Exam 5: René Descartes Mind and Body

Cavendish claims that the "natural mind and soul of man, not the supernatural or divine," cannot be separated from matter. What are some of Cavendish's arguments for this claim?

Cavendish criticizes Descartes's claim that all other animals besides man lack reason since other animals cannot express their mind, thoughts or conceptions, either by speech or any other signs, as man can do. According to Cavendish, "although they cannot talk or give intelligence to each other by speech, nevertheless each has its own peculiar and particular knowledge."

James says, "If the world were then and there to go out like a candle, it would remain truth absolute and objective, for it would be the last word, would have no critic, and no one would ever oppose the thought in it to the reality intended." Explain James's meaning in this passage.

Hume asserts that "Pain and pleasure, grief and joy, passions and sensations succeed each other, and ..."

Hume asserts that "Pain and pleasure, grief and joy, passions and sensations succeed each other, and never all exist at the same time."

Conway asks a series of questions about the spirit: "Why does it require a corporeal eye so wonderfully formed and organized, that I can see by it? Why does it need a corporeal light, to see corporeal objects? Why is it requisite, that the image of the object should be sent to it, through the eye, that it may see it?" Conway uses this to support the following claim: Spirit and body are originally in their first substance but one and the same thing.

James says, "My thesis is that if we start with the supposition that there is only one primal stuff or material in the world, a stuff of which everything is composed, and if we call that stuff pure experience, then knowing can easily be explained as a particular sort of relation towards one another."

Conway asks a series of questions about the spirit: "Why does it require a corporeal eye so wonderfully formed and organized, that I can see by it? Why does it need a corporeal light, to see corporeal objects? Why is it requisite, that the image of the object should be sent to it, through the eye, that it may see it?" Conway uses this to support which of the following claims:

Velleman says, "According to presentism, objects have past- and future-tensed properties, but the objects themselves exist only in the present, and so they don't persist at all, much less endure."

Velmans says, "If global access is a necessary (but not sufficient) condition for consciousness, then global access is ____________________ to consciousness."

Descartes claims that he has a distinct idea of "body" which he defines as ...

Velleman wants to explore the question "How might the illusion of an intuitive mind lie at the root of human suffering?"

What does Cavendish mean by the terms "double perception" and "double knowledge"? Do you agree with Cavendish? Explain your answer.

Shapiro argues that "The passions thus provide just the right sort of context for Elisabeth's making the point she does about the soul-body union. They serve to illustrate her thesis about the relation between mind and body."

Conway argues that "spirit and body differ not essentially, but gradually, I shall deduce an argument from the intimate band or union, which intercedes between bodies and spirits."

Explain what Velleman means when he says, "I want to suggest that the existence of an enduring self, if it is indeed an illusion, is one of two illusions that go hand-in-hand. A consequence of shedding the one illusion would be to shed the other as well. The other illusion of which I speak has to do with the nature of time."

According to Nagel, "Very little work has been done on the basic question (from which mention of the brain can be entirely omitted) whether any sense can be made of experiences having _____________ character at all."

Explain what Shapiro means when she claims that "if Elisabeth does indeed want to maintain that the condition of the body enables the soul to be rational, I do not see how she can maintain that the soul is immortal."

Nagel says, "It is useless to base the defense of materialism on any analysis of mental phenomena that fails to deal explicitly with their external inconsistency. For there is no reason to suppose that a reduction which seems plausible when no attempt is made to account for consciousness can be extended to include consciousness."

Explain what Conway means by "material extension."