Descartes’ Dualism: Mind and Matter Separation
Descartes’ Dualism: Mind and Matter
The reality outside is essentially different from the reality of thought. Descartes saw that there are two distinct forms of reality, or two substances. One substance is thinking, or the “soul”; the other is the extension, or matter. The soul only knows, does not take place in space, and therefore cannot be divided into smaller parts. Matter, however, is simply an extension, taking place in space and can always be divided into ever smaller parts, but it is not conscious. According to Descartes, the two substances come from God because only God exists independently of everything. But although both the “thinking” and the “extension” come from God, the two substances are completely independent of each other. Thought is totally free in relation to matter, and vice versa: the material processes also act totally independent of thought.
With this, God’s creation was divided in two.
Descartes: A Dualist
Exactly. We say that Descartes is a dualist, which means that he establishes a clear bipartition between spiritual reality and extended reality. Only human beings have a soul; animals are fully extended reality. Their lives and movements are performed mechanically. Descartes considered animals as a species of complex automata. Regarding extended reality, he held a completely mechanistic view, just like the materialists.
“I doubt that Hermes [the dog] is a machine or an automaton. Descartes probably would never come to feel affection for any animal. What about ourselves? Are we also automatons?”
Humans: Dual Beings
Yes and no. Descartes came to think that man is a “dual self,” who thinks but also takes up space, which means that man has a soul and at the same time an extensive body. Aristotle and St. Augustine had said something similar. They believed that man has a body just like the animals, but also a soul like the angels. According to Descartes, the human body is a piece of mechanics, but man also has a soul that can act completely free in relation to the body. Bodily processes have no such freedom but follow their own laws. However, what we think with reason does not occur in the body but in the soul, which is completely free in relation to the actual large. Maybe I should add that Descartes did not exclude the possibility that animals might think. But if they have that capability, then the same bipartition between “thought” and “extension” must also be valid for them.
“That we have spoken. If I decide to run to catch the bus, then it triggers the automaton. And if I nevertheless miss the bus, tears begin to flow.”
The Pineal Gland: Soul-Body Interaction
Even Descartes could not deny that a constant alternation of its kind occurs between the soul and the body. He believed that while the soul is in the body, it is linked to it by a special brain organ he called the “pineal gland,” which is making a constant alternation between “spirit” and “matter.” In this way, the soul is left constantly confused by feelings and emotions related to the needs of the body. However, the soul can become independent of these “lower” pulses and act freely in relation to the body. The goal is that reason should manage control. For though my gut hurts me a lot, the sum of the angles of a triangle is still 180 degrees. Thus, thought has the ability to rise above the body’s needs and to act “reasonably.” In that sense, the soul is totally superior to the body. Our legs may become old and heavy, our teeth may fall out, but 2 + 2 will be 4 as long as we continue conserving reason. For reason does not get old and heavy; our body ages. To Descartes, it is reason itself which is the “soul.” Lower affections and feelings such as desire and hatred are closely related to body functions, and therefore to extended reality.