CARTESIANISM

the philosophical and scientific traditions derived from the writings of the French philosopher Ren Descartes. Descartes is considered to be the father of modern philosophy in that he decisively broke with the basic philosophical assumptions of Scholastic philosophy, derived from the works of Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas, which had dominated European thought throughout the later medieval period. Descartes put at the centre of philosophical concern two related problems: first, whether a form of human knowledge that is immune to all skepticism is possible; and second, whether one can make sense of the nature of mind and its relationship to matter. These have remained central problems in Western philosophy and can be said to permeate systems of thought that are not normally described as Cartesian. Cartesians have generally supported Descartes's central doctrinesnamely, that reality can be divided into mind, the essence of which is thinking, and matter, the essence of which is extension in three dimensions; that the ideas of God, mind, and matter are innate and are not derived from experience; and that the correct method in arriving at philosophical truth is to doubt everything until one can find a proposition or idea that is indubitable, clear, and distinct. Most of Descartes's followers agreed also with Descartes in believing that there was at least one such proposition, namely the individual's recognition that he is thinking and that therefore he exists: Cogito, ergo sum (I think, therefore I am). Most Cartesians believed that from this single indubitable truth one could refute skepticism and build a system of philosophy and science that depended on human reason alone. But almost immediately Cartesian philosophy was faced with a challenge to one of its central doctrines about the duality of mind and matter. If, as Descartes maintained, mind and matter are distinct, how is any interaction possible between them? One of the most important thinkers in the Cartesian tradition, Nicolas Malebranche, attempted to solve this problem by arguing that indeed mind and matter cannot interact because they are distinct. But he explained that when human beings believe that certain mental acts cause certain bodily actions, it is because on every such occasion God causes their physical actions to correspond to their mental acts and vice versa. This doctrine became known as Occasionalism. Critics also argued that if causal interaction between the mind and the body and between mind and matter in general does not take place, then the mind cannot have direct experience of the external world. This leaves open the possibility that one might have ideas about the external world which do not correspond at all to the real external world. One solution to this problem was to assert that only the existence of an omnipotent, benign, and constantly watchful God could ensure that one's ideas about reality and reality itself were in harmony. This weakened the greatest intellectual appeal of the Cartesian systemits claim to have developed a philosophical and scientific system that was based entirely on human reason. Other features of the Cartesian systemin particular the notion that animals are mere machines and that after death, when the connection between the mind and the body is broken, the mind, or soul, has no memory of individuals, thus making the reunion of loved ones impossiblehelped to make the Cartesian system increasingly unpopular in the late 17th century. Continued Cartesian-inspired attacks on Scholastic philosophy even led to the Roman Catholic church banning the teaching of Cartesianism. By the later 17th century the Cartesian metaphysical system had lost much of its appeal. However, the exploration of the relationship between mind and matter has remained an important legacy of Cartesianism, as has the search for a philosophical method that involves no metaphysical or religious presuppositions. The status of Descartes's argument I think, therefore I am has prompted interesting discussions, such as whether this proposition, using language as it does, itself presupposes the existence of a community of speakers. In recent years the American linguist Noam Chomsky has given new currency to Descartes's view that central ideas must be innate, arguing that only the existence of innate mental structures can explain how children quickly develop the ability to generate an infinite number of new, semantically correct sentences, most of which they have not encountered before. Beyond these specific philosophical topics Cartesianism has remained an important, pervasive influence on Western philosophy, stressing as it does the importance of the quest for certainty based on reason alone, and the supreme virtue of mental and linguistic clarity. the philosophical and scientific traditions derived from the writings of the French philosopher Ren Descartes. Additional reading Early background analyses of Cartesianism include Norman Kemp Smith, Studies in the Cartesian Philosophy (1902, reprinted 1987), which covers the failure of rationalism from Descartes through Kant; Jean P. Damiron, Essai sur l'histoire de la philosophie en France, au XVIIe sicle, 2 vol. (1846, reprinted 1970); Francisque Bouillier, Histoire de la philosophie cartsienne, 3rd ed., 2 vol. (1868, reprinted 1987); Georges Monchamp, Histoire du cartsianisme en Belgique (1886); Joseph Prost, Essai sur l'atomisme et l'occasionalisme dans la philosophie cartsienne (1907); Joseph Bohatec, Die cartesianische Scholastik in der Philosophie und reformierten Dogmatik des 17. Jahrhunderts (1912, reprinted 1966); Gaston Sortais, La Philosophie moderne depuis Bacon jusqu' Leibniz, 2 vol. (192022), and Le Cartsianisme chez les jsuites franais au XVIIe et au XVIIIe sicle (1929); Genevive Rodis-Lewis, Le Problme de l'inconscient et le cartsianisme, 2nd ed. (1985); Thomas M. Lennon, John M. Nicholas, and John W. Davis (eds.), Problems of Cartesianism (1982); E.J. Dijksterhuis et al., Descartes et le cartsianisme hollandais (1951); Albert G.A. Balz, Cartesian Studies (1951, reprinted 1987); Gilbert Ryle, The Concept of Mind (1949, reprinted 1984), a critique of Cartesian dualism as a springboard for the presentation of doctrines of contemporary linguistic philosophy and philosophy of mind; and Richard Rorty, Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature (1979).Development of Cartesian physics is studied in Paul Mouy, Le Dveloppement de la physique cartsienne, 16461712 (1934, reprinted 1981); Edwin Arthur Burtt, The Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Physical Science (1932, reprinted 1980); and E.J. Aiton, The Vortex Theory of Planetary Motions (1972). Interpretive scholarship is offered in Arthur O. Lovejoy, The Revolt Against Dualism, 2nd ed. (1960), a study of reactions against Cartesian metaphysics; John S. Spink, French Free-Thought from Gassendi to Voltaire (1960, reissued 1969); Noam Chomsky, Cartesian Linguistics (1966, reprinted 1983), a historical exposition combined with the important claim that Cartesian rationalism is the best general guide to the study of the language-originating mind of man; Leonora Cohen Rosenfield, From Beast-Machine to Man-Machine: Animal Soul in French Letters from Descartes to La Mettrie, new and enlarged ed. (1968), an exploration of whether animals have souls, showing Descartes's important influence on modern physiology; Henri Gouhier, Cartsianisme et augustinisme au XVIIe sicle (1978); Richard H. Popkin, The History of Scepticism from Erasmus to Spinoza, rev. and expanded ed. (1979); and Richard A. Watson, The Breakdown of Cartesian Metaphysics (1987). Richard A. Watson