Mental substance
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René Descartes |
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Mental substance, according to the idea held by
This is opposed to the materialists, who hold that what we normally think of as mental substance is ultimately physical matter (i.e., brains).
He used a more precise definition of the word "substance" than is currently popular: that a substance is something which can exist without the existence of any other substance. For many philosophers, this word or the phrase "mental substance" has a special meaning.
According to Descartes, God first created eternal truths and then the world from nothing, governing it with His divine providence. He took special care of human creatures, placing innate ideas in their thought, starting with the ideas of perfection and infinity.[1]
The distinction between res cogitans and res extensa was taken up in
are two infinite attributes of the one divine Substance. Soul and body are in turn two finite modes of Thought and Extension.See also
- Dualism (philosophy of mind)
- Monadology
- Monism
- Pluralism (philosophy of mind)
- Johannes Jacobus Poortman
References
- ISBN 978-88-5545-053-9.