Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Descartes on Immortality
After leaving class today, I still had a linger question regarding a statement Descartes makes at the end of part 5. After proving the existence of a soul separate from the mechanical body, he asserts that because "our soul is of a nature entirely independent of the body... that it is not subject to dying with it... As we see no other causes that destroy it, we are naturally led thereby to judge that it is immortal." This seems to me to be drawing unbased conclusions that lack evidence and explanation. I don't think it is as simple as infering the immortality of the soul because of the seperation of soul and body. Is there other evidence for this claim? Am I missing some explanation or arguement?
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Hm. Nope, I think you are reading it right. He doesn't give more justification, really. But the justification he does give, that you allude to, is interesting. Essentially he is concluding that death occurs only in the mechanistic world of extended things (res extensa).
ReplyDeleteOf course, another way of raising your question is, if it is undying, does that mean it is uncreated? That could be inferred just as well, using the same argument. But Descartes doesn't want to say that, because he says the rational soul (res cogitans) is created by God.