phill assignment 3
TRANSCRIPT
-
8/13/2019 Phill Assignment 3
1/1
Rachel Lim
Into to Philosophy 101
Assignment #3
WORD COUNT: 342
Both Princess Elisabeth and Descartes discuss the relationship between the soul and
the body. While Elisabeth contends that something abstract like the soul cannot
possibly manifest itself through physical actions, Descartes argues that it can.
Elisabeth believes that there must be physical contact or force for objects of mass to
interact. She says she would rather think of the soul as having physical presence
than not. The nature of the original source of contention manifests itself again in
other arguments that follow. Such argument is one regarding passions, the soul, and
our bodies. She again questions how immaterial things such as feelings, can
influence our minds, which then influence our actions. She struggles to grasp the
idea that the intangible can influence the tangible and begins to outline her beliefs
as to why this is possible. In summary, she gives physical forms to the abstractconcepts and attempts to explain how the body functions through science and
tangible factors, as a way of creating an explanation she can fully comprehend and
believe in.
Descartes replies the Her Highness questions with unhelpful and unclear answers.
Instead of stating his response in a clear and concise manner, through a series of
confusing examples and circumlocution, he avoids answering the Princess
confusion concerning the interaction between the abstract and concrete. He himself
is unable to form an answer to the princess questions, and frustrated, advises her to
stop overanalyzing matters. Descartes believes we should stop using the distinction
between the soul and the body as way to understand how they interact.
While I disagree with Princess Elisabeth, I cannot bring myself to fully agree with
Descartes either. While I do feel that Descartes is correct in drawing a clear
distinction between the body and the mind, his failure to provide a sufficient
explanation prohibits me from fully supporting his argument. Therefore, I cannot
determine who is more right.
However, while I disagree with the princess stance, I feel that the princess was
more correct in her approach to the argument. She attempted to support her views
with possible explanations based on the science of her times. She wanted
corroborate her claims with some form of evidence to prove her point. It was an
admirable attempt and was necessary for her to develop in order to comprehend thesituation. On the other hand, Descartes failure to provide a clear rebuttal of the
princess claims did nothing to bolster his arguments. His attempts to answer the
princess questions were ineffective. He himself could not provide concrete evidence
as to how the formless soul could prompt physical actions.