Herr D Says Descartes Is Before De Horse

 

"Dragons Can't Eat Ice Cream" by Herr D. The time isn't right.-Shelob

You read Descartes twice before you were eight years old.

Yes? I guess I should add that at that age, if I didn’t know a word and couldn’t find it in a dictionary, I just did my best without it.

Did Descartes use many words not in dictionaries?

Not in mine. It was for twelve-year-olds. A lot of the geometry terms weren’t there. Some of the metaphysical terms weren’t defined well outside the context of his writing.

Do you recall your reaction to the Mind-Body Problem?     

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/descartes-and-the-discovery-of-the-mind-body-problem?utm_source=pocket-newtab

I don’t even remember the problem itself. I do know I disagree.

Which part do you disagree with?

All of the premises. First, I’d say that the mind can’t definitely be proven to be separate or as one with the soul. There’s some question for me as to the boundaries there. Animals, I don’t believe, have souls, but I do believe they have minds. Whales and dolphins might have souls too—I’m not sure. Then there’s the idea that minds don’t have a location—that’s stupid. If minds didn’t have a location, then ‘out-of-body’ experiences wouldn’t be any different from the rest of experience. Then there’s extension. Anyone who’s used a tool or a spreadsheet or a musical instrument until it felt natural knows that a person can extend their sense of self to include any functional thing they are using enough.

So you believe minds are physical.

No, I believe some metaphysical things have physical traits. It’s not very bright to assume that anything with traits automatically IS something. Some flus might have all the symptoms of food poisoning, but then they have more symptoms. So they AREN’T the same thing. Metaphysical means beyond, but shouldn’t automatically mean not including the traits of.

So, how would the mind and body be connected?

Who says they are? Maybe the mind is connected to the life generated BY the body. Maybe the mind simply inhabits the body as long as life generates it. Maybe a soul is only connected to the mind by God itself. We don’t know and can’t measure it. You know what that means?

No.

NOTHING. It doesn’t mean anything. There’s loads we can’t measure and maybe never will. We know that there’s some way the mind communes with the body, uses it, is connected to it, whatever. We know it’s there and can’t prove how. So what? That doesn’t change anything.

So your strategy is to leave the problem unsolved.

Until further notice, yes. Anyway, without better premises, it's useless to continue. It's premature to be blundering about with it.