Three Problems With Descartes View Of Substance example essay topic

Descartes's defines Substance, as "a thing existing in such a manner that is has no need of any other thing in order to exist". He also states "substance is a name which we cannot attribute in the same sense to God and his creatures". That statement right there clearly defines that God is viewed on a higher pedestal. He reasons that there are three kinds of substance and two types.

The three kinds of Substance are God, Mind, and Body; and the two types are Independent and Dependent. God is independent, he's is the creator that possesses Free Will due to infinite knowledge. Our Mind is dependent upon our thinking, and is immaterial. We do posses free will, but it is dependent upon our finite knowledge. In a way I find that contradicting because it states that we have free will but out path is already chosen. So do we really have free will?

Lastly our Body it is dependent upon extension (length, breadth, and depth). Our mind is corporeal therefore, it is material; and is constrained by place and space. Descartes believed that God links Substance. Cartesian Dualism is Mind and Body linked by God implanting innate ideas. He is gluing together an immaterial mind to a material body.

Spinoza defines Substance as "That which IS in itself, and can be thought about without thinking of anything else". Spinoza is a monist who believes that God (Universe, Substance) is everything and everything is god; and that God is infinite, eternal, and material. For him there are two parts of substance attributes, and modes. Attributes are what the intellect perceives as the essence of the substance. These are general categories such as the Mind and Body.

Modes are modifications of a Substance. This is what makes up us; these are our characteristics. Spinoza believes that god is the exact same thing we are, and there is NO FREE WILL, everything is determined by cause and effect. There are three problems with Descartes view of Substance: the first one being his definition of Substance, the Second one was the view of Free Will, and lastly Cartesian Dualism. Spinoza goes about fixing the first problem by stating that god is everything and everything is god.

One thing isn't dependent upon another, which was the first problem of Descartes. He contradicted his definition of Substance when he stated that the Mind and Body are dependent. He solved the second problem by eliminating Free Will; he states that there is NO FREE WILL, and that it is determined by cause and effect. Lastly he solves the problem with Cartesian Dualism by making the mind and body general categories, they are the essence of Substance they are our attributes.

I agree with Spinoza mainly because he believes that there is no free will, and that our fate is determined upon cause and effect. I agree with this because I don't believe that we have free will if God already chooses our path as stated in Descartes view of substance. Undoubtedly it just makes sense that a mind and body is what everyone possesses, and what makes us different are our characteristics.