... become known as Cartesian Dualism - the assertion of the distinctness of mind and body. Descartes states that he has a clear and distinct perception of his mind as a purely thinking substance; one of which the essence is thought and thought alone. Critically, he states that he can conceive of the mind as existing without the support of any other substance, specifically without the body. Next, he turns to the examination of the body, which he conceives of as pure extension, having no capacity for thought whatsoever. Thus, he says, mind and body have completely separate and opposite essences, and are distinct. Descartes goes on to provide more detail about how we know of the existence of external objects, and how the mind and body interact. He first distinguishes between imagination and understanding, saying that imagination involves a mental picture of the object concerned, whereas understanding is merely concerned with ...

See this essay or coursework document in full right now