Bodymind - Dualistic Concept

Dualistic Concept

Perhaps the leading exponent of an earlier dualistic theory of body and mind was René Descartes, the 17th century French philosopher best known for his statement "I think, therefore I am", who established as his deepest and most lasting philosophical legacy the thesis that mind and body are really distinct—a thesis still called "mind-body dualism". He established that he had a mind without needing to assume that he had a body. He reached this conclusion by arguing that the nature of the mind (that is, a thinking, non-extended thing) is completely different from that of the body (that is, an extended, non-thinking thing), and therefore it is possible for one to exist without the other. Descartes offers two versions to support his thesis, firstly:

1. I have a clear and distinct idea of the mind as a thinking, non-extended thing.
2. I have a clear and distinct idea of body as an extended, non-thinking thing.
3. Therefore, the mind is really distinct from the body and can exist without it.

And in a second argument:

1. I understand the mind to be indivisible by its very nature.
2. I understand the body to be divisible by its very nature.
3. Therefore, the mind is completely different from the body.

These arguments give rise to the famous problem of mind-body causal interaction still debated today: how can the mind cause some of our bodily limbs to move (for example, raising one's hand to strike something), and how can the body’s sense organs cause sensations in the mind when their natures are completely different?