Mind and Body Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Mind and Body - Essay Example Aristotle was a thinker who was more interested in metaphysical concepts, while Plato's thought was more based on concrete principles of the natural world. While Aristotle described the levels of reality, Plato focused on subjects such as how one could be a virtuous, and therefore "good," person. Pascal was a mathematician, so he obviously focused therefore much more on physical reality and concrete and empirical principles. He says, "But in the intuitive mind the principles are found in common use and are before the eyes of everybody" (Pascal, 1660, p. 1). When one is awake, what does one do This notion that consciousness is not accounted for, or the persistence of memory, is important as one seeks to find out what underlies the core of these two authors. Descartes most likely used more indirect means of philosophizing. Meanwhile, Pascal would have been deliberately direct and forthcoming, as a mathematician who drew on his knowledge of the sciences in order to derive his conclusions. The differences between Descartes and Pascal are vast, mainly because Pascal was first and foremost in his heart a scientist. Descartes was at his core, however, a thinker-a logician of the highest quality. ThisThis is not to say that Pascal could not have been a deep thinker as well, but rather, he thought about things deeply in a very mathematically logical and formal way. Descartes was the type of philosopher who could make vague abstractions seem as though they were concrete principles. Pascal was more deliberate in his intentions. He sought out to define concepts in concrete terms, did not abide by abstract or vague references, and was an empiricist in that sense. Descartes and Pascal differed about how they viewed the mind and the body. While Descartes thought that the mind was separate from the body, Pascal definitely would have argued that the mind was part of the physical body. Obviously, there are good arguments for and against these two very different views. First of all, Cartesian dualism would argue that the mind and body are completely and totally separate. This is because intelligence comes from a place which cannot be defined. One cannot quarantine the human mind and simply confine it to the body, Descartes would have said. One's intelligence is totally separate