JMJ Marist Brothers

NOTRE DAME OF MARBEL UNIVERSITY

College of Arts and Sciences
Alunan Ave., City of Koronadal, South Cotabato 9506

Table of contents

I. Descartes
1. Life and works
2. Dualism (the mind-body problem)
3. Two proofs of the mind-body distinction
II. Eastern philosophy
1. Samkhya
III. Descartes’ dualism and Samkhya (school of thought in India)
IV. Conclusion
 JMJ Marist Brothers
NOTRE DAME OF MARBEL UNIVERSITY
College of Arts and Sciences
Alunan Ave., City of Koronadal, South Cotabato 9506

Descartes’ dualism and Samkhya’s related view of substance dualism

Term paper

PHPC 107
Metaphysics

Submitted by:
Fretcy M. Villorente
AB-Philosophy 02

Submitted to:
Rev. Fr. Ariel Destora
Professor
 JMJ Marist Brothers
NOTRE DAME OF MARBEL UNIVERSITY
College of Arts and Sciences
Alunan Ave., City of Koronadal, South Cotabato 9506

Introduction

There was a point in history when man was viewed as the center of the universe.

A claim that holds that everything revolves around a man and his very entirety. That

view somehow paved the way for an inspection of the man and he (referring to all men

and women) to become the subject of debate and discussion. The mind-body problem

is one the best riddles that baffled men and women for centuries. Humans in total have

physical and mental properties the former include size, weight, shape, color, or that

which is the property of the senses, and the latter is not simply attributed to physical

objects because these properties involve consciousness that includes perceptual,

emotional experience, and others)1.

It was not simply at recent times when technologies flourished that the question

of mind and body existed but early as in the classical times, the difference between

mind and body was already noticed although not emphasized, nevertheless, it has a

place in history. One of the famous philosophers in modern times who held the claim

that there were two distinct properties is Descartes. He believed in two kinds of

substance: the matter which is spatially extended and the mind which is not divisible

into smaller minds2. However, the long-debated discussion of whether a man is made of

a single or two different substances was not only the concern of the western

philosophers but also the easterners. Particularly in Indian Philosophy 3, some

1
H. Robinson, Dualism, Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy 2020
2
Ibid.
3
Just as there is no such thing as eastern philosophy, there is no such
thing as Indian philosophy.
 JMJ Marist Brothers
NOTRE DAME OF MARBEL UNIVERSITY
College of Arts and Sciences
Alunan Ave., City of Koronadal, South Cotabato 9506

philosophers argued and defended whether there is only a single, dual, or even a plural

or multiplicity of substances to which reality is composed.

This paper aims to discuss the philosophy of the considered father of modern

philosophy Rene Descartes. I will explain the philosopher’s life and works, and his

notion of reality particularly on the mind-body problem. His idea of dualism will then be

related to the view of the eastern philosophies particularly the Samkhya school of

thought in India

In explaining Samkhya’s claims I will find out what are the two basic elements

which are considered to be the basic element of the world or to which reality is

composed. I will then attempt to connect and see the relationship between Descartes’

notion of dualism and the claims of the Indian philosophers.

 JMJ Marist Brothers
NOTRE DAME OF MARBEL UNIVERSITY
College of Arts and Sciences
Alunan Ave., City of Koronadal, South Cotabato 9506

I. RENE DESCARTES

1. Life and works

Rene Descartes was born at La Haye near Tours on March 31, 1596, the third

surviving child of Joachim Descartes and Jeanne Brochard. However,

within fourteen months of his birth, the young Descartes had already been

effectively an orphan, due to his mother’s death and his father who is

rarely with him4. Descartes was a born catholic and he was baptized into

the Catholic Church on April 03, 1596, at the nearby Church of St. George

in La Haye5. All his life, Descartes was a devout Christian, and maybe

because of his upbringing that he believed his arguments did more than

simply provide a way for faith and reason to peacefully coexist.

He attended a Jesuit college of La Flèche in Anjou from the year 1606-14. It was

true that Descartes made a decisive break with his past and a significant

step towards his life’s work, however, it was not made clear until he left

France and traveled North to the United provinces at the beginning of

1618. There was no clear evidence as to why Descartes began his

journey whether to devout his life solely on philosophy or he was uncertain

of his career6. During his travel to Germany he had a vision of the new

mathematical and scientific system, however, a few years later he would

4
D. Clarke, Descartes a biography. New York 2006, page 09
5
Ibid
6
Ibid, 37
 JMJ Marist Brothers
NOTRE DAME OF MARBEL UNIVERSITY
College of Arts and Sciences
Alunan Ave., City of Koronadal, South Cotabato 9506

return to France and the following years would spend his time in Paris but

also traveled in Europe. The year was 1629, and Rene Descartes began

his work on a book entitled the world although in later years when he knew

that Galileo was condemned as a suspected heretic, abandons his plans

to publish the book. Despite the suppression of his first unpublished work,

it did not hinder Descartes to publish his works that would be later

considered one of the greatest pieces ever written. It was not until 1641

that he published a work called Meditations on first philosophy, together

with the objections and replies (first six sets) and the following year

published the second edition of Meditations, with all seven sets of

objections and replies7. Among his writings includes The world, although

unpublished because of the condemnation of Galileo as a suspected

heretic, his first published work is a Discourse on the Method, with Optics,

Meteorology and, Geometry followed by principles of philosophy.

Descartes was a man ahead of his time. Making the intellects bewildered

and amazed because of his bold claims. Although it was not after his

death that some French Cartesians began to publicize his works. In the

end, Descartes spent most of his adult life in relative seclusion pondering

on the questions he himself made.

2. Dualism: Mind-body

7
John Cottingham, Descartes selected philosophical writings, Page XII
 JMJ Marist Brothers
NOTRE DAME OF MARBEL UNIVERSITY
College of Arts and Sciences
Alunan Ave., City of Koronadal, South Cotabato 9506

The doctrine that body and mind are distinct substances, that there is a

spirit, soul, or immaterial mind is somehow associated with a material

body, is a popular concept within and outside the realm of philosophy. And

it is often the view held by religious ones. What is central to many religious

doctrines is the belief that even after death or when the body is destroyed

there will be an afterlife for the soul a journey to heaven or hell 8. While the

problem was already recognized back in classical times 9. However, it

continued to perpetuate its relevance up to modern times. One of the

modern versions of dualism we have came from Rene Descartes. He

believed that the mind by nature (that is thinking, non-extended thing) is

completely different from that of the body (that is, an extended, non-

thinking thing). And therefore, possible to exist without the other to be

spefifc the mind10. In the 17TH century, Descartes published his work

entitled Meditations on first philosophy (1641) which is a study of both

philosophy of religion and metaphysics. This fact is indicated by its

subtitle, the existence of God and the distinction of the soul from the Body.

In the same work of Rene, it offered two proofs of the mind-body

distinction, although different in structure and content.

8
Dale Jacquette, Philosophy of Mind (New York: Pearson College Division, 1994), page
08
9
Found in the writings of Plato (particularly in his work Phaedo). The distinction between body
and mind. (man is pure soul).
10
 Justin Skirry, "Descartes, Rene: Mind-Body Distinction," Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
 JMJ Marist Brothers
NOTRE DAME OF MARBEL UNIVERSITY
College of Arts and Sciences
Alunan Ave., City of Koronadal, South Cotabato 9506

a. First argument (argument from systematic doubt)

Descartes called everything into doubt in an attempt to discover

what is certain and that can eventually serve as a rock-solid

foundation of knowledge. He began by taking notice that there was

a time when the senses at times misled him disregarding how

minute or even big that is. Therefore, he concluded not to put his

total trust in sense experience. But however, he did not deny that

there are at least things in which he is certain. One great example

of this is the logical truth (that a square has four sides). Even unto

that Descartes supposes whether he is simply being fooled,

manipulated by a malignant demon who even at the logical truths

continuously to deceive him. In spite of all the deception, he posited

that there is something in which he cannot doubt and that is he is

doubting. He even taunts the demon to perpetually deceive him,

especially about the external world. The method of doubting by

Descartes gave rise to his famous principle cogito ergo sum, ‘I think

therefore I am. Even there is a malignant demon with all its power

persuades Descartes that there is an external world and that he

has a body in which in turn there is no such thing. However, there is

still at least one in which he cannot be deceived that he is doubting,

because doubting as a form of thinking presupposes that there is a

 JMJ Marist Brothers
NOTRE DAME OF MARBEL UNIVERSITY
College of Arts and Sciences
Alunan Ave., City of Koronadal, South Cotabato 9506

thinker, thinking the thinking. And therefore, he exists in order to

think.

b. Second argument (argument from divisibility)

At this point, Descartes once again tried to show that the mind is

not identical to the body. Descartes considers his own mental

states - for example, when he is in pain, feeling angry, or thinking

about something – he says that he can distinguish no parts within

himself11.

The mind as Descartes claimed is not divisible into smaller minds,

imagine this, if one opens the head of a person and finds the brain

and intentionally splits it into half, it does not mean that the mind

can also be divided because in the first place it is immaterial. But

what he meant here by the indivisibility of the mind is that it cannot

be divided into faculties such as memory, calculation, reason, and

emotion12. Unlike the material body as a composite entity, is

divisible into smaller parts. It is obvious that the body is indeed

divisible because you can operate or separate some parts of the

body from itself and still it can function normally. The argument

11
Keith Maslin, An introduction to the Philosophy of Mind (Blackwell publisher Inc. 2001) page
63
12
Dale Jacquette, Philosophy of Mind (New York: Pearson College Division, 1994), page
12
 JMJ Marist Brothers
NOTRE DAME OF MARBEL UNIVERSITY
College of Arts and Sciences
Alunan Ave., City of Koronadal, South Cotabato 9506

posited by Descartes plays an important role because it implies that

the mind cannot be destroyed it survives even when the material

body is destroyed.

II. Eastern Philosophy

As aforementioned that there is no such thing as eastern philosophy,

Therefore, is no such thing as Indian philosophy. What we have are

different schools of philosophy, providing a different view on reality and

the self. And as the westerners were concerned with the many

philosophical questions, so too were the easterners particularly one of the

baffling questions that continue to perpetuate its relevance is the issue on

reality. Two questions preoccupied philosophers in classical India, these

questions concerned first, the nature of reality and second the identity of

the true self, but here we will focus on the questions concerning the nature

of reality. Many philosophers presented types of theories as to the nature

of reality. One of it is the claim of the pluralist, according to them, the

reality is composed of an irreducible plurality of different types of objects.

While others claimed that there are two different substances to which

reality is made, commonly this is known as substance dualism. And others

claimed that there is only a single reality which is known as substance

monism. However, we will only focus on the theory that there are two

different substances and particularly on the Samkhya and Yoga two

schools of thought in India that focuses on the dual aspect of reality.

 JMJ Marist Brothers
NOTRE DAME OF MARBEL UNIVERSITY
College of Arts and Sciences
Alunan Ave., City of Koronadal, South Cotabato 9506

1. SAMKHYA

The principal goal of this school was to enumerate the variety of physical and

non-physical phenomena that constitutes the world. Moreover, they

claimed that in enumerating all of the constituents of the world it must be

understood from the perspective of evolution they explained that each

type of a thing is simply a product of some other type of thing. In addition,

they posited, for instance, our capacities of sense, and hearing for

example simply evolved from the ego (the sense we have of being a

self)13. Samkhya held that prior to the evolutionary process only two types

of substances existed and these were purusa (pure consciousness) and

prakti (primordial matter) and how this comes about is still a mystery.

Unlike in western philosophy that when one talks about the existence of

two substances, they refer to the mind and body. But here we have seen

that it is pure consciousness and the matter. The purusa (pure

consciousness) in this sense is the one who illuminates all objects of

consciousness it is the witness or the seer of all phenomena and it is often

referred as the highest self14. Prakrti, on the other hand, is often translated

as matter, nature or the physical and since purusa is the who witness or

13
Harrison, V.S. (2012). Eastern Philosophy: The Basics (1st ed.). Routledge.
14
S. Newcombe, "What is Sāṃkhya?," Embodied Philosophy | Integrated, Non-Dualistic Living
Wisdom, last modified October 31, 2018,
https://embodied.bestdevserver.com/uncategorized/what-is-samkhya/.
 JMJ Marist Brothers
NOTRE DAME OF MARBEL UNIVERSITY
College of Arts and Sciences
Alunan Ave., City of Koronadal, South Cotabato 9506

the one who sees prakrti encompasses everything that is seen whether

what is seen is an object in the physical world like a table, or tree. When

we refer to Samkhya as dualistic, it has nothing to do with the familiar

cartesian dualism of Rene Descartes, which posits the separation of mind

and matter (body). Because to Samkhya both mind and matter are part of

prakrti while purusa is the light of consciousness that witnesses both mind

and matter15. In this sense mind is not to be understood as the English

term which somehow suggests that the mind is something has the power

to organize information derived from the senses. However, Samkhya do

not claim that the true self was the mind nor the ego either. The genuine

self is described as a silent witness who is different from the embodied

self. The metaphysical separation of the purusa from prakrti can be seen

as a map that guides us from bondage to liberation. And It is because the

Prakrti is essentially changing nothing remains the same especially in the

material world, therefore everything will eventually rich its destruction and

it is important to notice that the only way to realize the independence of

Purusa from Prakrti is to be liberated from sufferings (dukkha) this internal

realization is not entirely intellectual but arises in the profound embodied

insight that arises in deep meditative or contemplative practices.

15
F. Rusza, "Sankhya," Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy | An Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Articles Written by Professional Philosophers, accessed November 26, 2022,
https://iep.utm.edu/sankhya/.
 JMJ Marist Brothers
NOTRE DAME OF MARBEL UNIVERSITY
College of Arts and Sciences
Alunan Ave., City of Koronadal, South Cotabato 9506

III. Descartes’ dualism and Samkhya (school of thought in India)

It was mentioned that Descartes believed that there were two kinds of substances:

matter and mind and therefore, he is a dualist (a belief in the existence of two different

substances). he also believed in a mechanistic view of the material world. The matter or

body is like a machine that works according to its own laws except that there is a mind

that interferes with and influences the body. And the mind is somehow responsible for

pulling levers in a piece of a machine. He resorted to two arguments in which how he

reasoned out the difference between the mind and body. On his first attempt he said

that everything can be doubted especially things that are outside of the self but what

cannot be doubted or the thing to which he is certain that is, he is doubting and it is a

form of thinking therefore, it can be assumed when there is thinking there must be a

thinker thinking. On the other hand, in Samkhya’s view, the ultimate underlying principle

or the thing which is made of is prakrti a substance supporting all material phenomena.

And here the mind is still part of the material world, even the body also is still part of the

realm of Prakrti and thus both are held to be of the same metaphysical substance.

However, some advantage of Samkhya is the immediate avoidance of the pitfalls in

cartesian dualism, since in Samkhya’s account they included the mind in the realm of

matter. Therefore, being able to directly initiate bodily motions including verbal behavior

unlike in western dualism, there is no longer a causal nature separating the mind from

the matter.
 JMJ Marist Brothers
NOTRE DAME OF MARBEL UNIVERSITY
College of Arts and Sciences
Alunan Ave., City of Koronadal, South Cotabato 9506

Conclusion

The problems revolving around the mind-body problem have baffled every people of

any age from the past until the present. And one of the ideas that perpetuate is the

claim of Descartes when he said that there are two distinct substances which are the

mind and body. However, it was not only in the western hemisphere that the problem

arose but also on the opposite side of the world, particularly in the eastern and one of

the schools of thought held a similar view on dualism which is the Samkhya’s.

Furthermore, they developed a complex theory of the world’s evolution which seeks to

enumerate all the constituents of the world 16. It was mentioned that two non-reducible

types of substance exist which is the pure consciousness (Purusa) and primordia matter

(Prakrti). However, it is important to take notice that while Descartes in his methodic

doubt resulted in something which cannot be doubted and that is his existence, on the

other hand, Samkhya’s school of thought was much more concerned with seeking

liberation through the pursuit of pure consciousness. In a way, we can conclude that

Samkhya was much more concerned with liberation from all kinds of pains and

suffering. While Descartes was much more absorbed in proving that he exists.

16
Harrison, V.S. (2012). Eastern Philosophy: The Basics (1st ed.). Routledge.
 JMJ Marist Brothers
NOTRE DAME OF MARBEL UNIVERSITY
College of Arts and Sciences
Alunan Ave., City of Koronadal, South Cotabato 9506

Reference:
.

Clarke, Desmond M. Descartes: A Biography. Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press, 2012.

Cottingham René. Descartes: Selected Philosophical Writings. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press, 1988.

Harrison, Victoria S. Eastern Philosophy: The Basics. London: Routledge, 2013.

Jacquette, Dale. Philosophy of Mind. New York: Pearson College Division, 1994.

Maslin, Keith. An Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind. Cambridge: Polity, 2007.

Newcombe, S. "What is Sāṃkhya?" Embodied Philosophy | Integrated, Non-

Dualistic Living Wisdom. Last modified October 31, 2018.

https://embodied.bestdevserver.com/uncategorized/what-is-samkhya/

Robinson, H. "Dualism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)." Stanford

Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Last modified September 11, 2020.

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/dualism.

Rusza, F. "Sankhya." Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy | An Encyclopedia of

Philosophy Articles Written by Professional Philosophers. Accessed

November 26, 2022. https://iep.utm.edu/sankhya/.
 JMJ Marist Brothers
NOTRE DAME OF MARBEL UNIVERSITY
College of Arts and Sciences
Alunan Ave., City of Koronadal, South Cotabato 9506

Skiryy, J. "Descartes, Rene: Mind-Body Distinction." Internet Encyclopedia of

Philosophy | An Encyclopedia of Philosophy Articles Written by Professional

Philosophers. Accessed November 30, 2022. https://iep.utm.edu/rene-descartes-

mind-body-distinction-dualism/.