Eureka!....Really? (Descartes' Theory of Dualism)

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EUREKA!…REALLY?


(DESCARTES THEORY OF DUALISM)


by Becky Lanes


How do I know that I exist? What am I made up of? How does my mind and body work together? What distinguishes me from an animal? Am I for real?


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These are the very questions that must have troubled Rene Descartes. He was a doubter. In fact, he doubted his very own existence! Thus, in his search for an explanation and proof of his existence, Descartes, typically a rational and precise mathematician that he was, claimed to have discovered an absolute certainty. His quest led him to his theory of Dualism. The theory presents reassuring answers to questions about man’s existence, but it still leaves some gaps, given the context of our modern discoveries.


Rene Descartes, a well-educated and gifted Frenchman, lived during the 17th century as a well-known mathematician and philosopher. Towards the last part of his life, he was employed in the royal courts of Sweden as a philosophy tutor (Vazquez, 00). It was said that he preferred to get away to a quiet place to think and work (Wertheimer, 17). It was probably during one of his philosophical self-reflections that he made the triumphant discovery of the answers to his own questions about his identity and existence.


“Do I exist? How do I know that I exist?…First of all, I am doubtful of my existence…Now, this is thinking…Doubting is thinking. Am I real? Yes, I am. Why? Because I am thinking! I think…therefore, I am! Yes, I do exist. COGITO ERGO SUM!!! Eureka!”


This revelatory and famous statement served as the first step in Descartes’ arrival to his own truth. Once he had happily and unquestionably established this fact to himself, he went on to answer the second question if I do exist, what am I made of?


Descartes realized that man is made up of two types of substance physical and mental. A human is composed of a physical body with many physical properties such as skin, bones, muscles, and organs; but a human being also has a nonphysical mind with nonphysical properties such as thoughts and feelings.


Espousing a mind-body Dualism similar to Plato’s, Descartes conceived of the body as material substance, a machine like any physical body that operates automatically and mechanistically; but our mind, as thinking substance, is not a machine. It has the capacity to reason. Descartes equates the mind with the soul�able to perceive, exercise its will and possessing certain built-in ideas and axioms, such as the idea of God as well as geometrical and algebraic axioms (Wertheimer, 17).


On the third question�how do the two work together�Descartes was convinced that there was interaction between the mind and the body through the pineal gland in the brain. He reasoned that this gland is central, i.e. not bilateral like the other cerebral parts, and not found in animals. According to him, our minds and bodies causally interact with one another almost all of the time; meaning that events and states in our mind can cause physical events in our bodies and vice versa. For example, a pin pricking your finger (a physical event) causes you to feel pain (a mental event) and causes you to say “ouch,” (a physical event). Descartes used the concept of interactionism to explain the relation between our physical and mental aspects (Macnamara, 1).





This dualistic nature of man distinguishes human beings from animals, Descartes believed. Animals only have physical bodies; they are without souls. Thus, they are merely machines, instinctively operating for mere survival purposes. These are the answers Descartes postulated for the fourth question.


This leads us now to a closer look of Descartes’ theory. Basically, we will present here three points of reaction.


First of all, Descartes’ “Cogito ergo sum” is convincing. His line of thinking, if that were so as we imagined it to be, is logical. Indeed, we can be sure that Descartes doubted his existence. Doubting implies a doubter. I think, therefore, I am.





Ironically, Descartes became certain of his existence by doubting it in the first place!


Secondly, there is indeed some sense in the concept of dualism�that the mind and the body are separate and independent of one another. In our own self-reflection, we have come to realize that although our physical body grows “old” (e.g. graying hair, lesser stamina, weaker bones, wrinkled skin), yet our “feelings” remain the same. Feelings do not grow old.


Also, we often hear the line “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Such conventional wisdom, based on countless testimonies of people’s actual experiences, lend support to the theory of Descartes’ dualism, that the mind and the body are separate, each one possessing its own energies, powers and way of functioning.


On the third point, however, we divert paths from Descartes’ line of thinking. It has been proven, for instance, by modern research that mammals and other lower vertebrates also have a pineal gland. Likewise, recent studies on animal behavior have proven that animals do have emotions of happiness, anger, fear, jealousy and affection (Carmichael, 00). Chimpanzees and even rats have demonstrated convincing signs of a form of reasoning, problem-solving skills and memory�forms of so-called mental processes (Atkinson, 10). Thus, there are now proofs that the mind is not a purely human domain.


In the same way, Descartes’ concept that instinct mainly belongs to animals is highly debatable. We know for a fact that humans also have instincts. Survival instinct, “maternal instinct,” defense mechanisms, sexual arousal�these are just but a few terms we employ in naming human instinctive processes.


It is more accurate to say, therefore, that man and animals both have mental and instinctual attributes, but they are just different in degrees and levels. For example, the mind of human beings operate at a much higher degree than that of the animals. Whereas both have capacities for problem-solving, it is the man who has greater sophistication to design, create and utilize the tools he needs to solve his daily problems. Thus, mentally, man is more superior than animals. While instinctually, the latter is sharper than the former.


Long before science had invented the machines to track the workings in our brain when we are in the process of thinking, Rene Descartes had already found the proof that there is a mind. Descartes’ Dualism was his way of explaining human existence, the separability as well as the interaction of our mind and body, and the distinction between humans and animals. Although some aspects of his theory have been disproven by modern science, most of his theory still ring true and strong.


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References


Atkinson, R.L. et al. Introduction to Psychology, San Diego Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 10.


Carmichael, M. Animal Emotions, Newsweek, July 1, 00.


Macnamara, J. Through the Rearview Mirror Historical Reflections on Psychology. Cambridge The MIT Press, 1.


Vasquez, R. Cartesian Dualism, Empiricism and the Theory of Evolution (unpulblished class report). Bacolod, University of St. La Salle, 00.


Wertheimer, M. A Brief History of Psychology. New York Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 17.


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