Descartes s Philosophy On The Mind And Consciousness...

In modern philosophy, reality is viewed in a twofold manner: the immaterial mind on the one hand and the extended body on the other. Also, we think of reality and divided between the â€Å"I† subject and an external world of objects. This line of thinking is attributed to Rene Descartes, widely credited as the father of modern philosophy. Descartes was a proponent of metaphysical dualism. He believed that the mind and the body are distinct substances. To Descartes, we can reach certain knowledge about the mind and consciousness through introspection. He reasons that we cannot doubt our existence as ‘thinking things’ because the fact that we think is undeniable. However, we tend to be fooled by our sensory experience of the world around us, so it is possible to put the world outside of our minds into doubt. To Descartes, philosophy is about attaining certain knowledge. We look upon the world as knowing subjects. Descartes believed that we cannot properly philosophi ze without first establishing certain principles to guide our investigation. We must doubt everything that can be doubted, and only when we reach a position that cannot be doubted can we begin our quest to understand reality. Since we begin with the thinking thing, the Cogito, the mind has ontological precedence over the body. From Descartes onwards, the ultimate questions of philosophy were viewed as being epistemic in nature. The big questions in philosophy were about the relationship of the thinking subject to theShow MoreRelatedEssay on Consciousness As Determined Th1030 Words   |  5 Pages Consciousness is understood in a variety of ways. In one belief, a person is conscious when awake, but unconscious when sleeping or comatose. Yet people also do things requiring perception and thought unconsciously even when they are awake. A person can be conscious of their physical surroundings, pain and even a wish or fantasy. 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