Criticism of Descartes’ Accounts of Our Cognitive Relation to the “External World”

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September 26, 2023
DecartesVieews on the Human Error, Mind-Body Relationship and Critiques by Princess Elizabeth and Margaret Cavendish
Introduction
Often hailed as the father of modern philosophy, Rene Descartes has made a significant contribution to the fields of philosophy of the mind, especially in metaphysics and epistemology. Born in the year 1596 in France, Descartes would go on to become one of the well-known philosophers and would continue to reverberate through the doors of philosophical discussion throughout history. His work has become the shifting point of an understanding inn how the body and the mind work, as he changed an era made by methodological thinking, rationalism, and the quest for certain knowledge. One of the most well-known pronouncements that Descartes made is “I think, therefore I am” (Cornito, ergo sum) and it encapsulates his journey to to a world of certainty.
In this exploration of Descartes' life and philosophy, we embark on a journey through the intellectual landscape of the 17th century—a landscape transformed by his ideas. Epistemology is the investigation of what is justified or proven belief to an opinion and metaphysics deals with the reason something exists in the first place. With that in mind, this essay will explore Rene Descartes’ perspectives on the mind-body relationship, the problem of human error, human distinctiveness, and also some of his errors in his accounts for the external world. This paper will also include a discussion of Descartes's views by Princess Elizabeth of Bohemia and Margaret Cavendish.
Body
Descartes promotes that mind and body are completely different from each other and should be viewed as having a dualistic perspective from each of them (Britannica, n.d.). He argues that the human body is material and extended which means that it is greatly connected to the real world, while the human mind is immaterial and thinking which means that it cannot be tied to any mass that can be interacted physically. According to Descartes the only means of communication that the human mind and the human body is through a gland called the pineal gland located at the bottom part of the brain, this gland allows communication between the immaterial human mind and the material human body (Dunne, 2022).
What sets us apart from other organisms that also have a mind is our capabilities for reasoning and communicating through language. He argued that although animals has a mind of their own they are based solely on their instinct which is completely different from human where actions are followed by rationalities and expression through language. Instinct is very abstract as it happens unconsciously where the body acts automatically as it is embedded in nature. Humans have evolved so much compared to other animals because of our continuous curiosity and neverending wants in life. This kind of difference in the human ability to use reasoning to animals acting solely on instinct is what Descartes consider the main difference between human and animal.
Philosophical questions like this encourage people to think critically about a question and to analyze rigorously to find an answer. They prompt hum...