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Descartes’ Meditations

Descartes’ Meditations. Descartes’ Meditations. ?. C & D perceptions are accurate. God exists. I exist (as a thinking thing). What else do I clearly & distinctly perceive?. Truths of mathematics & geometry (p. 44) Corporeal things exist (p. 52).

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Descartes’ Meditations

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  1. Descartes’ Meditations

  2. Descartes’ Meditations ? C & D perceptions are accurate God exists I exist(as a thinking thing)

  3. What else do I clearly & distinctly perceive? • Truths of mathematics & geometry (p. 44) • Corporeal things exist (p. 52). • Though I may be wrong about (some of) their qualities. • I am distinct from my body (p. 51).

  4. Descartes’ Meditations Physical objects exist Math Geom. C & D perceptions are accurate God exists I exist(as a thinking thing)

  5. Science Physical objects exist Math Geom. C & D perceptions are accurate God exists I exist(as a thinking thing)

  6. Descartes’ Dualism • Reality is made up of two different kinds of stuff (“dualism”) --Mind and Matter. • Opposed to a more scientific view: Reality is made up of only one kind of stuff (“Monism”)-- • Matter: “Physicalism” or “Materialism”. • Mind is just a complicated arrangement of matter, not different in kind.

  7. Descartes’ Dualism • How could Descartes show there are two kinds of stuff? • Descartes proves that mind is distinct from body. • In Meditation 2, proof of his own existence as a “thinking thing” makes no reference to matter. • But are they really distinct?

  8. Descartes’ Dualism • First proof that mind & body are distinct (p. 51): • Mind is essentially thinking & non-extended. • Body is essentially non-thinking & extended. •  Mind  Body. And I can exist without my body! (Immortality)

  9. Descartes’ Dualism • First proof that mind & body are distinct (p. 51): • Mind is essentially thinking & non-extended. • Body is essentially non-thinking & extended. •  Mind  Body. Is it valid?

  10. Leibniz’s Law • Gottfried Leibniz (1646-1716) • If this and that thing are really the same thing, then they have to have all the same properties. • If this and that have different properties, then they are different things.

  11. Descartes’ Dualism • First proof that mind & body are distinct (p. 51): • Body is essentially non-thinking & extended. • What does that mean? • Physical things necessarily have a location and take up space. • True by definition? • Do we know body is essentially non-thinking? • Could computer-robots think?

  12. Alan Turing (1912-1954) Inventor of computers

  13. Could computers think? • “Computing Machinery and Intelligence”(1950) • The Turing Test (a guessing game): • By just asking questions and receiving typed answers from a computer and a person hidden from view, could you tell which was which within a certain time limit? If not, the computer passes the test for thinking.

  14. Descartes’ Dualism • First proof that mind & body are distinct (p. 51): • Mind is essentially thinking & non-extended. • True by definition? • Do we know mind is essentially non-extended? • Can we tell just by reflection?

  15. Descartes’ Dualism • First proof that mind & body are distinct (p. 51): • Mind is essentially thinking & non-extended. • Body is essentially non-thinking & extended. •  Mind  Body. What is true in the premisses doesn’t validly lead to that conclusion.

  16. Descartes’ Dualism • Second proof that mind & body are distinct(p. 56): • Mind is essentially indivisible. • Body is essentially divisible. •  Mind  Body.

  17. Descartes’ Dualism • Second proof that mind & body are distinct(p. 56): • “Mind is essentially indivisible.” • Is this true?

  18. Split-Brain Patients

  19. Freud’s Psychoanalysis • Three parts of the soul: • Ego, Id, and Superego • Conscious/Unconscious • Psyche = Soul/Mind • Analysis = Break into Parts.

  20. Multiple Personalities? • Not aware of each other. • Mind has separate parts? • There are separate minds in the same body? Ron Bloomberg “Split Personality” 1948

  21. Descartes’ Dualism • Second proof that mind & body are distinct(p. 56): • Body is essentially divisible. • Is this true? • Are time and space infinitely divisible? • Conceptually? • Yes. • Experimentally/Physically? • We don’t know.

  22. Descartes’ Dualism • My proof that Water & H20 are distinct: • Water is essentially homogeneous. • H20 is essentially non-homogeneous. •  Water  H20. Can I figure these things out just by thinking about it? Just because I conceive these as being different doesn’t mean they are different.

  23. Descartes’ Dualism • Can we tell matter is essentially non-thinking just by “thinking about it”? • Perhaps my thinking self (mind/soul) depends on my physical self (brain/body) just like the characteristics of water depend on its being H20.

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