THINKER'S ALMANAC - February 11

For the French philosopher Rene Descartes, what is the one indubitable thing?

Subject:  Mind-Body Problem - Descartes’ Skull

Event:  The death of Rene Descartes, 1650

On this day in 1650, French philosopher Rene Descartes died. After moving from France to join the court of Queen Christina of Sweden in 1649, Descartes became ill and died of pneumonia. 

  

Unfortunately, the story of what happened to Descartes’ body post-mortem is neither a restful nor peaceful one.  He was initially buried in a cemetery in Stockholm, but in 1666 his body was exhumed in order to be returned and reburied in his native France.  During the French Revolution, his body was exhumed again.  Because of fears that the revolutionary rebels might defile his corpse, his bones were hidden in the Museum of Monuments.  Finally in 1819, while the bones were being collected for a third and final burial, French officials discovered that Descartes’ skull was missing. After an extensive search, the skull was relocated.  It turns out that when Descartes’ body was first exhumed in 1666, one of the Swedish guards took the skull as a memento of the intellectual giant before it could be sent to France.  

                                                                            Image by Colleen from Pixabay 

Today all of Descartes’ body resides in Paris, France; however, his skull and body are still separated.  The skull resides in the Museum of Man, an anthropology museum, and the body is buried in the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés (1).

Although the posthumous saga of Descartes’ body and skull is an interesting one, a far more important philosophical concept associated with Descartes is the mind-body problem.  The problem -- also known as Cartesian dualism -- relates to the separation of mind and matter.  How do we account for the separation between our physical body -- which includes our brain -- and our non-physical 

thoughts?  For Descartes, reality is made up of two substances:  thinking substances, which are abstract and non-physical, coming from the mind; and extended substances, which take up physical space and include the body and the brain. 

One of the thinking substances that consumed Descartes’ mind was the concept of doubt.  Being skeptical of the knowledge he was supposed to accept on faith from his teachers, Descartes employed doubt in a quest for indubitability:  the quality of something that he could believe to be unquestionably true and free of all doubt.  How could he be sure, for example, that his “reality” was not just a dream?  Likewise, how could he trust his senses?  Are the things he saw, heard, and felt reality or just false perceptions?  Is it possible that some kind of supernatural, diabolical demon was deceiving him, crafting a world of illusion to distort reality?

Descartes finally arrived at the conclusion that there was one indubitable thing:  thoughts.  Since existence is a prerequisite for thought, his thoughts, including his doubts, are the best evidence for existence.

Welsh philosopher Mark Rowlands sums it up as follows: 

Thinking that you don’t exist, it seemed to Descartes, is enough to guarantee automatically that you do in fact exist -- because you can’t think that you don’t exist unless you are around to do the thinking.  Or, to put the point another way, doubting your existence automatically guarantees your existence, because otherwise you couldn’t be around to do the doubting. (2)

The result of Descartes’ rumination and cogitation is today seen as the most famous of all philosophical pronouncements:  cogito ergo sum  -- I think, therefore, I am.

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  How did Descartes overcome his doubt about his own existence?

Challenge - I Think, Therefore, I Quote:  Besides Descartes’ famous sentence, what are some other examples of single sentences packed with philosophical insights?  Do some research on some important philosophical quotations; then, select one and explain why you think it is important.

ALSO ON THIS DAY:

February 11, 1847:  American inventor Thomas Edison was born on this day. He said:

Five percent of the people think; ten percent of the people think they think;

and the other eighty-five percent would rather die than think.

February 11, 1990:  Nelson Mandela, who led the movement to end apartheid in South Africa, was released after spending 27 years in prison. While in prison, he acquired a smuggled copy of Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations (For more on Marcus Aurelius, see THINKER’S ALMANAC - March 7).

Mandela never forgot the day that he left prison:

As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn’t leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I’d still be in prison.

Sources:  

1- “5 historical figures whose heads have been stolen.”  Strange Remains July 23, 2015.

2-Rowlands, Mark.  Sci-Phi:  Philosophy from Socrates to Schwarzenegger.  New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2003.