Today in class I found it interesting that during the lecture on Descartes meditations professor Estrada brought up how Idealists believe that there is only a mind and consciousness and nothing else. I found this to be a profound way to view the world because there is no consideration for the senses that interpret the physical world we live in thus affecting our consciousness. I believe our consciousness and our reasoning our derived from the physical world we live in. That is what makes us unique as humans because each of us views situations differently from the next person due to the environment we grew up in and the people who influence our lives. So to say there is only a conscious state and the mind I find hard to believe because there needs to be source from which we can interpret the information in our minds and consciousness. But since we are raised in different environments and with different economic backgrounds, our state of reasoning and interpretations differ so we as humans in some situations cannot see eye to eye when we need to. So what makes us unique through reasoning which is rooted in our environment and interpreted through the senses is at the same time the downfall of man because this disrupts the harmony amongst mankind.
That is what I like about Descartes Meditations is that he tries to link and understand the physical world and the mind. Which is a hard conclusion to come to but I find it more complete than the idealist argument that only the mind and consciousness exist. A great example that was mentioned class but I have experienced it to, is when you have a dream about someone you know and then it effects the way you view them in your waking state for what ever period of time even though the dream could be a completely wrong interpretation of that person. I just find the Idealists point of view on the mind and consciousness to be wrong but even though I don’t have a concrete argument about how the physical world influences the mind I don’t see how our reasoning and consciousness states could come about without it.
Jennifer Crabill | 31-Jan-07 at 9:33 pm | Permalink
Commenting on the last paragraph about the mental processes’ dependency on the physical world, I believe that the opposite can be true, also (or at least worthy of a thought). Perhaps the physical world must depend on the mental aspects of humans. How can one eat an ice cream cone without first mentally desiring one? Descartes’ theory of “I think, therefore I am” (I want ice cream, therefore I shall go eat ice cream?) is a perfect example of his mind-body dualism theory. Like Jeremy said, the idealist theory is difficult to believe. The mind-body dualism idea, however, is much more easier to comprehend.
Jeremy Mcguire | 05-Feb-07 at 4:15 pm | Permalink
I guess I would have to agree with you, that the mind is not entirely dependent on the physical world. But the way we think, feel, desire are all products from our experiences in the physical world through our sense. With the ice cream example of course you don’t need the ice cream in front of you for your mind to desire it, but your desire for ice cream didn’t just pop into your mind one day, it came from a physical experience with ice cream and you liked it enough to desire it again. Even though I may not entirely agree with your comment I do believe that dualism between the body and mind are essential to our thought process.