up:: [[The mind body problem]] Tags:: #🌱 # Cartesian Dualism Dualism is an idea first posed by Rene Descartes that the mind is separate from the body. His argument was that if there were machines they could only act based on the dispositions of their mechanical parts. Not on the basic of their own knowledge and thoughts. They can't think. They have no mind. He belied there were two substances, physical and mental. Physical substances were controlled by the body where as mental substances were controlled by the mind. ### Counterarguments His argument was that the body is divisible but the mind is not. I disagree as the mind is embodied. As argued in Anne Murphy Paule's book, [[The Extended Mind]], your mind is influenced by [[Embodied cognition]], [[Situated Cognition]], and [[Distilled Cognition]]. In addition, you can change the way the mind works by taking out parts of the brain. Related: [[There is no duality between the actor and the observer in the self]].