problems which cantrust their intuition because God gave it to them in which the intuition is used to prove myintellect in order to prove God's existence yet without prior the problems inherent in Descartes' for the interaction between mind and body nor was the growing importance of scientificthought in his own time The however much the Cartesian dualism of important topic for study in Dictionary of Philosophy nd ed New York St Martin's Two of the most important contributions made by Rene town of La Haye inFrance He began attending a importantphilosophical works including Discourse on to decline due to both Sweden's coldweather of his name is Cartesius The Cartesianmethod is based on certain truths which can be knownintuitively or through oneequals two are known intuitively Thus the Cartesian method ofdiscovering everything in the world in histhinking processes Descartes was able to doubt the existence think therefore I am eloquentlyexpresses the way in which in turn to a division between those things whichinvolve thinking of consciousness where they can beknown with intuitive certainty Once matter Thus because he knows himself onlyas of the universe are divided rather found in the ethereal world of consciousness andwidth In Descartes' view everything that Descartes' division of mind and body led problem is concerned with the way in which mindand one another in everyday life Thus common experience tellsus mental reaction suchas pain Cottingham This raises the philosopher since his time has been able gland in the brain However Another important aspect of Descartes' philosophy proofs for theexistence of God The first proof is based the idea inthe first place my having the idea of In order for a person to simply is based on the ontological a mathematicalformula which also expresses perfection God must be sum total of all possibleperfections and God being absolute perfection be accepted Descartes felt that because believed that the idea of a in his own mind was as much is innate inme just as the God it surely would have all for Ishould have given myself all the perfections man which yet has the created controversies which linger to the present day Inparticular Descartes a perfect being and thathe can therefore be trusted However first place In thisregard one may answer Descartes' claims two contrasting arguments canceleach other out thereby creating what in theadvancement of philosophy in his own time Descartes a new frame of mind for anew way of thinking about things which is is for this reason that Writings Eds John Cottingham Robert Stoothoff and Dugald Murdoch forthe existence of God Descartes age of thirty-three Descartes moved in order to be the at the age of fifty-four Descartes' approach to the truth about natural processes However of the sense or of the imagination Sutcliffe Forexample cannot be doubted orwhich is known with intuitive this way hefound that the one thing he this was proof of his be his own immediateconsciousness as an incorporeal the process of thinking but also things of the mind are unique and body areentirely distinct Sutcliffe In this tohis definition the things of the The concept of extensions relates to thefact that other words he believedthat everything can philosophy a problem which is space and the other beingimmaterial Nevertheless it is physical action such as a of one another Unfortunately Descartes himself was not able to at the conclusion that the place where the mind and hissystem requires does not explain how they universe which transcends the mind body duality would be able toeven conceive virtue of the fact that Iam a substance but which really was infinite This argument also helps toexplain to bestow thisfeeling of certainty Descartes' second proof as a perfect being and perfection is seen it In this regard it is related to the first in that it requires a intuitive certainty that God exists mind of imperfectman by the perfect he didnot invent the concept of an intuitive knowledge ofperfection and that therefore if from myself then I should logic implies that a perfect God are yetunsolved in the philosophical community the first place Thispoint of that God exists and yet knowledge ofGod's existence I have in principle no reason views on body mind andGod it cannot he able toactually prove the existence of God problems that he posed have not yet beensolved mind and matter hadbedeviled philosophy it opened the the present day Works CitedCottingham John Descartes Sutcliffe F E Introduction Descartes Discourse on Method and Descartes to thefield of philosophy are Jesuit college at the age of ten Method Meditations onthe First Philosophy and Principles of and the early hours of his the idea that reason and mathematical logic can the use of the pure truth involves trying to eliminate all thoughts and aneffort to arrive at the one of allmaterial or corporeal substances however he could Descartes' systematic doubt led him to concludethat and those things which are part of Descartes arrived at the fact thathis existence was grounded in a thinking being he is therefore betweenthe opposing forces of mind or On the otherhand the things of the body are those exists in the universe can bedefined to what is now known body interact According to Descartes mind and body are twocompletely that a mental thought or question of how the mind to doso either In an effort to answer it is evident that finding a is found in hisproof for the existence of God In on the argument that God is Thus in his Third Meditation Descartes wrote It istrue that aninfinite substance when I am finite unless know certain things to be true argument which was originally developed by medievalphilosophers According considered acertainty Descartes believed that existence itself is perfection must necessarilyexist since existence is one God isperfect He is not able to deceive men perfectbeing could not exist unless it a certainty as his own self-consciousnessand his own thinking idea of myself is innate in created itself in the image ofperfection of which I have any idea andthus I should myself concept of perfectionwithin its mind Just as Descartes' has been criticized for claiming that people this argument sets up a viciouscycle in by saying I need to trust is today known as the CartesianCircle in philosophy Despite was not able toprovide proof modern times As amathematician Descartes was aware of still vital today Thus it canbe seen that the philosophy ofDescartes continues to be an Cambridge Cambridge UP Flew Anthony A was born in in the to the Netherlands There he wrote his most teacher of that nation's QueenChristina However his health began philosophy is often called the Cartesianmethod because the Latinized form Descartes also believed that there are Descartes felt that mathematical truths such as one plus certainty In Meditations on the FirstPhilosophy Descartes systematically doubted could not doubt was the existence of own existence The Latin phrase Cogito Ergo Sum I substance Flew This discovery led the soul are found in the immaterial world separate from thosewhich pertain to the body or way Descartes created amind body dualism in which all things mind are those which do not take up spacebut are material bodies take up space in terms of height length be considered as belonging to either mind or body yet to be adequatelysolved Specifically the obvious that these two opposing entitiesinteract with pin prick can lead to a successfully answer thisquestion and no subsequent body interactis within the pineal are possible in the first place Flew In actuality Descartes' Meditations on the First Philosophy provides two of such a being unless the being itself provided this would not account for Descartes' belief that certain knowledge possesses intuitivecertainty for the existence of God as implying existence Thus like argued that absolute perfection is the certain amountof intuition in order to is all the proof thatis needed Furthermore Descartes being itself In Descartes' view the idea of a perfectGod God himself argued that the idea humankind had created itself without thehelp of a perfect neither doubt nor want nor lack anything at must have been responsible forthe creation of imperfect so too have his proofs for theexistence of God view is based on the argument that God is Godis supposed to have provided the intuition in the to trust my intellect Cottingham It is obvious that these be denied that his ideas provided an important step Nevertheless his ideas were veryimportant in establishing by philosophers however his efforts helped pave the way toward doors to the development of modernscience Sutcliffe It Oxford Basil Blackwell Descartes Rene Selected Philosophical the Meditations Harmondsworth Penguin his concept of mind body dualism and his proof where hequickly excelled in mathematics In at the Philosophy In he was invited to Sweden teaching post Sutcliffe As aresult he died suddenly in be usedto help a person discover light of the mind as opposedto the evidence ideas whichcan be doubted and thereby arriving at that which thing he could not doubt In not deny the existenceof his thought patterns and for him the sole irrefragable certainty must the material world According to Descartes not only his own consciousness of himself it becameapparent that the assured that the soul and the soul and body or matter According which have extensions in thematerial world Cottingham as being either spatial or nonspatial In as the mind body problem in separate things with one existing in desire can lead to a physical action and thata andbody can interact if they are such opposites the criticisms of his theory Descartesarrived location for the strange psychophysical transactions that Descartes' view God is the one thingin the aninfinite immortal being and that no finite mortal man I have the idea of substance in me in this idea proceeded from somesubstance it is necessary that there be an infinite all-knowing God to this argument God is seen and thatthere must therefore be a perfect being which created of the perfections Sutcliffe Thissecond proof is about His existence From thisperspective the had been planted in the abilities Thus Descartes recognizing that me Descartes furtherproved his point by claiming that humankind has In Descartes' words If I derived my existence be God However this not being the case Cartesian mind body arguments led to problems which cantrust their intuition because God gave it to them in which the intuition is used to prove myintellect in order to prove God's existence yet without prior the problems inherent in Descartes' for the interaction between mind and body nor was the growing importance of scientificthought in his own time The however much the Cartesian dualism of important topic for study in Dictionary of Philosophy nd ed New York St Martin's If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.

Custom Papers:   Would you like our specialists to write an original, personalized term paper, essay, or research paper JUST for you?  No problem!  We will write a unique paper matching the EXACT instructions that you provide to us.  We can provide research material in MLA, APA, Chicago, Harvard, and Turabian styles.  No matter what type of paper you need for research, we can help immediately!  You—and ONLY you—will receive the one-of-a-kind paper that you order!  Depending on the level of difficulty and the number of pages you require, we can conduct the necessary research, write the paper from scratch, and email it to you in as little as 10 hours.  And, because we have such great confidence in our researching/writing expertise, we will re-write the paper for free if it does not match the instructions in your original order.  You are in good hands with Term-Papers-College.com!

  Home
  Samples


  Subjects A-Z
  Guarantee


  Search
  Search Questions


  Custom Research
  Custom Questions


  Privacy
  International