Six metaphysical meditations: $b Wherein it is proved that there is a God and that mans mind is really distinct from his bodyDescartes, René
PhilosophyPhilosophy
Six metaphysical meditations: $b Wherein it is proved that there is a God and that mans mind is really distinct from his body
Descartes, René
Descartes, René, 1596-1650; First philosophy; God -- Proof, Ontological; Knowledge, Theory of; Metaphysics; Methodology
First therefore I understand that a _chief difference_ between my _Mind_
and _Body_ consists in this, That my _Body_ is of its _Nature divisible_,
but my _Mind indivisible_; for while I consider my _Mind_ or _my self_,
as I am only a _thinking Thing_, I can distinguish _no parts_ in Me,
but I perceive my self to be but _one entire_ Thing; and tho the _whole
Mind_ seems to be _united_ to the _whole Body_, yet a Foot, an Arm, or
any other part of the Body being cut off, I do not therefore conceive
any _part_ of my _Mind_ taken away; Neither can its _Faculties_ of
_desiring_, _perceiving_, _understanding_, &c. be called its _Parts_, for
’tis one and the _same_, _mind_, that _desires_, that _perceives_, that
_understands_; Contrarily, I cannot think of any _Corporeal_ or _extended
Being_, which I cannot easily _divide_ into _Parts_ by my thought, and by
this I understand it to be _divisible_. And this alone (if I had known it
from no other Argument) is sufficient to inform me, that my _mind_ is
_really distinct_ from my _Body_.
Nextly I find, that my _mind_ is not _immediately affected_ by all parts
of my _body_, but only by the _Brain_, and perhaps only by one small part
of it, That, to wit, wherein the _common sense_ is said to reside; Which
part, as often as it is disposed in the _same manner_, will represent to
the _mind_ the _same thing_, tho at the same time the other parts of the
_body_ may be _differently_ order’d. And this is proved by numberless
Experiments, which need not here be related.
Moreover I discover that the _nature_ of my _body_ is such, that no part
of it can be _moved_ by an other _remote_ part thereof, but it may also
be _moved_ in the _same manner_ by some of the _interjacent_ parts, tho
the more _remote_ part lay still and acted not; As for example in the
Rope,
A⸺B⸺C⸺D
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