cartesian dualism

mind-body problem

is based on the implicit assumption that the mind can only know that which it has itself produced and retains in some sense within itself. It assumes the reality of itself.

Cartesian reason is entirely based 'on the implicit assumption that the mind can only know that which it has itself produced and retains in some sense within itself' (A.N. Whitehead, The Concept of Nature (Ann Arbor ed.). 32 in Arendt HC 283). 'The Cartesian solution of this perplexity was to move the Archimedean point into man himself, to choose as ultimate point of reference the pattern of the human mind itself, which assures itself of reality and certainty within a framework of mathematical formulas which are its own products' (Arendt HC 284).

is the notion that the body is material, the mind is immaterial, and that the two have a causal relationship.

The Cartesian dualist is committed to the following four propositions:[D1] The body is composed entirely of material substance.[D2] The mind is composed entirely of immaterial substance.[D3] The body has a causal effect on the mind.[D4] The mind has a causal effect on the body.

is the wrongheaded idea that there are two separate kinds of phenomena in reality, one mental and the other physical.

Dualism says that there are two kinds of phenomena in the world, the mental and the physical... materialism says that there is only one, the material. Dualism ends up with an impossible bifurcation of reality into two separate categories and thus makes it impossible to explain the relation between the mental and the physical. But materialism ends up denying the existence of any irreducible subjective qualitative states of sentience or awareness. In short, dualism makes the problem insoluble... materialism denies the existence of any phenomenon to study, and hence of any problem. (Searle 'Consciousness')

cartesian dualism, n.All

cartesian dualism