Descartes Meditation IV

Paper Summary:

An in-depth look at "Mediation VI", the work of Descartes, in which he argues that the philosopher himself is distinct from his body and can exist without his body and the idea of "thinking body" is simply self-contradictory and the interconnected nature of the relationship between the mind and the body.

From the Paper:

"This explains the false pains experienced by amputees and conditions like dropsy, where the afflicted continue to drink and, because they are misled by the symptoms of thirst or a need for their beverage of choice, and eventually die from the disease of over-drinking. (61) Thus, it may be said that Descartes systematically proves the mind/body split and the existence of material objects, but only in the narrow terms by which he sets his debate in the "Meditations." For a modern reader, the Christian and non-scientific (although mathematical) terms of "Meditation VI" will likely be unsatisfactory
The question of relationship between a mind and a body is critical to what Descartes means by a human being and the human condition within the framework of his philosophic, rationalist discourse. He asks the question of how can minds and bodies exist together, appear to be the same, yet operate in separate ways, and constitute separate material essences, in the sense that the body can err, but the mind is a product of God? "

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