Dualism and the Issue of Brain Damage - Essay

In Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes argued that the mind and the body are independent but inter-correlated while the mind can exist without the body; what is known as essential dualism. Based on this theory, the mind is not a material thing because it has none of the properties that material things have such as spatiality and divisibility. However, there are some facts that challenge Descartes’ idea of the immateriality of the mind as well as its independence from the body. One of those facts that dualism cannot explain is what happens to some brain damaged people (Descartes, 2008, p. 14). 

Identity Theorists' Debate over Dualism - Essay

Descartes’ explore for certainty started out with doubts. He professed that as he had admitted many false opinions as true, his knowledge is dubitable; hence his beliefs are based on unsettled assumptions. Thus, he decided to reconstruct his views upon sound principles. Descartes wisely undermined the foundations of his understandings so that the rest of his thoughts would collapse consequently. To do so, he tackled the validity of senses-acquired knowledge. He also considered the possibility of being deceived, not only about the testimony of the senses, but also about the truth of arithmetical axioms and logical principles (Descartes, 2008, p. 14).