Descartes Dualism Analysis

Elisabeth was the princess of Bohemia. Her father and mother have governed Bohemia. She was interested in learning herself. She learned natural science, and she had an interest in philosophy and metaphysics. This attractive appears from her exchanging letters with Descartes. At that time, Descartes wrote his “dualism” idea. Descartes claims that the soul and the body are separated and can’t be together. Descartes considers the body is material, and the soul is immaterial. This idea was not understandable to Elisabeth. Therefore, she wrote a letter to Descartes asking him for clarification about his idea of the soul and the body and how he considered it separated; therefore, Descartes answered her question, but the answer was also not understandable
She already knows that the body and the movement cannot happen without impulsion from another physical body. Therefore, Descartes’ answer is there are three concepts that she needs to understand it, the concept of the body, the concept of the mind and the connection between the mind and the body. He defines the association between the body and the mind by saying, “the force of the soul for moving the body, and of the body for acting upon the soul by causing its feeling and passion.”2 He means that the body’s effect on the soul by controls the emotions, and the soul controls the body movement. He tells Elisabeth that she needs to understand the concepts that the body is material, and the mind is immaterial. He tries to give Elisabeth example by using the physical concepts of the weight.3 He said that the weight is not separate from the body. However, Elisabeth did not satisfy with his answer and asked Descartes for more clarification of immaterial soul and its action with the body. He answers that he need to clarify more on the concepts he mentioned it in his first letter (the body, the soul, and the connection between them).