Single Idea 4069

[catalogued under 17. Mind and Body / A. Mind-Body Dualism / 1. Dualism]

Full Idea

It would be wrong to represent Descartes' view as the idea that bodies are made of one kind of stuff and minds of another; he did not think minds are made of stuff at all, because then they would be divisible.

Gist of Idea

Descartes did not think of minds as made of a substance, because they are not divisible

Source

Tim Crane (Elements of Mind [2001], 2.10)

Book Reference

Crane,Tim: 'Elements of Mind' [OUP 2001], p.38


A Reaction

I'm not convinced. It could be an indivisible substance. Without a mental substance, Descartes may have to say the mind is an abstraction, perhaps a pattern of Platonic forms.

Related Idea

Idea 5011 There are two ultimate classes of existence: thinking substance and extended substance [Descartes]