Full Idea
What does Descartes understand by the union of the mind and the body? What clear and distinct conception has he got of thought in most intimate union with a certain particle of extended matter?
Gist of Idea
Does Descartes have a clear conception of how mind unites with body?
Source
comment on René Descartes (Meditations [1641], §6.82) by Baruch de Spinoza - The Ethics V Pref
Book Reference
Spinoza,Benedict de: 'Ethics, Improvement of Understanding, Letters', ed/tr. Elwes,R [Dover 1955], p.246
A Reaction
This is the classic, original and strongest objection to Cartesian dualism - that mind and body are held to be too different to interact. Spinoza may have overreacted a bit when he saw the only solution as the total identity of the two things.