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Does Darwinism undermine Cartesian Dualism? In order for us to analyze the effect, caused by Darwinism on mind and body theory of Cartesian Dualism, it needs to be briefly mentioned what these two theories stand for. Although one of them is clearly philosophical and another is associated more with Biology as a practical science, it appears that Darwinism has many properties of just an abstract system of beliefs, so, in a way, it is more appropriate to talk of more advanced philosophical system undermining the outdated one. Every time when any abstract science or system of beliefs is to be studied, it is always beneficial to familiarize oneself with historical aspects of how that system came to be in the first place and how it went through development stages. Cartesian Dualism, as philosophic method, was introduced by the French philosopher Rene Descartes (1596 1650), who in his Sixth Meditation of his Meditations on First philosophy had suggested the parallel existence of two, fundamentally opposite essences material body and immaterial mind, where immaterial mind is fully independent of its body and even capable of existing without it. According to him, physical and mental substances have its properties: extension corresponds to physical substance, and ability to think is a property of mental substances.
All the matter and the space have an extension they are reality of material realm. Matter is sometimes gets to be rearranged in space that is movement. The power behind such movement is God. According to Descartes, mens body is nothing but a link between lower material realm and higher spiritual.
The only thing that enables person to asses surrounding reality, is its consciousness. I think, therefore I am this Descartes saying is very helpful to grasp the essence of his philosophy. On the one hand I have a clear and distinct idea of myself, in so far as I am simply a thinking, non-extended thing; and on the other hand I have a distinct idea of body, in so far as this is simply an extended, non-thinking thing. And accordingly, it is certain that I am really distinct from my body, and can exist without it.
What is so remarkable about quoted passage from Descartes Meditation on First Philosophy? In my opinion, it is the fact that there is unique interconnection of idealism and logic. This is one of characteristics of Western philosophy as a whole. No wonder, many philosophers think that Descartes had only developed Plato's idea of thing in itself further and this idealistic philosophy was brought to a next point by Immanuel Kant in his Critique of pure reason. So, Descartes philosophy is an integral part of Western philosophical thought and we better look at it from this point perspective. Many point out that Descartes philosophy goes along with Christian beliefs, providing Christianity with philosophical ground for imposing its outdated views upon great many people.
But again, if we to think about it in historical terms, itll appear clear that since the beginning of decline of Christianity as religion, it used to be very little preoccupied with reassessing its doctrine with a mean of philosophy. Up until now, its biggest concern is to maintain its presence among people, which is becoming ever-harder task. So, in my opinion, Western philosophy, including concept of Cartesian Dualism, needs to be addressed to as just free scientific pursuit of higher truth, which has nothing to do with any form of religion. It is no secret that Cartesian Dualism, as method, has fallen out of favor among contemporary philosophers It is commonly regarded as a bit naive approach to explaining the nature of surrounding reality and mens place in it.
But it had never lost its historical value and that is exactly the reason why its being taught in universities. This brings us to a point where we need to characterize Darwinism as scientific theory, in order to be able to figure what impact it had on concept of Cartesian dualism. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection of Charles Darwin, was published in 1859, arousing a storm of controversies, after becoming available to readers. Nowadays, even schoolchildren know what this theory stands for. Darwin suggests that vast variety of species is nothing but a result of their evolution development from more primitive forms of life into more perfect. Under nature, the slightest difference of structure or constitution may well turn the nicely-balanced scale in the struggle for life, and so be preserved.
How fleeting are the wishes and efforts of man! how short his time! and consequently how poor will his products be, compared with those accumulated by nature during whole geological periods. Can we wonder, then, that nature's productions should be far "truer" in character than man's productions; that they should be infinitely better adapted to the most complex conditions of life, and should plainly bear the stamp of far higher workmanship? (Chapter 4, 84) Oswald Spengler has noticed in his Decline of the West that every scientific or philosophical idea corresponds to a location where its being originated from and to the period of time, when it happened. That is to say that theyll be all marked by cultural and socio-political trends, that are being present among people, at the time of these ideas coming out in the open. Darwinism constitutes a very good example of that, just as Cartesian dualism represents the feeling of dis attachment between soul and body, that was widely spread among Europeans in 17 century, because of those blows, sustained by Christianity, by the fact of recent astronomical discoveries and Reformation.
In this respect, Darwinism and Descartes philosophy can be seen as a reaction to an external changes. In 19 century, the whole Western culture and its scientific thought received a powerful surge: Nietzsche, Mendeleev, Edison, Wagner, and Rossini the list is long. Darwinism came as final accord in this unrestricted triumph of intellect. While Cartesian dualism constituted an attempt to make peace with God by the mean of applying logic, Darwinism uses logic to break up with God once and forever.
Still, Darwin's work is not altogether deprived of sense of divine. Evolutionary changes take place within very long periods of time, yet they seem to serve only one purpose the survival of fittest, the perfecting of living creatures. Darwin replaces God with nature, thus having clarified once and for all on what new morals are to be established upon everything that goes according to the laws of nature is ultimate good. There are many academicians, who associate Cartesian dualism as a main principle that modern Christian theology is built upon and nothing else.
But Descartes is also being a great mathematician and there is no doubt that he wanted to see his philosophy to find its practical applications, rather than just being a tool of priests. It contributed a lot for such scientific discipline as physiology to appear. We can trace it back to the time when Descartes first tried to rationalize the nature of animal reflexes. It is commonly assumed that Darwinism is a part of materialist theory and as such, it is opposed to any idealistic outlook on life. But I think it would be mistake to assume the same approach. Darwin had never renounced his Christian faith officially, but what is the most important even though Darwinism, as a theory, is being around for quite some time and is accepted, as generally proven, in scientific circles, there are many inconsistencies in it, so it doesnt enjoy the position of complete authority.
The recent developments in computer technology, bring us to conclusion that virtual reality will play bigger and bigger part in peoples lives, maybe even replacing physical reality to a large scale. We cannot doubt the fact of virtual reality is being present in very real way, yet its essence is based on our ability to operate with nothingness, as even nuclear physics scientists cannot effectively explain the nature of elementary particle, that often manifest characteristics of physical object and of radio wave at the same time. It be would be wrong, on our part, to think of Cartesian Dualism as an outdated philosophical method and if it does appear on the surface as something that really contradicts the evolution theory, that rejects God as emotional entity, than maybe in time, Homo Sapiens will evolve to such a state that minds separate existence from its body will become a reality. Because of an evolution process, a few microbes have spanned life in all of its form, as we know it now why to think that evolution has stopped at this point and wont go any further? Let us summarize what is being said earlier into one conclusion. If we to adopt an unconventional approach, it might become possible for us to come up with synthesis of Darwinism and Cartesian Dualism, rather than opposing them to each other.
Humans are just like animals, being programmed by its genes that are formed as a result of evolution process. These genes are responsible for the way we look but also for the way of how we think. The only genes function is to duplicate itself. Yet were capable of thinking abstract thoughts but is this feature of our brain is so crucial to guarantee our body physical survival, thus making possible for this primary gene to survive and duplicate itself? The answer is no.
What really important - is our ability to gather food, survive in cold and being able to find a partner to mate with. So, within millions and millions of years, our brain has developed into something that wasnt originally planned. So, in a way, our consciousness exists in very much independent mode from our instincts, defined by our hereditary that is also responsible every other physical aspect of our being. But this is too early, at this stage, to suggest that our consciousness might be able to remain in active state, apart from being attached to a physical body. We live in a post-modern world that contains many more scenarios for how our civilization would continue to progress, than even 20 years ago. The classic concepts of economy, warfare, morals have lost their actuality, because of nowadays realities.
Philosophy used to be responsible for conceiving of ideologies that had shaken world many times. Now it is associated with just a certain academic pursuit. But, in my opinion, philosophy might regain its actuality, by being associated with scientific breakthroughs that we are going to witness in very near future. Cartesian dualism, although being largely overlooked, as a philosophical method, because of rise of scientific doctrines that effectively prove Gods non-existence, might still become popular again. The important is to avoid dogmatism when it comes to discussing metaphysical matters. Leonardo Da Vinci's drawing of a man with a parachute, above his head, could never make sense to those who looked at that, until reinvention of parachute in 20 th century Bibliography: Darwin, Charles.
The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin: A variorum text ed. by Morse Peckham. Philadelphia. 1959. 2. Descartes, R. Meditations on the First Philosophy. Oxford University Press.
New York. 1986.
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Research essay sample on Does Darwinism Undermine Cartesian Dualism
