The Nature Of Self By Descartes - 1193 Words

Existence is defined as the fact or state of living or having objective reality, yet reality in my opinion is completely subjective. The nature of self is a highly controversial topic, ranging from Descartes belief of the mind being separate from the body to the Buddhist conviction of there not being a self to Goldstein’s incorporting the fact that self stems from the activity of synapsis in her writing. Adding to the controversy, the idea of a higher being most namely that of God or some alternative deity, modifies the idea of reality. My personal belief centers on the monism standpoint, with there being only the body and the body creating the mind – the two are not separate, and the nature of self is born from the different brain configurations and synapse formation. While I stand more on the monist side of the nature of self, the dualist side, most namely Descartes, claims that the mind can exist without a body. Yet how can the mind function without the brain itself? He argues â€Å"I think therefore I am† although in reality, one thinks due to their brain. The notion of dualism stems from the hopelessness that all humans possess – in short no one wants to die. How ideal is it that when one does pass on who they are, their essence, continues to live on? Better yet, when they do finally die, they would be greeted with eternal life and be welcomed into the arms of their creator. The concept of religion could also be thrown into the hopeless idealism of humans; it is simply aShow MoreRelatedRene Descartes: Cartesian Dualism Essay example1625 Words   |  7 Pageslasting legacies of Rene Descartes’ philosophy. He argues that the mind and body operate as separate entities able to exist without one another. That is, the mind is a thinking, non-extended entity and the body is non-thinking and extended. His belief elicited a debate over the nature of the mind and body that has spanned centuries, a debate that is still vociferously argued today. In this essay, I will try and tackle Descartes claim and come to some conclusion as to whether Descartes is correct to sayRead MoreUnderstanding the Self- a Comparison of Descartes and Augustine1593 Words   |  7 PagesDescartes and Augustine, in their respective examinations of the mind and God, come to the conclusion that the true understanding of all things derives from the withdrawal of the self from foreign influence and the necessity to look inward. Although each thinker’s journey or course of understanding was different, and at times rather contrasting, their ultimate realizations about knowledge are very coherent. Doubt is one of the primary focuses and a central aspect in examining the self for both DescartesRead MoreDescartes Greatest Argument : Mind Body Duality1323 Words   |  6 PagesDescartes’ Greatest Argument: Mind-Body Duality Man is not merely an animal, but rather a body and soul that lives forever. This is an idea that took centuries to develop, and one that still conflicts the great thinkers of our time. Descartes, who ushered in the modern age of philosophy and who is arguably the greatest questioner of Aristotle, develops his ideas on the mind body duality throughout his first six Meditations. Explaining the essential characteristics of thinking things in contrast withRead More Descartes Meditations Essay1316 Words   |  6 Pages Meditations is a discussion of metaphysics, or what is truly real. In these writings, he ultimately hopes to achieve absolute certainty about the nature of everything including God, the physical world, and himself. It is only with a clear and distinct knowledge of such things that he can then begin understand his true reality. Descartes starts by looking at our usual sources for truth. Authority, which is churches, parents, and schools, he says, are not reliable sources for truth because time showsRead MoreDescartes Second Argument For The Existence Of God1642 Words   |  7 PagesPaper: Descartes’ Second Argument for the Existence of God As with almost all of Descartes inquiries the roots of his second argument for the existence of God begin with his desire to build a foundation of knowledge that he can clearly and distinctly perceive. At the beginning of the third meditation Descartes once again recollects the things that he knows with certainty. The problem arises when he attempts to clearly and distinctly understand truths of arithmetic and geometry. Descartes has enoughRead MoreDavid Hume s Bundle 1041 Words   |  5 PagesHume’s ‘bundle’ (written as a reply to Descartes) The silhouette of a subject was drawn by a council of moments and David Hume named it an illusion, humanity named it the self. In the modern ages of philosophy while Rene Descartes’ affect still remains eminent, David Hume comes with an argument which kills the I Descartes created and lets it fly as a ghost in human perception. Not only in the case of the subject, the contrast between Hume’s and Descartes’ ideas can be seen in their search for aRead MoreDescartes Argument that the Mind is Better than the Body1055 Words   |  5 Pages Descartes’ argue that mind is better known than body by first claiming humans as fundamentally rational, meaning â€Å"a thing that doubts, understands, affirms, denies, is willing, is unwilling,† ( Descartes, 19) he therefore argues that humans have the ability to know their proper minds clearly and distinctly. He proposes the conception of the mind where the imagination and the senses are also inherent capabilities of the body (faculties), specifically powers of the mind. But in order to further clarifyRead More Descartes Wax Argument Essay1442 Words   |  6 Pagesknown than this mysterious ‘I’ which does not fall within the imagination† (66). Through the wax argument, Descartes’ demonstrates that corporeal things are perceived neither through our senses nor imagination, but through our intellect alone. In this argument, you will see that there is cause to doubt Descartes’ analysis of the wax and his method of philosophical reasoning. Descartes makes a careful examination of what is involved in the recognition of a specific physical object, like a pieceRead MoreDescartes : The Father Of Modern Philosophy1055 Words   |  5 Pagesthe fact that I am something.† (Descartes, â€Å"Meditations on First Philosophy,† 182) Rene Descartes is widely considered the father of modern philosophy. He created many new ideas about the self, which is something that has been contested since the dawn of philosophy. Even now, the world is nowhere near a unified thought on the soul. Descartes is most famous for addressing this, and is often summarized by the famous â€Å"Cogito Ergo Sum (I think, therefore I am)†Descartes offers a great deal of importantRead MoreGeorge Descartes s Sugar923 Words   |  4 Pagesperfection. The humans who grasped this knowledge, would then yearn to understand the baker’s methods and how such a small speck of sugar fit into the equation. But mainly these humans desired nothing more than to know the baker’s true identity. Descartes was one of the humans who understood there was something greater that created him, and with this understanding he looked for proofs that showed the similarities and differences between himself and his creator. He â€Å"meditated† over the course of six