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Single Idea 3613
[filed under theme 17. Mind and Body / A. Mind-Body Dualism / 1. Dualism
]
Full Idea
Whereas reason is a universal instrument which can serve on any kind of occasion, the organs of a machine need a disposition for each action; so it is impossible to have enough different organs in a machine to respond to all the occurrences of life.
Gist of Idea
Reason is universal in its responses, but a physical machine is constrained by its organs
Source
René Descartes (A Discourse on Method [1637], §5.57)
Book Ref
Descartes,René: 'Discourse on Method/The Meditations', ed/tr. Sutcliffe,F.E. [Penguin 1968], p.74
A Reaction
How can Descartes know that reason is 'universal' rather than just 'very extensive'? Is there any information which cannot be encoded in a computer? It doesn't feel as if there any intrinsic restrictions to reason, but note Idea 4688.
Related Idea
Idea 4688
We imagine small and large objects scaled to the same size, suggesting a fixed capacity for imagination [Lavers]
The
22 ideas
from 'A Discourse on Method'
3600
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Slow and accurate thought makes the greatest progress
[Descartes]
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3601
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Most things in human life seem vain and useless
[Descartes]
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1581
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Greeks elevate virtues enormously, but never explain them
[Descartes]
|
3602
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Almost every daft idea has been expressed by some philosopher
[Descartes]
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3603
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Methodical thinking is cautious, analytical, systematic, and panoramic
[Descartes, by PG]
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3604
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When rebuilding a house, one needs alternative lodgings
[Descartes]
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3605
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We can believe a thing without knowing we believe it
[Descartes]
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1583
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In morals Descartes accepts the conventional, but rejects it in epistemology
[Roochnik on Descartes]
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3606
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I was searching for reliable rock under the shifting sand
[Descartes]
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3607
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In thinking everything else false, my own existence remains totally certain
[Descartes]
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3608
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I can deny my body and the world, but not my own existence
[Descartes]
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3609
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I am a thinking substance, which doesn't need a place or material support
[Descartes]
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3610
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Truth is clear and distinct conception - of which it is hard to be sure
[Descartes]
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3611
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Understanding, rather than imagination or senses, gives knowledge
[Descartes]
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3612
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Clear and distinct conceptions are true because a perfect God exists
[Descartes]
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3614
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A machine could speak in response to physical stimulus, but not hold a conversation
[Descartes]
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3613
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Reason is universal in its responses, but a physical machine is constrained by its organs
[Descartes]
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3615
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Little reason is needed to speak, so animals have no reason at all
[Descartes]
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3616
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The soul must unite with the body to have appetites and sensations
[Descartes]
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3617
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I aim to find the principles and causes of everything, using the seeds within my mind
[Descartes]
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3618
|
Only experiments can settle disagreements between rival explanations
[Descartes]
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16686
|
God has established laws throughout nature, and implanted ideas of them within us
[Descartes]
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