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Rene Descartes And Leibniz's Arguments

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Rene Descartes And Leibniz's Arguments
The human brain and body are an extraordinary physical substances that are continuously retaining large amounts of information about the surrounding world. They are substances that we as humans are directly aware of and we can learn of their limits and capabilities. The mind, however, is something nonphysical and much more difficult to comprehend. Philosophy of the mind has proven to be one of the most interesting yet complex arguments of all time. Philosophers in the past and present have attempted to analyse the differentiation between the physical brain/body and the nonphysical mind. The proposition of substance dualism, when speaking of matters of the mind is an argument questioning whether the nonphysical mind and the physical body are identical substances, or as the …show more content…
Each philosopher has their own views and theories about substance dualism. This essay will discuss the theories of two specific philosophers, Rene` Descartes and Leibniz’s law arguments, who agree with substance dualism and an opposing argument by philosopher da da. (identity theory for opposition and maybe functionalism?)

Firstly, Rene` Descartes’ theories on the philosophy of the mind or as it is also known as ‘the mind-body problem’ were the most dominant philosophical theories of his time (1596-1650). Although Descartes theories are now seen as outdated, they have helped to inspire the minds of modern day philosophers. According to Weed Descartes believed in a theory called Cartesian Dualism. Cartesian Dualism is very similar to substance dualism and is an ontological belief that every individual consists of a physical brain/body and a nonphysical mind, and that the body and the mind are both causally related but are not the same thing (Weed, 2011). Although part of Descartes theory has been proven wrong, such as that the pineal gland is the point of conversation between the mind and the body, much of his beliefs are still reinforced by 21st century philosophers. Descartes also
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