Deck 5: René Descartes Mind and Body

Question 1

Descartes claims that he has a clear and distinct idea of "mind" which he defines as ...

A) a metaphysical absurdity.
B) an epistemological ideality.
C) an extended and unthinking thing.
D) a thinking and unextended thing.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Descartes claims that he has a distinct idea of "body" which he defines as ...

A) a metaphysical absurdity.
B) an epistemological ideality.
C) an extended and unthinking thing.
D) a thinking and unextended thing.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Descartes claims that it is certain that his mind is entirely distinct from his body, and that it ...

A) may exist without it.
B) is dependent on his body for existence.
C) can only have ideas that arise from sensations.
D) is a corporeal entity.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

For Descartes, "there is a vast difference between mind and body, in respect that body, from its nature, is always _________, and that mind is entirely ___________."

A) impersonal; personal
B) divisible; indivisible
C) temporal; eternal
D) reflexive; irreflexive

Question 5

Descartes asserts that corporeal objects exist, but that they are not ...

A) the result of God's constant intervention.
B) exactly such as we perceive by the senses.
C) independent of my mind.
D) the subject of reflection.

Question 6

Descartes says, "Nature likewise teaches me by these sensations of pain, hunger, thirst, etc., that I am not only lodged in my body as a pilot in a vessel, but that I am besides so intimately conjoined, and as it were intermixed with it, that my mind and body compose a certain ..."

A) antagonism.
B) hierarchy.
C) tangent.
D) unity.

Question 7

Descartes's position in which he asserts that we have a mind and a body is called ...

A) "substance dualism."
B) "universal monism."
C) "reflective equilibrium."
D) "normative descriptivism."

Question 8

Descartes's position regarding the separate existence of mind and body leaves him with a serious problem:

A) Why did God create two different substances?
B) Why do minds exist eternally but bodies do not?
C) How do the two different kinds of substances interact?
D) How do bodies evolve into minds?

Question 9

Descartes claims that he has a clear and distinct idea of "mind" which he defines as an epistemological ideality.

Question 10

Descartes claims that he has a distinct idea of "body" which he defines as an extended and unthinking thing.

Question 11

Descartes claims that it is certain that his mind is entirely distinct from his body, and that it may exist without it.

Question 12

For Descartes, "there is a vast difference between mind and body, in respect that body, from its nature, is always impersonal, and that mind is entirely personal."

Question 13

Descartes asserts that corporeal objects exist, but that they are not independent of my mind.

Question 14

Descartes says, "Nature likewise teaches me by these sensations of pain, hunger, thirst, etc., that I am not only lodged in my body as a pilot in a vessel, but that I am besides so intimately conjoined, and as it were intermixed with it, that my mind and body compose a certain unity."

Question 15

Descartes's position in which he asserts that we have a mind and a body is called "reflective equilibrium."

Question 16

Descartes's position regarding the separate existence of mind and body leaves him with a serious problem: Why did God create two different substances?

Question 17

Explain Descartes's reasoning for his claim that he has a clear and distinct idea of "mind." Are Descartes's arguments strong or weak? Explain your answer.

Question 18

Explain Descartes's reasoning for his claim that he has a distinct idea of "body." Are Descartes's arguments strong or weak? Explain your answer.
3 How does Descartes define "mind"?

Question 19

How does Descartes define "body"?

Question 20

Why does Descartes assert that corporeal objects exist, but that they are not exactly such as we perceive by the senses? How does God figure in Descartes's assertion? Do you agree with Descartes? Explain your answer.

Question 21

Explain what "substance dualism" means.

Question 22

Descartes's position regarding the separate existence of mind and body leaves him with a serious problem: How do the two different kinds of substances interact? Do you think the problem has a solution, and if so, what is it?

Question 23

According to Cavendish, the "natural mind and soul of man, not the supernatural or divine," cannot be ...

A) separated from matter.
B) the source of our idea of God.
C) responsible for our actions.
D) the form of my personal identity.

Question 24

According to Cavendish, "rational perception" pertains to the ...

A) body.
B) mind.
C) deductive process.
D) inductive process.

Question 25

According to Cavendish, "sensitive perception" pertains to the ...

A) body.
B) mind.
C) deductive process.
D) inductive process.

Question 26

According to Cavendish, there is a double __________ and a double _________.

A) identity; personality
B) soul; body
C) perception; knowledge
D) creation; annihilation

Question 27

Cavendish criticizes Descartes's claim that all other animals besides man lack reason since other animals cannot express their mind, thoughts or conceptions, either by speech or any other signs, as man can do. According to Cavendish, "although they cannot talk or give intelligence to each other by speech, nevertheless each has its own peculiar and particular ..."

A) identity.
B) soul.
C) God.
D) knowledge.

Question 28

According to Cavendish, "perception, observation, and intelligence do not make reason-reason being the _________, and they the _________."

A) substance; matter
B) cause; effects
C) effects; cause
D) proposal; endeavor

Question 29

According to Cavendish, the "natural mind and soul of man, not the supernatural or divine," cannot be responsible for our actions.

Question 30

According to Cavendish, "rational perception" pertains to the mind.

Question 31

According to Cavendish, "sensitive perception" pertains to the body.

Question 32

According to Cavendish, there is a double creation and a double annihilation.

Question 33

Cavendish criticizes Descartes's claim that all other animals besides man lack reason since other animals cannot express their mind, thoughts or conceptions, either by speech or any other signs, as man can do. According to Cavendish, "although they cannot talk or give intelligence to each other by speech, nevertheless each has its own peculiar and particular knowledge."

Question 34

According to Cavendish, "perception, observation, and intelligence do not make reason-reason being the effects, and they the cause."

Question 35

Cavendish claims that the "natural mind and soul of man, not the supernatural or divine," cannot be separated from matter. What are some of Cavendish's arguments for this claim?

Question 36

Cavendish distinguishes between "rational perception" and "sensitive perception." Do you agree with Cavendish's arguments? Explain your answer.

Question 37

What does Cavendish mean by the terms "double perception" and "double knowledge"? Do you agree with Cavendish? Explain your answer.

Question 38

Cavendish criticizes Descartes's claim that all other animals besides man lack reason since other animals cannot express their mind, thoughts or conceptions, either by speech or any other signs, as man can do. According to Cavendish, "although they cannot talk or give intelligence to each other by speech, nevertheless each has its own peculiar and particular knowledge." Explain Cavendish's arguments in support of her position.

Question 39

According to Cavendish, "perception, observation, and intelligence do not make reason-reason being the cause, and they the effects." What does Cavendish mean by this claim?

Question 40

According to Conway, "In every visible creature there is _________ and _________, or a more active and more passive principle."

A) a motion; a location
B) a body; a spirit
C) an energy; an aura
D) an opacity; an intuition

Question 41

Conway argues that "spirit and body differ not ___________, but __________, I shall deduce an argument from the intimate band or union, which intercedes between bodies and spirits."

A) essentially; gradually
B) internally; externally
C) inductively; deductively
D) materially; informally

Question 42

Conway says, "if spirit and body are so contrary one to another, so that a spirit is only life, or a living and sensible substance, but a body a certain mass merely dead; a spirit penetrable and indiscerpible [having no separate parts], but a body impenetrable and discerpible [having separate parts], which are all contrary attributes." Conway then asks the following question:

A) What is the difference between mind and matter?
B) What role does God play in their creation?
C) What part controls human behavior?
D) What is that which joins or unites them together?

Question 43

Conway asks a series of questions about the spirit: "Why does it require a corporeal eye so wonderfully formed and organized, that I can see by it? Why does it need a corporeal light, to see corporeal objects? Why is it requisite, that the image of the object should be sent to it, through the eye, that it may see it?" Conway uses this to support which of the following claims:

A) Spirit can exist without the body but the body cannot exist without the spirit.
B) Body can exist without the spirit but the spirit cannot exist without the body.
C) Spirit and body are originally in their first substance but one and the same thing.
D) Both spirit and body are illusions, hence they have no material existence.

Question 44

Conway says that if the substance dualists are correct, then how does the mind, which is a non-physical substance, ...

A) feel pain?
B) know God?
C) know itself?
D) have thoughts?

Question 45

According to Conway, _________ extension is that which matter, body, or substance has, as considered without all motion or action; and this extension is neither greater or lesser, because it would still remain the same.

A) hypothetical
B) conditional
C) material
D) virtual

Question 46

According to Conway, _________ extension is a motion or action which a creature has, whether immediately given from God, or immediately received from its fellow creature.

A) hypothetical
B) conditional
C) material
D) virtual

Question 47

According to Conway, "In every visible creature there is an opacity and an intuition, or a more active and more passive principle."

Question 48

Conway argues that "spirit and body differ not essentially, but gradually, I shall deduce an argument from the intimate band or union, which intercedes between bodies and spirits."

Question 49

Conway says, "if spirit and body are so contrary one to another, so that a spirit is only life, or a living and sensible substance, but a body a certain mass merely dead; a spirit penetrable and indiscerpible [having no separate parts], but a body impenetrable and discerpible [having separate parts], which are all contrary attributes." Conway then asks the following question: What is that which joins or unites them together?

Question 50

Conway asks a series of questions about the spirit: "Why does it require a corporeal eye so wonderfully formed and organized, that I can see by it? Why does it need a corporeal light, to see corporeal objects? Why is it requisite, that the image of the object should be sent to it, through the eye, that it may see it?" Conway uses this to support the following claim: Spirit and body are originally in their first substance but one and the same thing.

Question 51

Conway says that if the substance dualists are correct, then how does the mind, which is a non-physical substance, feel pain?

Question 52

According to Conway, virtual extension is that which matter, body, or substance has, as considered without all motion or action; and this extension is neither greater or lesser, because it would still remain the same.

Question 53

According to Conway, material extension is a motion or action which a creature has, whether immediately given from God, or immediately received from its fellow creature.

Question 54

What is Conway's point when she says "spirit and body differ not essentially, but gradually, I shall deduce an argument from the intimate band or union, which intercedes between bodies and spirits"?

Question 55

Conway says, "if spirit and body are so contrary one to another, so that a spirit is only life, or a living and sensible substance, but a body a certain mass merely dead; a spirit penetrable and indiscerpible [having no separate parts], but a body impenetrable and discerpible [having separate parts], which are all contrary attributes." Conway then asks the following question: What is that which joins or unites them together? What position is Conway criticizing? Is Conway's argument effective?

Question 56

Conway says that if the substance dualists are correct, then how does the mind, which is a non-physical substance, feel pain. Do you think that this is a strong argument against substance dualism? Explain your answer.

Question 57

Explain what Conway means by "material extension."

Question 58

Explain what Conway means by "virtual extension."

Question 59

Shapiro argues that in Elisabeth's correspondence with Descartes, Elisabeth's challenges move Descartes to think more carefully about ...

A) the nature of mathematical truth.
B) Descartes's argument for the cogito.
C) our relationship with God.
D) the union of the soul and body.

Question 60

Shapiro argues that since Elisabeth "defends neither a reductionist materialism nor a substance dualism, but rather wants to find a way of respecting the autonomy of thought without denying that this faculty of reason is in some essential way dependent on our bodily condition," therefore,

A) Elisabeth is an epistemological monist.
B) Elisabeth traces out for us a unique philosophical position.
C) Elisabeth is following the Platonist position regarding Forms.
D) Elisabeth creates a new theory called "isomorphic theism."

Question 61

According to Shapiro, "Perhaps the most well-known part of Elisabeth's correspondence with Descartes is that in which she wonders how it is possible, given Descartes's dualist commitments, for him to still maintain that soul and body ..."

A) affect one another.
B) are substances at all.
C) are both eternal.
D) reflect God's will.

Question 62

A major point of Elisabeth's criticism of Descartes focuses on the mind-body problem concerning the question, "How is it possible for two really distinct substances to ..."

A) be in constant contact with God?
B) be eternal and timeless at the same time?
C) act as if the future is completely determined?
D) interact causally with each other?

Question 63

Elisabeth argues that a substance dualist must hold that no matter what condition the body finds itself in-if, for example, a person has fainted-the mind ...

A) will no longer be able to think abstractly.
B) temporarily "disappears."
C) should still be able to exercise its power of thought.
D) becomes identical to the body.

Question 64

Descartes suggests that Elisabeth use the power of her mind to help her get over a physical ailment. However, as with an earlier discussion with Descartes, Elisabeth seems to imply that there are certain limits to or conditions on ...

A) the soul's autonomy.
B) the body's capacity to be healed.
C) God's powers.
D) the abilities of medical doctors.

Question 65

Shapiro suggests that "we can read Elisabeth as here working towards an intermediary position, one between the _________________ she originally identified with Descartes's own and the ______________ which she then seemed to take to be the only alternative."

A) epistemology; metaphysics
B) holistic medicine; interactionism
C) substance dualism; materialism
D) formal proof; refutation

Question 66

According to Shapiro, Elisabeth seems to be arguing the following: "For maintaining that thought is an autonomous activity does not require us to claim that it is an independent ___________; we need not think of thought as an entity subsisting in and by itself."

A) reflection
B) agent
C) substance
D) identity

Question 67

Shapiro claims that "if Elisabeth does indeed want to maintain that the condition of the body enables the soul to be _________, I do not see how she can maintain that the soul is _________."

A) rational; immortal
B) moral; corrupt
C) immaterial; sacred
D) exclusive; culpable

Question 68

As defined in the reading, "epiphenomenalism" means ...

A) phenomena are illusions of perception.
B) mental events are caused by physical events in the brain.
C) thinking is the epicenter of rationality.
D) all truths of rationality are logical tautologies.

Question 69

Shapiro argues that "The __________ thus provide just the right sort of context for Elisabeth's making the point she does about the soul-body union. They serve to illustrate her thesis about the relation between mind and body."

A) moralities
B) sciences
C) passions
D) reflections

Question 70

Shapiro argues that in Elisabeth's correspondence with Descartes, Elisabeth's challenges move Descartes to think more carefully our relationship with God.

Question 71

Shapiro argues that since Elisabeth "defends neither a reductionist materialism nor a substance dualism, but rather wants to find a way of respecting the autonomy of thought without denying that this faculty of reason is in some essential way dependent on our bodily condition," therefore, Elisabeth is an epistemological monist.

Question 72

According to Shapiro, "Perhaps the most well-known part of Elisabeth's correspondence with Descartes is that in which she wonders how it is possible, given Descartes's dualist commitments, for him to still maintain that soul and body are both eternal.

Question 73

A major point of Elisabeth's criticism of Descartes focuses on the mind-body problem is the question, "How is it possible for two really distinct substances to act as if the future is completely determined?"

Question 74

Elisabeth argues that a substance dualist must hold that no matter what condition the body finds itself in-if, for example, a person has fainted-the mind should still be able to exercise its power of thought.

Question 75

Descartes suggests that Elisabeth use the power of her mind to help her get over a physical ailment. However, as with an earlier discussion with Descartes, Elisabeth seems to imply that there are certain limits to or conditions on the soul's autonomy.

Question 76

Shapiro suggests that "we can read Elisabeth as here working towards an intermediary position, one between the substance dualism she originally identified with Descartes's own and the materialism which she then seemed to take to be the only alternative."

Question 77

According to Shapiro, Elisabeth seems to be arguing the following: "For maintaining that thought is an autonomous activity does not require us to claim that it is an independent reflection; we need not think of thought as an entity subsisting in and by itself."

Question 78

Shapiro claims that "if Elisabeth does indeed want to maintain that the condition of the body enables the soul to be immaterial, I do not see how she can maintain that the soul is sacred."

Question 79

As defined in the reading, "epiphenomenalism" means mental events are caused by physical events in the brain.

Question 80

Shapiro argues that "The passions thus provide just the right sort of context for Elisabeth's making the point she does about the soul-body union. They serve to illustrate her thesis about the relation between mind and body."