REN DESCARTES

THE GHOST IN THE MACHINE

REN DESCARTES
Born on 1596 in La Haye, a small town in central France. (It is now named after him.)
Educated at a Jesuit school exposed to mathematics and medieval philosophy
(scholasticism). Later, studied law.
Joined the army but spent his time doing philosophy.
After leaving military, he devoted the rest of his short life to science and philosophy in
HOLLAND.
Got an invite from the Queen of Sweden, Queen Christina to instruct her on philosophy
(which included science).
Unfortunately, he could not withstand the cold Swedish winter.
He got pneumonia and died there in 1650.

DESCARTESWORLD
His world was in the process of undergoing change.
Weakening of centralized power of the popes; establishments of nation-states.
Protestant Reformation (led by Martin Luther & John Calvin)
Counterreformation of the Catholic Church
Thirty years war (1618-48) France, Sweden, Spain, Austria
But Descartes was also heir to the fruits of the Renaissance period (1450 1600)
rebirth of the classical sources and art, as well as new faith in the use of reason to
discover the truths of nature & philosophy.
Emerging sciences: astronomy & medicine
Copernicus (14731543), Kepler (15711630), Galileo (15641642), Newton (16421727)

DESCARTES
As a mathematician, Descartes established analytic geometry.
He believed that just as science was unlocking the secrets of nature, the use of its
method could also unlock the secrets of philosophy.
With correct method, he believed that the three most important questions in philosophy
can be answered:
The existence of God
The nature of the self
The nature of the world

But theres also the defensive attitude of the Church, which felt threatened by the new
science. Example: Galileo

HUMAN KNOWLEDGE
Knowing is one of the most basic universal features of all human beings.
Modern philosophers were especially interested in understanding the origin, nature,
extent and justification of knowledge.
They began asking such questions as, How do I know that I know? How much can I
know? And Where does my knowledge come from?
What is the best way of getting knowledge that is most reliable or, at best, certain?
Is it by proceeding from experience or the mind (that is, reason)?
Two main influences:
Science
Mathematics

The Influence of Science

15611627

15641642

16431727

The progress of science at the onset of Modern period can be attributed, generally, to its
use of method of investigating.
GALILEO
He has conducted many experiments.

Bacon
Although he had not done experiments, he argued hard for method in the study of nature.
Specifically, he emphasized the method of induction.

Newton
Employed the Method of Analysis and Synthesis (inductive-deductive)
Experiment and observation

Thus, to see scientific method as primarily inductive, is to see it as based on observation

and inductive generalization.

EMPIRICISM
British Empiricists:
John Locke (1632-1704)
George Berkeley (1685-1753)
David Hume (1711-1776)

Empiricists believe that there is no knowledge of the world that is not based upon sense
experience.
If we cannot see, hear, taste, touch, or smell something, then we cannot know anything
about it.
So, the only source of knowledge is sense experience.

The Influence of Mathematics

Rise of mathematicians
Johannes Kepler discovered the laws of planetary motion using mathematics
Galileo Galilei introduced new conclusions about motion using mathematics and asserted
that the book of nature is written in the language of mathematics
British philosophers/scientists were mostly mathematicians, e.g. Newton

Mathematical systems are constructed by beginning with AXIOMS

AXIOMS are statements that are not proven, but simply taken to be true. Our minds simply
see that they are true.
E.g., Pallalel lines never meet. The whole is greater than or equal to the sum of its parts.

THEOREMS they are conclusions that follow from axioms by deductive reasoning. Their
truths follow with certitude, not probability, from the truths of axioms.
MATHEMATICAL SYSTEMS - e.g., Geometry, Algebra, Calculus,

Certain & self-evident

The lesson from mathematics, therefore, is that a belief in the
mathematical system has the same degree of certainty as the axioms
from which it began to grow.
The key to finding certain and self-evident knowledge is not to base
knowledge on observations which maybe incorrect, rather to find selfevident axioms that will serve as foundation for the rest.
The test for its being self-evident is that there is no way to doubt its truth.

The Method of Doubt

The criterion of indubitability (cannot be doubted) can be used in searching for truths in
realms outside mathematics.
The Method of Doubt will be the method in removing from philosophy all errors into which
it had fallen over the centuries before him.
Nothing shall be accepted as true unless it was true beyond the shadow of a doubt.
If there is any way possible to doubt a belief, no matter how unrealistic such a doubt
might be, the belief is not to be accepted.

The Method of Doubt

Now, Descartes begins to investigate the faculties of man about whether they are
perfectly reliable, that they can not possibly be doubted.
1. Our perceptual experience
It is generally held that our direct sense experience of the world cannot be mistaken. Like the fact
that you are holding you cellphone right now. How can anyone be mistaken about that? You
believe that your classmate is beside you. I hear one person calling me. I believe that my coffee
mug is hot because I touch it.
These beliefs are based on what I see and hear so plainly, so immediately, so evidently.
But Descartes argues that everything that we can perceive we also can dream. Dreaming and
waking experiences appear the same and cannot be distinguished.
So, for Descartes is theoretically possible that all my beliefs based on sense experience are false.
This is called the dream doubt of Descartes.

The Method of Doubt

Now, Descartes begins to investigate the faculties of man about whether they are
perfectly reliable, that they can not possibly be doubted.
1. Our perceptual experience
2. Mathematical truths
Next, Descartes examines the truths in mathematics.
If we think that 2 + 2 = 4 is absolutely certain, Descartes could still put it into doubt.
Descartes asks us to imagine an evil genius, a sort of evil god who has the ability to deceive us
into believing all sorts of things, such as the belief that 2 + 2 = 4.
So, for Descartes it is still possible that we may be deceived about our mathematical beliefs.

3. So, is there anything that can be accepted as true that is beyond doubt?

COGITO, ERGO SUM

What Descartes has employed is the methodic doubt, which is universal because it applies
to everything.
At this point, Descartes discovers that there is one which he cannot doubt the fact that
he is doubting is something that cannot be doubted.
Since doubting is tantamount to thinking, and that he must exist for him to do the act of
thinking or doubt, then Descartes concludes that it is indubitable that he EXISTS!
I doubt, therefore I exist! Or I think, therefore I am.
In Latin: COGITO, ERGO SUM!
Descartes discovers the axiom that is beyond doubt, one that is known with absolute
certitude.
This belief is the bedrock of Descartes entire philosophy, the starting point upon which
everything else is to be built, the foundation of his philosophical mansion.

EXISTENCE OF GOD, AND THE

WORLD
After discovering and proving that he exists by virtue of the I think (Cogito), Descartes then
proceeds to arguing for the existence of God and the world.
GOD
Descartes argues that in his mind he has an idea of perfection. So, where is this idea of
perfection come from?
It cannot from him because he is not perfect. It only must come from a perfect being.
Thus, God, a perfect being, must exist.
THE WORLD
Here, Descartes still does not argue for the existence of the material objects from the senses but
from analysing his mind. He eliminated 3 possible sources of his idea of the world, namely: 1)
myself, b) God, c) a demon by arguments.
Whats left in his argument that is the possible source of his idea of the material objects is the
material objects themselves. Thus, the material world exists.

HUMAN NATURE
TWO CLASSIFICATIONS OF THINGS
1. RES COGITANS literally, things that think; thinking substance
2. RES EXTENSA substances with extension;
. The SELF in Descartess thought is first and foremost an autonomous individual, one
who is free to think and to act, and to create a life according to his or her own experience
and reason.
. The body, like anything material, is a kind of machine.
. Our bodies are not capable of thought or free choice.
. The mechanistic view: that nature is like a vast machine whose current movements are
caused by previous events.

HUMAN NATURE: dualistic

interactionism
The human person is not exactly mechanical as what nature is.
We do a lot of things in nonmechanistic ways: refuse to act on a strong desire, move our
bodies just by an act of will, think abstract thoughts, etc.
For Descartes humans are not entirely physical things; we are also nonphysical things
we have minds.
So we are bodies AND minds. Science to study bodies; philosophy & theology to study
the mind.
Descartes theory of human person is called dualistic interactionism.

The Nature of the Mind

The difference of Descartes from Plato & St. Augustine is how he emphasized the
differences between bodies and souls (or minds)
The mind is completely different from the body, so that it is possible that each could exist
separately from the other.
Human bodies could exist in a machine-like fashion; and the mind can exist alone also.
Mind = soul = self
Mind is the thing which thinks, not simply the intellect or rational mind.
Mind then is consciousness itself. Thus, I am my conscious mind.

The Nature of the Mind

1. Mind is a substance.
2. Mind is completely different from material objects.
3. However, the mind is like the body as well. They have similar
processes.
4. Mind cannot be controlled by natural forces because they are not part
of nature. It is autonomous.
5. Mental states are private. No one else has access.
6. Mind is absent in animals, although they have brains.

The Mind-Body problem

Let us begin with the premise that for Descartes mind and body are completely different
from each other. The body is material; its essence is extension (extensa). While the mind
is immaterial; its essence is thinking (cogitans). Thus, it is possible for each of them to
exist without the other.
2 Problems arising
1] One particular problem: It is difficult to explain how we can know that other people
exist. It seems that no one else exists except me. It is known today as the problem of
other minds. (solipsism)

The Mind-Body problem

Assumptions for the first problem:
(a) What I know most certainly are the contents of
my own mind - my thoughts, experiences, affective
states, and so forth.;
(b) There is no conceptual or logically necessary link
between the mental and the physical. For example,
there is no necessary link between the occurrence of
certain conscious experiences or mental states and
the "possession" and behavioral dispositions of a
body of a particular kind; and
(c) The experiences of a given person are
necessarily private to that person.

The Mind-Body problem

2] Another problem: How mind and body are related to each
other? How do they interact?
Descartess explanation uses the causal relationship.
a) mind to body causation - how can the non-extended
mind cause the arm to raise
b) body to mind causation how can the body cause the
visual perception of the tree
The crux of the concern is the action-at-contact. [mechanical]

The Mind-Body problem

Descartes solution is to point out a certain part in the
brain where mind and body come into contact.
It happens in the PINEAL GLAND a special gland
deep within the brain.
Descartes, however, never explained how precisely
does this work.
Because it cannot be satisfactorily explained by him,
Descartes theory is referred to as the theory of the
ghost in the machine.

Freedom
For Descartes, the existence of free will was as self-evident as his own
existence. But in what way is our freedom be understood?
Principle of determinism Every event has a cause. Nothing happens
without a cause.
Is Descartes subject to this principle?

INDETERMINISM It claims that our choices are not caused by anything.

It is not true that every event has a cause.
For Descartes human choices are outside the flow of events of which nature is
composed.
This is the source of our dignity, the spark of the divine that dwells in us and raises us
above the droning determinism of nature.