Discussion 10

Discussion 10 Descartes has not convinced me that I am made of two substances, a mental substance or mind which is un-extended in space and capable of pure understanding and a body which is extended in space, divisible and capable of sensation. According to Kessler (2013), Descartes argues that he is a thing which can doubt, affirm, understand, deny, imagine and own sensory perceptions (Kessler, 2013). This makes no sense because ascribing forms to extended non-thinking things like rocks is not possible. It is only the mind which can have this kind of mode. On the contrary, it is meaningless to ascribe forms like shape, quantity, size and motion among others to thinking things which are extended. For instance, the idea of un-extended shape is illogical, hence the mind cannot be understood to be moving or made of a certain shape nor can a body comprehend or sense anything. My view is that human beings are made up of the mind and body which are combined and work simultaneously. For instance, the choices made by the mind cause modes of movement in the body and movements in other body organs like the eyes cause sensation modes in the mind. Another example is the willingness of an individual to raise a hand in a classroom to answer a question. This involves an arm which moves upward as an effect while the option of raising the hand is the cause. Willing is a non-extended mode of the mind a lone while the movement of the arm is an extended mode of the body alone but the two work in coordination.
References
Kessler, G. E. (2013). Voices of Wisdom: A Multicultural Philosophy Reader, 8th ed. Wadsworth: Cengage Learning.