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Encyclopdia Britannica
Cartesianism, the philosophical and scientific traditions derived from the writings of the
French philosopher Ren Descartes [164] (15961650).
The Cartesian system
Metaphysically [165] and epistemologically, Cartesianism is a species [166] of rationalism
[167], because Cartesians hold that knowledgeindeed, certain knowledgecan be
derived through reason from innate ideas[168]
. It is thus opposed to the tradition ofempiricism [169], which originated with Aristotle [170] (384322 bce) and according to
which all knowledge [171] is based on sense experience and is therefore (because sense
experience is fallible) only probable. In practice, however, Cartesians developed
probabilistic scientific theories [172] from observation and experiment, as did empiricists.
Cartesians were forced to satisfy themselves with uncertainty in science [173] because
they believed that God [174] is omnipotent and that his will is entirely free; from this it
follows that God could, if he so wished, make any apparent truth [175] a falsehood andany apparent falsehoodeven a logical contradictiona truth. The human intellect, by
contrast, is finite; thus, humans can be certain only of what God reveals and of the fact
[176] that they and God exist. Descartes argues that one has certain knowledge of ones
own existence [177] because one cannot think without knowing that one exists; this
insight is expressed as Cogito, ergo sum [178] (Latin: I think, therefore I am) in his
Discourse on Method[179] (1637) and as I think, I am in hisMeditations [180] (1641).
In theMeditations, Descartes also argues that because we are finite, we cannot generatean idea of infinity, yet we have an idea of an infinite God, and thus God must exist to
cause us to have that idea. He also says that although we have no direct acquaintance with
the material world, not even with our own bodies, but only with ideas that represent the
material world, we cannot know the material world directly. We know it exists only
because God is not a deceiver.
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Cartesians adopted an ontological dualism [181] of two finite substances, mind [182]
(spirit or soul) and matter [183]. The essence [184] of mind is self-conscious thinking; the
essence of matter [185] is extension [186] in three dimensions. God is a third, infinite
substance [187], whose essence is necessary existence [188]. God unites minds with bodies
to create a fourth, compound substance, human beings [189]. Humans obtain general
knowledge by contemplating innate ideas [190] of mind, matter, and God. For knowledge
of particular [191] events in the world, however, humans depend on bodily motions that
are transmitted from sense organs [192] through nerves to the brain to cause sensible
ideasi.e., sensationsin the mind. Thus, for Cartesians, knowledge of the material
world is indirect.
This dualism [193] of mind and matter gives rise to serious problems concerning causalinteraction and knowledge [194]. Given that mind and matter are so radically different,
how can the body cause the mind to have sensible ideas? Likewise, how can the mind
cause the body to move? How can the mind know the material world by way of sensible
ideas, which are mental? In other words, how can ideas represent the properties of
material objects, given that mind and matter are essentially distinct? Various lines of
Cartesian philosophy developed from different answers to these questions.
Descartess philosophy is rooted in his mathematics [195]. He invented analytic
geometry[196]a method of solving geometric problems algebraically and algebraic
problems geometricallywhich is the foundation of the infinitesimal calculus developed
by Sir Isaac Newton [197](16421727) and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz [198] (16461716).
The method discussed in hisDiscourse on Methodis basically an extension ofanalytic
mathematical method, which he applies to all branches of science.
Cartesian mechanism [199]
The first Cartesians were Dutch and French physicists and physiologists who attempted to
explain physical and biological phenomena solely in mechanistic termsi.e., solely in
terms of matter and its motion and especially without appeal to Aristotelian notions such
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as form [200] and final cause [201]. Descartess first disciple in the Netherlands, Henricus
Regius [202] (15981679), taught Cartesian physics [203] at the University of Utrecht
though, to Descartess chagrin, he dismissed Descartess metaphysics [204] as
irrelevant to science. Another disciple, the French theologian and philosopher Nicolas
Malebranche [205] (16381715), believed with Descartes that animals are merelymachines and thus incapable of thought or feeling; he is said to have kicked a pregnant
dog and then to have chastised critics such as Jean de La Fontaine [206] (162195), the
French writer of animal fables, for expending their emotions over such inconsiderable
creatures rather than concerning themselves with human misery. In Paris, the lectures of
Pierre-Sylvain Rgis [207] (16321707) on Cartesian physicswhich he accompanied
with spectacular demonstrations of physical phenomena such as optical illusions [208]
created such a sensation that Louis XIV
[209]
forbade them. Because Cartesianismchallenged the traditional Aristotelian science, which was supported by the Roman
Catholic Church [210], and because the church also stood behind the so-called divine
right of kings to rule, the king feared that any criticism of traditional authority might
give rise to revolution. (Later, in the 18th century, Descartess emphasis on the ability of
each individual to think for himself lent support to the cause of republicanism.)
Advancements in mechanical arts and crafts provided the practical foundation of
Cartesian mechanism[211]
. In the 17th century, mechanical inventions[212]
such asstatues that walked and talked by application of levers and pullies and organs that played
by waterpower were well known. The mathematician Blaise Pascal [213] (162362)
invented a calculating machine based on principles worked out by clock makers and
inventors of spinning and knitting machines, such as the Englishman William Lee [214].
The first inventors directly inspired by Descartes were the French craftsman Jean Ferrier,
who attempted to make hyperbolic lenses according to Descartess designs, and tienne
de Villebressieu, who with Descartess collaboration developed an improved water pump.
Mechanism was promoted by one of Descartess contemporaries, the mathematician and
philosopher Marin Mersenne [215] (15881648). Pierre Gassendi [216] (15921655)
attempted to derive it theoretically from the atomism [217] of the ancient Greek
philosopher Epicurus [218] (341270 bce), who held that reality [219] is ultimately
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constituted of atoms in motion in the void. Motion was first studied scientifically by
the Italian mathematician and astronomer Galileo [220] (15641642).
According to Descartes, the material universe [221] consists of an indefinitely large
plenum of infinitely divisible matter, which is separated into the subtle matter of space
and the denser matter of bodies by a determinate quantity of motion [222] that is imparted
and conserved by God. Bodies swirl like leaves in a whirlwind in vortices as great as that
in which the planets sweep around the Sun and as small as that of tiny spinning globes of
light. All bodily joinings and separations are mechanical, resulting from the collisions of
other moving bodies. Because the amount of motion is conserved according to the laws of
nature [223], the Cartesian material world exhibits a kind of determinism [224]. After the
initial impulse, the world evolves lawfully. If the speeds and positions of all the whirling
portions of matter in the universe at any one moment could be completely described, then
a complete description of their speeds and positions at any later time could be deduced
through calculations based on the laws of motion. Of course, only God has the infinite
intellect required for performing these calculations.
Although God is the primary cause of the existence of the material universe and of the
laws of nature, all physical eventsall movements and interactions of bodiesresult
from secondary causesthat is, from bodies colliding with each other. God stands merely
for the uniformity and consistency of the laws of nature. This led Blaise Pascal [225] to
complain that the only purpose God serves in Descartess system is to initiate motion in
the material world and to guarantee its conservation and the uniformity of nature.
Cartesianism was criticized in England by the Platonist philosopher Henry More [226]
(161487) and was popularized by Antoine Le Grand (162999), a French Franciscan,
who wrote an exposition of the Cartesians ingenious account of light [227] and colour
[228]. According to popular versions of this account, light consists of tiny spinning globes
of highly elastic subtle matter that fly through the air in straight lines and bounce likeballs at angles consistent with the optical laws of reflection and refraction. Different
colours are caused by the globes different speeds and spins, which themselves are
determined by the texture of the surfaces on which the globes are reflected, refracted, or
transmitted. The spectrum [229] of colours observed when light passes through a
triangular prism is explained by the fact that the globes pass more slowly through thicker
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parts of the prism than they do through thinner ones. The same spectrum of colours
occurs when light passes through thicker and thinner parts of raindrops, giving rise to
rainbows. Although Newton [230] and Leibniz [231] later showed that the simple
mechanistic principles underlying these accounts were incapable of explaining the forces
of gravitation and chemical bonding [232], it is noteworthy that the Cartesian theory of
light is similar in principle to the contemporary view, according to which the different
colours are produced by light at different wavelengths.
By the end of the 17th century, most of Cartesian physics had been superseded by
Newtonian mathematical physics [233]. Cartesians admitted that Descartess laws of
motion were wrong and that his principle of the conservation of motion should be
abandoned in favour of Newtons principles of the conservation of energy [234], or vis
viva (Latin: living force), and linear momentum[235]
. Although the Treatise (1671) ofJacques Rohault, a leading expositor of Cartesian physics, was translated into English in
1723 by Newtons disciple Samuel Clarke [236] (16751729) and Clarkes brother, their
corrections and annotations turned the work into an exposition of Newtonian physics.
Nevertheless, this progress would have pleased Descartes, who said that the advancement
of scientific knowledge would take centuries of work.
Mechanism versus Aristotelianism [237]
Cartesian mechanism was opposed to scholastic [238] Aristotelian science, which was
supported by both Roman [239] Catholic and Protestant theologians. These thinkers held
that, because all things are created by God with a given nature, there can be no
evolutionary development of animals or of the universe as a whole. For Aristotle, all
living things [240] possess a spirit or soul [241], which is the form [242], or organizing
principle, of the matter out of which the organism is composed, as well as the source of
its powers of growth and development, nutrition, perception, and (in humans) cognition.The soul is the essence [243], or nature, of the organism and its final causei.e., its
purpose, or goal. Thus, the development of an acorn into an oak tree is explained by the
fact that the acorn possesses a form that directs it toward this end.
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Descartes rejected both the teleological, animistic view and the related theory of alchemy
that there are vital forces in things. Cartesians denied the existence of what they
considered occult [244] or magical [245] forces, insisting instead that only God and
humans have spirits, wills, purposes, and ends. They conceived both animate and
inanimate bodies as having no goals but as simply being pushed around passively. For
Cartesians, science therefore consisted of looking not for final causes but rather for thelaws that govern the motions of bodies.
By insisting on human free will [246], Descartes placed the human soul or mind, like God,
outside deterministic nature. Because the body is a part of nature, however, the minds
evident ability to control the bodys movements is, on Cartesian assumptions,
inexplicable and miraculous and thus inconsistent with mechanistic determinism.
Ironically, in Descartess system this ability is itself an occult or magical force.
Mind, body[247]
, and humanity[248]
Most Cartesians believed that the mind and body interact. When asked how this is
possible, Rgis [249] gave the standard Cartesian reply: human beings experience the
interaction, and God can and does make it take place, even if we cannot understand how.
As for the question of how ideas represent objects, Rohault spoke for all Cartesians when
he asserted that God can make ideas represent material bodies without resembling them;no further explanation is necessary. In both of these replies, the Cartesians can be seen to
abdicate philosophy for mysticism and theology.
According to the Thomists [250] (adherents of the Aristotelian philosophical and
theological system developed by St. Thomas Aquinas [251]), the soul or mind is the form
of the body. Although for Aristotle the form of an object is inseparable from the matter of
which it is made, the Thomists held that the human soul is a substantial form that is
miraculously able to exist independently of matter and thus to survive the death of thebody. Descartes, by contrast, contended that the notion of substantial form is
contradictory, because it assumes the separate existence of something that by definition
can exist only in unity with matter. For Cartesians, the mind or soul is a substance
existing in itself, independently of matter; thus, they were able to explain immortality
[252] without having to rely on the dubious assumption that the soul-form is a kind of
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substance. This view, however, creates a serious problem concerning the ultimate nature
of human beings. According to Cartesians, sensible ideas arise from the union of mind
and body for the sole purpose of preserving the body by presenting harmful things as
painful and beneficial things as pleasurable. Human beings learn by experience what to
seek and to avoid, and the memory of these experiences is preserved in the brain. Once
the body dies, however, both the need for sensible ideas and their memory traces in thebrain are destroyed. All the soul knows of matter after death is the general idea of
extension. Because all bodily associations and memories are eliminated, however,
individual personality is lost; each human being survives death only as an impersonal
soul, identical to all other bodiless souls. Like the notion that animals are mere machines,
the Cartesian conclusion that the sensible manifestations of this life are neither continued
nor remembered in the next was unpopular.
Science and religion
In addition to the dualism of mind and matter in Cartesian metaphysics, there is a more
general dualism in Cartesianism as a whole between a rationalist metaphysics and
epistemology [253], which entails the existence of innate ideas of mind, matter, and God
and the possibility of obtaining certain knowledge through reason, and an empiricist (and
mechanistic) physics, according to which scientific knowledge, which is never certain, is
gradually accumulated through observation and experience of the material world.
Descartess insistence on the possibility of certain knowledge of Gods existence has ledsome commentators to present him primarily as an apologist for Christianity. Others,
however, have argued that he was really an atheist and a materialist who made arguments
for Gods existence only to protect himself from persecution by the church.
Although Descartes publicly denied an interest in theology [254], in letters he offered
mechanistic explanations of transubstantiation [255]. According to the Thomistic account
of this mystery, the forms of bread and wine are miraculously sustained as substantial
forms while their matter is replaced by Christs flesh and blood. Rohault appealed to theCartesian view that sensible ideas are caused by configurations of the parts of material
bodies to argue that, if bread and wine were replaced by flesh and blood whose parts had
exactly the same configurations, the flesh and blood would look, feel, and taste like bread
and wine. Although Rohaults account still requires the miraculous replacement of bread
and wine by flesh and blood, it does not rely on the self-contradictory notion of
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substantial form.
A deterministic Cartesian ethics [256] was developed by the Flemish Calvinist
philosopher Arnold Geulincx [257] (162469). In his view, although one can do only what
God has willed, one is free to accept what one must do willingly or unwillingly. Virtue
consists in the humble, diligent, and obedient acceptance of the justice of Gods decrees
in the light of reason, whereas sin and evil result from an egotistic (and futile) stand
against God. This Stoic ethics [258], with its affinity to Calvinist and Jansenist
predestinarianism, is as deterministic as Cartesian physics. It does, however, contradict
Descartess claim that the human will is free not just to accept or reject the rightness of
predetermined bodily actions but also to choose and cause particular actions.
Malebranche [259] and occasionalism [260]
The most important philosophical work stemming directly from Descartess writings is
The Search After Truth[261] (167475), by Malebranche. His position, known as
occasionalism [262], was adopted also by Geulincx and the French philosopher Graud de
Cordemoy [263]. Malebranche was convinced by the argumenturged most strongly by
the French skeptic Simon Foucher [264]that, because they are so radically different,
Cartesian mind and matter cannot interact. Malebranche held that, on every occasionwhen human bodies [265] interact with the world, God provides the appropriate sensible
ideas in human minds. And, on every occasion when human minds will that their bodies
move, God makes them move. Thus, there is no direct causal interaction between mind
and body; there are only separate but parallel sequences of mental and material events
intermediated by God.
Foucher also argued that, because sensible ideas cannot resemble material things, they
cannot represent them either, and they thus cannot be a source of knowledge of thematerial world. In other words, because sensible ideas such as colours, tactile feelings,
sounds, odours, and tastesas they are experienced by the mindare utterly unlike the
properties of material bodies, which are limited to size, shape, position, and motion or
rest, it follows that these ideas cannot give knowledge of the material world as it really is.
In response, Malebranche, like Descartes before him, simply denied that ideas must
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resemble their objects to represent them. Regarding the possibility that one might have
sensible ideas of a nonexistent world, Malebranche said tersely that the first chapter of
Genesis assures the existence of the material world. As to how human ideas of this world
are true, Malebranche offered the Platonic view that ideas of all things reside in God and
that, on appropriate occasions, God illuminates these ideas for human observation. Thus,
human beings see all things in God and can rest assured in his goodness.
Despite Descartess influence on his thought, Malebranche denied that he was a
Cartesian. Unlike Descartes, he argued that introspection gives no knowledge of the
essence of the mind. This view prompted the English empiricist philosopher John Locke
[266] (16321704) to suggest that, for all human beings know, matter might be able to
think. All Cartesians opposed this possibility, however, because the essential difference
between mind or soul and body supports the Christian doctrine that the human soul
survives the bodys death.
Later philosophers
The rationalist metaphysics of the Dutch-Jewish philosopher Benedict de Spinoza [267]
derives from Descartes. Spinoza wrote hisEthics [268] (1677) in mathematico-deductive
form, with definitions, axioms, and derived theorems. His metaphysics, which is
simultaneously monistic[269]
, pantheistic, and deistic, holds that there is only onesubstance, that this one substance is God, and that God is the same as the world. The one
substance has an infinite number of attributes, each of which expresses the totality of the
world (or God), though the only attributes known to human beings are mind and matter.
All attributes are parallel [270] in every respect; that is, for every idea expressed in the
mental attribute [271], there is a parallel body in the material attribute, and vice versa.
Thus, though mind and matter do not interact, for Spinoza as for Malebranche they
appear to do so.
The other great figure of late 17th-century rationalism [272], Leibniz [273], also gave a
parallelistic answer to the problem of mind-body interaction. Leibniz asserted that the
universe is constituted of an infinite number of simple, indivisible, extensionless
substances, which he called monads [274]. Each monad reflects, or perceives, the entire
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universe from its own point of view. Although monads do not causally interact with each
other, a preestablished harmony between them, created and maintained by God, ensures
that the appearance [275] of interaction is maintained at the level of material objects.
The Irish radical empiricist and bishop George Berkeley [276] (16851753) developed
another monistic metaphysical system. Berkeley managed to avoid the problem of
mind-body interaction by taking the extreme step of denying the existence of matter.
Bodies, according to him, are only collections of sensible ideas that are presented to the
human mind in lawful order by God. Because there is no material world, there is also no
skeptical problem about whether ideas truly represent physical reality. Instead, all ideas
are known directly.
By contrast, the English materialist philosopher Thomas Hobbes [277] (15881679) did
away with mind as a mental substance by asserting that only matter exists. For Hobbes,
the mind is the same as the brain, and thoughts or ideas consist of nothing more than
motions of brain matter. Because the mind is material, it is capable of causing bodily
motions in response to sensory stimuli; and because ideas are material, they can resemble,
and thus represent, material bodies.
The way of ideas and the self[278]
Two important themes in the history of modern philosophy can be traced to Descartes.
The first, called the way of ideas [279], represents the attempt in epistemology to
provide a foundation for our knowledge of the external world [280] (as well as our
knowledge of the past and of other minds [281]) in the mental experiences of the
individual. The Cartesian theory of knowledge [282] through representative ideas is
rooted in Galileo [283]s distinction between real, or primary [284], properties of material
bodiessuch as size, shape, position, and motion or restwhich were thought to exist inbodies themselves, and sensible, or secondary [285], propertiessuch as colours, tactile
feelings, sounds, odours, and tasteswhich were thought to exist only in the mind. As
Descartes assumes in his theory of light and as Locke [286] later argued, secondary
properties of bodies do not exist in bodies themselves but are the result of the interaction
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of distinctive arrangements of primary properties with the human sense organs.
According to Locke, however, our sensible ideas of the size, shape, position, and motion
or rest of particular bodies resemble their corresponding primary properties and so can be
a source of knowledge about them. Nevertheless, against this claim it is still possible to
raise the skeptical objection that, because mental and material substances are radically
distinct, and because all ideas are mental, no idea, not even an idea of a primary property[287], can resemble a material object.
As noted above, Berkeleys phenomenalism [288] is one heroic solution to this skeptical
problem: Bodies are known directly simply because bodies are nothing more than
bundles of sensible ideas. Another response, also heroic, is that of the Scottish
philosopher David Hume [289] (171176), who accepted skeptical conclusions and
contented himself with attempting to explain the psychological origins of our
unjustifiable belief in an external world [290], in the continuity of past and future, and in
an enduring self that is the unchanging subject of mental experience. Early in the 20th
century, the British philosopher Bertrand Russell [291] (18721970) and his student the
Austrian-born Ludwig Wittgenstein [292] (18891951), as well as the German founders of
logical positivism [293] Moritz Schlick [294] (18821936) and Rudolf Carnap [295]
(18911970), construed aspects of the physical world as logical constructions of
sensible ideas, which they called sense data [296]. The German philosopher Edmund
Husserl [297] (18591939) attempted to establish a science of sensible ideas, which he
called phenomenology [298]. Later in the century, Russell, following the American
pragmatist philosopher and psychologist William James [299] (18421910), suggested
that both mind and matter could be constructed out of what he called neutral monads.
[300] All of these systems can be considered steps along the Cartesian way of ideas [301].
The second theme to derive from Descartes is an emphasis on the nature of the self, or
ego. The roots of this idea extend back to the Neoplatonic philosophy of St. Augustine[302] (354430), who argued that when one is thinking, one necessarily exists. The idea
also was central to the developmental idealism [303] of the German philosopher G.W.F.
Hegel [304] (17701831), who conceived of human history as the gradual coming to
consciousness of a World Soul [305]. The metaphysics of Martin Heidegger [306]
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(18891976), with its focus on the being of the self, or Dasein, strongly influenced the
existentialism [307] of the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre [308] (19051980), who
argued that each individual chooses his own nature. Sartre also upheld the Cartesian
position that the self is essentially conscious by rejecting the theory of the unconscious
[309] proposed by the Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud [310] (18561939).
Contemporary influences
Some aspects of Cartesian metaphysics and epistemology were still strongly defended in
the 20th century. The American linguist Noam Chomsky [311], for example, has argued
that human beings are born with an innate knowledge of the underlying structures of all
learnable languages, even of languages that have never been spoken. The Nobel Prize-
winning Australian physiologist John C. Eccles [312] (190397) and the Britishprimatologist Wilfred E. Le Gros Clark (18951971) developed theories of the mind as a
nonmaterial entity. Similarly, Eccles and the Austrian-born British philosopher Karl
Popper [313] (190294) advocated a species of mind-matter dualism, though their
tripartite division of reality into matter, mind, and ideas is perhaps more Platonic than
Cartesian.
One of the strongest contemporary attacks on traditional Cartesian dualism is that of the
British philosopher Gilbert Ryle [314] (190076). In The Concept of Mind[315] (1949),
Ryle dismisses the Cartesian view as the fallacy of the ghost in the machine, arguing
that the mindthe ghostis really just the intelligent behaviour of the body. A different
criticism has been advanced by the American pragmatist Richard Rorty [316]
(19312007), who claims (in Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature [1979] and other
works) that the Cartesian demand for certain knowledge of an objectively existing world
through representative ideas is a holdover from the mistaken quest for God. That is,
whereas certain knowledge of Gods existence may be necessary for salvation, to seek
certainty [317] in science and in the ordinary affairs of life is both hopeless and
unnecessary. Philosophy in the Cartesian tradition, Rorty contends, is the 20th centurys
substitute for theology and should, like the concept of God, be gently laid to rest.
In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the nature of consciousness [318] became a topic
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of particular interest to philosophers and neuroscientists. The problems faced by these
researchers were essentially the same as those encountered by all philosophers since
Descartes who have attempted to understand the nature of the mind. Although the seat of
consciousness is universally accepted to be the central nervous system [319], and in
particular the brain [320], it seems impossible that a material object like the brain could
give rise to the mental experiences that human beings have when they are said to be
conscious. In other words, it seems impossible to give an account of these experiences
that, on the one hand, captures what they are really like for human beings and, on the
other, is consistent with the strictly physical vocabulary of the scientific theories in terms
of which the brain is understood.
Some philosophers have responded to this problem in a manner reminiscent of Descartes,
who argued that, although mind-body interaction seems to be impossible, human beings
experience it, and God can make it happen. The British philosopher Colin McGinn, forexample, is among a group of thinkers, known as mysterians, who claim that, although
we know that the conscious mind is nothing more than the brain, it is simply beyond the
conceptual apparatus of human beings to understand how this can be the case. Other
philosophers, such as Daniel Dennett [321] and Paul Churchland, have made valiant
attempts to develop strictly materialist accounts of consciousness, but their efforts so far
have not been widely accepted. A third line of response is represented by the American
philosopher John Searle [322], who argues that the root of the problem is the dichotomy
between the old Cartesian concepts of mind and matter, which he claims are bothinherently incompatible and outmoded, given modern physics. Searle believes that
consciousness, like digestion, is a biological phenomenon [323] (albeit a very complex
one) that can in principle be fully explained in scientific terms.
Assessment
Descartess influence on Western philosophy[324]
is so pervasive that all Westernphilosophers, even those who reject Cartesianism, can be said to be Cartesians, just as
they can be said to be Greeks: their positions are essentially responses to problems posed
by Descartes. Descartes also stands at the beginning of modern mathematics through his
contribution to the development of the infinitesimal calculus [325] by Newton and
Leibniz. Descartess skeptical, mathematical method underpins modern science; his
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conception of rationality informed modern Western ideas of what it means to be a human
being until nearly the end of the 20th century; and his intense desire to control nature in
the service of humanity has been the ultimate secular goal of modern science since the
time of the Enlightenment [326].
Richard A. Watson
Additional Reading
General studies
Many of the classic studies of Cartesianism are in French. They include Francisque
Bouillier,Histoire de la philosophie cartsienne, 3rd ed., 2 vol. (1868, reprinted 1987);
Joseph Prost,Essai sur latomisme et loccasionalisme dans la philosophie cartsienne
(1907); Josef Bohatec,Die cartesianische Scholastik in der Philosophie und reformierten
Dogmatik des 17. Jahrhunderts (1912, reprinted 1966); and E.J. Dijksterhuis et al.,Descartes et le cartsianisme hollandais (1951).
Other general works are Norman Smith, Studies in the Cartesian Philosophy (1902,
reprinted 1987), which covers the failure of rationalism from Descartes through Kant;
Genevive Lewis (Genevive Rodis-Lewis),Le Problme de linconscient et le
cartsianisme, 2nd ed. (1985); Thomas M. Lennon, John M. Nicholas, and John W. Davis
(eds.), Problems of Cartesianism (1982); and Albert G.A. Balz, Cartesian Studies (1951,
reprinted 1987).
Cartesian science
The development of Cartesian physics is studied in Paul Mouy,Le Dveloppement de la
physique cartsienne, 16461712 (1934, reprinted 1981); Edwin Arthur Burtt, The
Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Physical Science (1932, reprinted 1980); and E.J.
Aiton, The Vortex Theory of Planetary Motions (1972). Noam Chomsky, Cartesian
Linguistics: A Chapter in the History of Rationalist Thought(1966, reprinted 1983), is a
historical exposition and an extended argument for the claim that Cartesian rationalism is
the best general framework for the study of the mind. Leonora Cohen Rosenfield, FromBeast-Machine to Man-Machine: Animal Soul in French Letters from Descartes to La
Mettrie, new and enlarged ed. (1968), is an exploration of 17th- and 18th-century debates
about whether animals have souls, showing Descartess important influence on modern
physiology. Also relevant are Daniel Garber,Descartes Metaphysical Physics (1992),
andDescartes Embodied(2001); and Dennis Des Chene, Physiologia: Natural
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Philosophy in Late Aristotelian and Cartesian Thought(1996), and Spirits and Clocks:
Machine and Organism in Descartes (2001).
Metaphysics and epistemology
Useful studies include Theo Verbeek,Descartes and the Dutch: Early Reactions to
Cartesian Philosophy, 16371650 (1992); Steven M. Nadler (ed.), Causation in EarlyModern Philosophy: Cartesianism, Occasionalism, and Preestablished Harmony (1993);
Steven Nadler,Arnauld and the Cartesian Philosophy of Ideas (1989); and Thomas
Lennon, The Battle of the Gods and Giants: The Legacies of Descartes and Gassendi,
16551715 (1993). Interpretive scholarship is offered in Arthur O. Lovejoy, The Revolt
Against Dualism, 2nd ed. (1960), a study of reactions against Cartesian metaphysics; J.S.
Spink, French Free-Thought from Gassendi to Voltaire (1960, reissued 1969); Henri
Gouhier, Cartsianisme et augustinisme au XVIIe sicle (1978); Richard H. Popkin, The
History of Scepticism from Erasmus to Spinoza, rev. and expanded ed. (1979); and
Richard A. Watson, The Breakdown of Cartesian Metaphysics (1987, reissued 1998).
Works on the mind-body problem as it concerns consciousness include Ned Block, Owen
Flanagan, and Gven Gzeldere, The Nature of Consciousness: Philosophical Debates
(1997); David J. Chalmers, The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory
(1996); Paul M. Churchland,Matter and Consciousness: A Contemporary Introduction to
the Philosophy of Mind, rev. ed. (1988); Brian Cooney (ed.), The Place of Mind(2000);
Antonio R. Damasio, The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of
Consciousness (1999); Daniel C. Dennett, Consciousness Explained(1991); Karl R.Popper and John C. Eccles, The Self and Its Brain (1977, reissued 1998); George Lakoff
and Mark Johnson, Philosophy in the Flesh: The Embodied Mind and Its Challenge to
Western Thought(1999); and John R. Searle,Minds, Brains, and Science, new ed. (1992),
and The Rediscovery of the Mind(1992).
Richard A. Watson
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