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What Are The Arguments For The Mind-Body Problem

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What Are The Arguments For The Mind-Body Problem
The Mind-Body problem asks the question about the relationship between the mind and the body. We, as creatures have a brain, with several types of tissue and neurons and have we a mind because we have the ability to have emotions, sensations, beliefs and desires. The issue arises as we consider the brain as a physical object, but do we consider the mind as a physical entity too, and if the mind is a physical entity are our emotions, desires and sensations a product of our brain? Some argue that the mind is just like the brain and therefore it is a physical object. Some argue otherwise. Rene Descartes offered a solution for the Mind-Body problem, which he termed as Cartesian Dualism. According to Dualism, “brains and the bodies in which they are found are physical things; the mind, which is a non-physical …show more content…
But Descartes makes very weak arguments for dualism. Firstly in this essay the weaknesses and strengths of the argument of indubitable existence are discussed and finally, the divisibility argument is discussed. The Mind-Body problem has many proposed solutions and Dualism is one of them.
Firstly, one of the solutions for the Mind-Body Problem is Dualism, in which Descartes uses the argument of the “Indubitable Existence”. Written in the Second Meditation, Descartes suggests, “You can’t doubt that you have a mind, as you will find yourself entertaining a thought, and therefore you must grant that you have a mind …that it is possible to doubt that you have a body… therefore one can conclude that your mind must have a property your body lacks”. (Sober, 2013; pp.206)
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