HUMAN PERSON AS

A “THINKING THING”
◦ Plato: Believed that the human person is an immortal soul
◦ Aristotle: The human person is a composite of body and soul
◦ René Descartes: The human person is a thinking thing
◦ “On the one hand I have a clear and distinct idea of myself, in so far as I am simply
thinking, non-extended thing (that is the mind), and on the other hand I have a distinct
idea of the body, in so far as this is simply an extended, nonthinking thing. And
accordingly, it is certain that I am really distinct from my body, and can exist without it”
◦ Descartes: asserted that the mind is a thinking thing – distinct and unextended; and
that his reality is how distinct from the body, and he can exist without it.
◦ Descartes in Philosophy: The nature of man is pure mind
◦ There is a clear and distinct idea of consciousness that through the mind, one thinks of the self
existing without extensions
◦ However, even though Descartes stated that there is a distinct idea of the body,he
asserted that he can exist without this simple nonthinking thin – that human nature is
pure mind and having a body is an accident. This presents presents an idea that you
can have recognition of what you are through thinking alone. The guarantee is the
qualification that your idea of yourself is clear and distinct.
◦ “There is a great difference between the mind and the body, in as much as the body is
by it’s very nature always divisible, while the mind is utterly indivisible. For when I
consider the mind, or myself in so far as I am merely a thinking thing. I am unable to
distinguish any parts within myself; I understand myself to be something quite single and
complete… By contrast, there is no corporeal or extended thing that I can think of
which in my thought I cannot easily divide into parts; and this very fact makes me
understand that it is divisible. This one argument would be enough to show me that the
mind is completely different from the body.”
◦ Descartes: The mind is indivisible, while the body is divisible into parts.
◦ What does the claim imply about humanity? As a thinking mind, it is clear that as you
doubt your existence as a singular self, you will always arrive at a distinct idea that you
are, indeed, one self because the mind is indivisible.
◦ On contrary, if the self is body, Descartes claims that since it is divisible, it has parts.
Hence, when you think about yourself, you might even be confused of your nature
because two different parts may both exist but are of different nature.
◦ If mind and body are two different natures, how is it possible that they are able to
interact? On the one hand, the mind as indivisible may have an idea of a body with
parts, but will the body with its parts be able to grasp the idea of an undivided mind? If
such is the case, then perhaps it is, indeed,,the very nature of mind – A THINKING,
UNEXTENDED MIND.