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Literature & Language
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Topic:

Princess Elizabeth of Bohemia and Descartes’ Argument Concerning Mind-Body Causation

Essay Instructions:

PHL B35 S2021 Essay 2 & Peer Review 2 Instructions 

First I’ll explain the essay prompt, and then I’ll explain which questions you should address for the peer review. All three deadlines (draft for peer review, comments on drafts, and final papers) are listed on the final page. This second paper is a bit longer than the first paper, worth more of your final grade, and asks you to spend more time on critical analysis.

There are two options for topics.

Option 1: Descartes and Bohemia

In your paper, complete the following tasks in this order:

 (1) Explain Bohemia’s objection to Descartes concerning mind-body interaction (not the objection concerning fainting) (200 words)

 (2) Explain Descartes’ response to her objection (200 words)

 (3) Either argue that Descartes’ response to Bohemia is persuasive or that it is not persuasive. Explain, in detail, one or two reasons for taking up the position that you do. (750 words)

 Option 2: Descartes and Amo

In your paper, complete the following tasks in this order:

 (1) Present some textual evidence that Descartes believes that the mind can sense, and explain why Descartes believes that the mind can sense. (200 words)

 (2) Explain why Amo believes that the mind cannot sense. (200 words)

 (3) Argue that either Descartes or Amo is right about the question of whether the mind can sense. Explain, in detail, one or two reasons for taking up the position that you do. (750 words).

 Note: whenever you explain what a philosopher believes, demonstrate your understanding through using a combination of your own words and short quotations from the readings.

Quoting or paraphrasing the slides, or things I say during lecture, or quoting or paraphrasing secondary sources, are not ways of providing your own interpretation of the text.

Peer Review
 Before the essay is due, you will submit a portion of your essay for peer review (there will be a place to do this on Quercus).

 What you will submit is an in-progress version of the third part of your paper - the part which contains critical analysis rather than exposition. It should be at least 200 words long.

To get full credit for the peer review, you must not only submit your draft, but also briefly comment on another students’ draft (you will be assigned a student through Quercus).

For your peer review, you should answer the following questions:

How should Amo/Bohemia/Descartes respond to the arguments presented in the paper? Does the paper seem to interpret their views and arguments correctly? Does the objection try to push them to change their view(s), for reasons that might make sense from their perspective? Why or why not?

Answer these questions in about 100 words. Be kind to each other.

The peer review is marked for completion. As long as you complete both these tasks, you will receive full marks for peer review.

Note: while ideally you will receive comments on your paper from a peer before the final deadline for the first paper, this may not happen. In a case like this, you should still submit your paper by the deadline. You can also submit your paper early, if you don’t feel like waiting for the peer review you arrive.

 To get help and advice about the paper, you should really come to some of the extra office

hours rather than just rely on the peer review. The peer review’s secondary purpose is to offer you some thoughts on your paper, but the primary purpose is to give you practice at critically reviewing a paper and editing it. This is a skill that you should always be turning upon your

own work. So as long as you’ve reviewed someone’s paper, you’re getting what I think you

should from the peer review process.


Logistics

Submit your draft for peer review on Quercus by [March 3rd 11: 59 pm] Submit your comments on a peers’ draft on Quercus by [ March 4th 11:59 pm] Submit the paper on Quercus by [March 5th 11:59 pm]

See the prompts for the word count constraints for specific sections of the papers and peer reviews. Do not violate the constraints by plus or minus ten percent.

Use 12-point fonts and double space.

It does not matter what citation style you use, as long as it is consistent and involves making reference to specific page numbers when you cite someone’s ideas or use a quotation.

You do not need to cite anything beyond the assigned readings, and papers will not necessarily improved through citing things beyond the assigned readings. My personal recommendation is that you cite nothing other than the course readings. But if there is some source external to the course materials that you would like to use in your paper, you may do so.

Using the word “I” is fine in philosophical writing. It’s the right thing to do when you write the part of the paper when you explain what you believe and why you believe it.

Essay Sample Content Preview:

Descartes’s Body-Mind Interaction
Your Name
Subject and Section
Professor’s Name
March 5, 2021
Bohemia's Objection to Descartes concerning mind-body interaction
The mind-body causation is one of the theories that suggest the interrelationship between a person's feelings, thoughts, perceptions, and actions. Notably, this theory believes in the dualism between the mind and the body.
Although there were several instances when individuals believe in the importance of mind-body interaction, there were also notable instances when others objected to this idea. For example, the interaction problem as interposed by Princess Elizabeth of Bohemia in some of her correspondences is related to Descartes's idea that despite the differences (and opposite) natures of one's soul and body, each of them nevertheless exerts an influence upon one another.
In saying this, Elizabeth opposed Descartes on the idea that even if both the mind and body are made up of distinct and exclusive substances, there exists a causal connection between the two, as evidenced by how they are united within the human body. Interestingly, her idea seems to revolve around the mechanist account of causation (efficient causation). In other words, Elizabeth's main point of argumentation b revolves around the question as to how something that is immaterial (i.e., mind) can be affect something that is material (i.e., body) if there are limited ways on how a material object could be moved such as self-propulsion and if it is pushed by something else.
Descartes Response to Her Objection
Descartes' response to her causation focuses on the idea that Elizabeth's notion of causation does not precisely apply to how the mind causes the body to move. In other words, Descartes believed that Elizabeth's notion of mind-body causation is merely focused on the idea of efficient causation, wherein it is a mistake to think that all mind-body causation is similar to that.
To further illustrate this incorrect notion of causation, Descartes has shown that since Elizabeth's notion is based on her own perspective, or by what is currently known to humankind, then her understanding of things is also limited to what is observable and known. Descartes referred to this when he discussed 'primitive notions' where most of an individual's actual knowledge is generated. One of Descartes's examples was how people perceive the notion of weight as a force that compels the body to move towards the Earth. However, since our knowledge about "the means of actual touching of one surface to another," then our conceptions of the idea of weight are also limited by its nature.
All in all, Descartes' reply shows that the mind-body causation, albeit a mystery, does not mean that it can only be subject to efficient causation as already proven by logic. Instead there, are other forces that could cause the body to move.
Descartes Argument
Based on the correspondence between the two, Elizabeth's argumentation about the mind-body causation is more persuasive than Descartes's. However, before we can move on to illustrate this, it would be best to look at Descarte's argumentation first.
First,...
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