Rene Descartes 1596-1650 I have a body, but I am a mind....

Believed that “we” are I have a body: I possess it, it “belongs” to me, but it
just our minds is only had, it is not “me” or “what I am.”

Like a captain has his ship, a father has a son,

Used a deductive Batman has Robin, I have a brand new car, I have
proof class this morning, I had spaghetti last night, I
have a headache.

Dualism: believed that
To have something suggests that I could do
mind and body are two without it, that losing it will not mean the loss of
different kinds of me. I continue to exist if I miss class, or lose my
substances brand new car.

BUT: Can you have a father without a son?

Batman without Robin? I have a body, but I am a mind....

I am a mind: it isn't just something I possess,

I feel somehow but it identifies me, it is “me” or “what I
incomplete, yet am.”
still myself….

To be something means that I am identical

with this thing; it would go out of existence
if I went out of existence; and if it went out
of existence, that would be to destroy me!

I have a body, but I am a mind.... Other possibilities?

So if you really
I have a mind, but I am a body?

want to hurt
someone, mess
I have a mind, and I have a body, but I am
something else, some other thing....
with their minds
....

I have a mind, and I have a body, but I am
nothing...

ouch!

I am a body and I am a mind, these are not two
separate things, but somehow joined or connected.

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 Can “I” be a mind and a body? Knowledge without a body?

Not if mind and body are two separate substances.
(A substance is a basic existing reality; something
that exists in its own right.)

One thing (“I”) cannot be two things (mind, body).

But if both mind and body have to be joined
together for me to be “me,” does the idea of life
after death make any sense at all?

But if mind can be separated from body, does body
(the brain, senses) play any role in knowledge or
self-knowledge?

If mind (the consciousness part) can be separated
from body, does body (the brain, senses) play any
role in knowledge or self-knowledge?

Would a ghost (a soul in heaven) know its
surroundings? How would it see what it is front of
it (no eyes)? How would it hear someone talking
to it (no ears)? How would it remember its past
(no brain)? How would it think about what it sees
or even remembers (no brain)? How would it even
think (be aware) of its thinking or itself?

You’d be a poor little ghost.... Descartes’ proof that we are minds

Descartes: “We can

be absolutely certain
of our mental
experience...

…that means No
Doubt of it!”

Descartes’ Evidence: deductive argument Descartes’ Argument

Inductive Argument… Deductive Argument…

Could I be mistaken about
Even if someone

Looks for facts to
Starts with indisputable or
self-evidence statements whether I think?
convinces me that I
support theory Can’t fool
(truths) am not really
me! thinking....

Draws an inference as
the most likely
Draws an inference on the
explanation for what we basis of logically correct
arguments …he/she would have
experience in the world.
to make me think in

Produces likely order to convince me I
conclusions
Produces necessary don't think!
conclusions (cannot not be
true)

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 And if I am thinking....

Then I must exist!

So either way I must be
thinking! Cogito, Ergo Sum.

Another
This is an indisputably true indisputably true
statement! statement!

Descartes own words…

Doubtless… I exist, Descartes’ Cogito
since I am deceived;
and, let him deceive me
as he may, he can never

Why does this work:
bring it about that I am
nothing, so long as I – I think therefore I am (Cogito ergo sum)
shall be conscious that I
am something.

But these do not?
– I eat green eggs and ham, therefore I am
So … I am, I exist, is – I drink, therefore I am
necessarily true each time it – I walk, therefore I am
is expressed by me, or
conceived in my mind.

Descartes’ Cogito What am I?

I must be a thinking thing.

The premise (“I think”) of the first A “res cogitans”
argument is incorrigible—no possible set
of circumstances could reasonably bring
you to doubt its truth

The premises of the other arguments (“I (Fancy Latin philosophy talk for “thinking
walk,” “I drink,” “I eat green eggs and thing”)
ham”) are corrigible—you could be
wrong about them. That’s why those (Deductive inference drawn from previous
arguments do not work! statements)

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What about my body? The Matrix possibility

Just like Neo was

fooled into
believing he was
I can doubt that my body exists. really living an
entire life....
I can imagine that I don't have a body,
but am only being fooled into
believing it exists...

The matrix possibility

When he was
just connected to
the matrix.

Another ouch! Except in The Matrix,

Neo still had a body!

Angels fooled into believing they

Descartes imagines this possibility
have bodies…

That we could really be disembodied
Well, how do you
spirits, like angels… picture that

That evil God-like demons could be anyway?
powerful enough to mess with our minds
and our thinking…

That they could use this power to fool us
into believing that we have bodies…

When we really do not!

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Agent Smith Possible versus Plausible

Maybe Agent
Descartes just thinks

Smith is really this is possible...
an evil demon?
That doesn't mean he
thinks this is
“plausible” or “likely”
the case.

Is the mere possibility
enough for his
argument?

Possible versus Plausible Possible versus Plausible

Is The Matrix

● Possible: no logical contradiction.| plausible or just
possible?
● Plausible: could possibly happen.

Possible versus Plausible The argument...

Is the Easter
If I cannot doubt the existence of my

Bunny thinking...
possible or
But I can doubt the existence of my body...
plausible?
Then my body has to be a different kind of
thing than my mind.

I am my mind....

So I am not body. I have one. But it isn't what
I am!

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Cool

A philosophical
proof that mind is
separate from body,
and that we are
each of us minds,
not bodies.

That's one for the
philosophy books!