Home > Subject index > Philosophy > Table of contents
Subject: Philosophy  Book Title: Descartes's Theory of Mind
Descartes's Theory of Mind
Clarke, Desmond , Department of Philosophy, University College, Cork, Ireland
Print publication date: 2003
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: November 2003
Print ISBN-13: 978-0-19-926123-9
doi:10.1093/0199261237.001.0001
 
Abstract: Descartes argues that no explanation of any phenomenon may assume or merely re-describe what needs to be explained. He cannot, therefore, propose substance dualism as a theory of mind. To explain mental activities such as sensation, memory, or imagination, one must hypothesize how they result from interaction between the environment, the senses, and the processing of the brain. Descartes initiated such a naturalized account. However, given the state of neurology in the seventeenth century, his efforts were doomed. The failure to construct a scientific theory that bridges the theoretical gap between mental events and matter (as understood by Descartes) results, by default, in a property dualism that marks the limits of his scientific efforts.

Keywords: Descartes, dualism, explanation, imagination, matter, memory, sensation, substance, theory of mind
Table of Contents
Introduction
You have access to the full text for this item.
Chapter 1. Cartesian Explanation
You have access to the abstract and full text for this item.     You have access to the full text for this item.
Chapter 2. Sensation: Ideas as Brain Patterns
You have access to the abstract and full text for this item.     You have access to the full text for this item.
Chapter 3. Imagination and Memory
You have access to the abstract and full text for this item.     You have access to the full text for this item.
Chapter 4. Passions of the Soul
You have access to the abstract and full text for this item.     You have access to the full text for this item.
Chapter 5. The Will as a Power of Self-Determination
You have access to the abstract and full text for this item.     You have access to the full text for this item.
Chapter 6. Human Language
You have access to the abstract and full text for this item.     You have access to the full text for this item.
Chapter 7. Describing Thought: The Subjective View
You have access to the abstract and full text for this item.     You have access to the full text for this item.
Chapter 8. Descartes's Use of the Concept of Substance
You have access to the abstract and full text for this item.     You have access to the full text for this item.
Chapter 9. Property Dualism
You have access to the abstract and full text for this item.     You have access to the full text for this item.
Bibliography
You have access to the full text for this item.
Index
You have access to the full text for this item.
doi:10.1093/0199261237.001.0001
Quick Search Form
 
scroll up fast
scroll up
 
scroll down
scroll down fast