Descartes' Imagination: Unifying Mind and Body in Sensory Representation
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Durham E-Theses Descartes' Imagination: Unifying Mind and Body in Sensory Representation GRAHAM, CLAIRE How to cite: GRAHAM, CLAIRE (2013) Descartes' Imagination: Unifying Mind and Body in Sensory Representation , Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/6920/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk Abstract The aim of this thesis is to investigate the role that the imagination plays in the later philosophy of René Descartes. The thesis will look at two related questions: (i) the status of the imagination as a mode of thought dependent on the body; (ii) the role of the imagination in object-perception. Throughout, the traditional view of Descartes as a Cartesian Dualist is rejected and a more holistic approach is taken towards the relationship between mind and body, in which Descartes’ claims that the two make up a “substantial union” are taken seriously. Part One deals with the relationship between mind and body. I argue that Cartesian Dualism cannot account for the faculties of sensation and imagination, because they have a corporeal basis. However, the ‘union of mind and body’, Descartes’ device for explaining their interaction, can. I end Part One by identifying a problem with the paradigm case of mind-body interaction, object-perception. To determine the object of an idea there needs to be a mechanism to marry the two ingredients of perception: the innate ideas of geometry in the intellect, and ‘adventitious’ ideas of the object delivered by the senses. Otherwise we have no explanation for how the essentially ‘inward-looking’ intellect can apply its ideas to the essentially passive sensations. Part Two focuses on the imagination and the question of object-perception raised in Part One. I argue against the largely-held view in the secondary literature that, with the advent of the cogito, the imagination’s cognitive profile declined sharply. I argue that, in fact, the corporeal basis of the imagination places it beautifully to bridge the gap in object-perception, and that this is part of its role in all Descartes’ discussions on the topic. The other, related, role of the imagination is to conjure fictions and hypotheses, suiting it for scientific and epistemological endeavours. The fact that the imagination is not tied to what is present to the senses, even though it receives its original content from them, means that it can manipulate ideas of corporeal things; including the innate notions of extension, shape and motion so key to gaining a clear and distinct idea of matter. Descartes’ Imagination: Unifying Mind and Body in Sensory Representation Claire Graham Submitted for the degree of Ph.D. in Philosophy Durham University Philosophy Department November 2012 Abstract ........................................................................................................................ i Abbreviations.............................................................................................................. v Acknowledgements .................................................................................................... vi Introduction ................................................................................................................ 8 I. Aims ...................................................................................................................... 8 II. Overview ............................................................................................................. 9 III. Outline .............................................................................................................. 11 Part One .............................................................................................. 14 Chapter One ............................................................................................................. 14 Descartes’ Metaphysics ............................................................................................ 14 I. Introduction ........................................................................................................ 14 (i) Substance ....................................................................................................... 15 (ii) Attributes ...................................................................................................... 18 (iii) Distinctions ................................................................................................. 21 (iv) Modes .......................................................................................................... 23 (v) Hierarchies .................................................................................................... 27 II. The Myth of Cartesian Dualism ........................................................................ 30 III. The Interaction Problem ................................................................................... 34 IV. A Battle in the Literature ................................................................................. 41 Chapter Two ............................................................................................................. 44 The Union of Mind and Body .................................................................................. 44 I. The Wrong Question ........................................................................................... 44 II. What is the Union? ............................................................................................ 46 III. The Union as a Substance? .............................................................................. 49 IV. Richardson’s Account ...................................................................................... 50 V. Cartesian Hylomorphism? ................................................................................. 53 (i) Hoffman......................................................................................................... 54 (ii) Gilson ........................................................................................................... 56 VI. Cartesian ‘Trialism’ ......................................................................................... 59 VII. Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 61 Chapter Three .......................................................................................................... 65 Sensation ................................................................................................................... 65 I. Expériences ......................................................................................................... 66 II. Definition and Division ..................................................................................... 68 III. The Mind’s “Perception” ................................................................................. 73 IV. The Provenance of Sensation ........................................................................... 75 V. Object-Perception .............................................................................................. 77 VI. The Problem of Material Falsity ...................................................................... 81 VII. Determining the Object .................................................................................. 85 Part Two ............................................................................................. 87 I. Introduction ......................................................................................................... 87 II. Fictions and Hypotheses .................................................................................... 92 Chapter Four ............................................................................................................ 97 The Early Imagination ............................................................................................. 97 III. Regulae vs Meditations .................................................................................... 97 IV. The Imagination and Sensation ...................................................................... 100 V. Geometry and Extension ................................................................................. 103 VI. The External World........................................................................................ 105 VII. Proportionality and Comparison ................................................................... 108 VIII. Cognitive Decline and the Corporeal Imagination ...................................... 110 IX. Conclusions .................................................................................................... 116 Chapter Five ..........................................................................................................