The Cartesian Self: Rene Descartes and the Philosophy of Mind

I think, therefore I am. A famous quote from Rene Descartes who is a great philosopher that focuses on metaphysics. In Rene Descartes philosophy of self essay his philosophical viewpoint will be discussed. 

He believed that everything that we know is made possible because of our senses which these types of philosophy are known for metaphysicians. I am to claim that Rene Descartes greatly describes and reflects my life’s realizations and experiences because I am a rational person and that metaphysics best suits what life has driven me into. The philosophies he stated does not only affect my life, but all the life in general where it explains how we perceive such things like how handle life and how life handles us in a rational and objective way of thinking.

One concrete evidence which that of Rene Descartes’ philosophy reflect upon me is that of how he sees life as full of doubts which these doubts apprehend that we are a thinking being and that it is intellectual to doubt things which hereby claims that we have a soul and our body is just an instrument that interprets such doubts. On the other hand, Rene Descartes also said that all of our experiences are derived from our senses as to which John Locke also believed in “tabula rasa” or blank state and on how we nurture our own personalities. This also applies to Rene Descartes and to me where we move and think accordingly based on how we sense and perceive our surroundings. One objective example of which is playing volleyball which it is my favorite sport, your senses especially sight, evaluates this information which will be sent to our brain and computes where the ball will land and then we act accordingly. This is also true in the perspective of our mind, where we are nurtured based on how we perceive things through our senses and how we decipher this information and act upon it. In addition, our senses can also be deceived where this happens when we doubt certain things where it may be personalities, sexual orientation, facts, opinions, science, and many other worldly things. This is in connect to the first sentence where a being that thinks and doubts accordingly has senses, and that these are intellectual beings. Furthermore, I also proved to myself that I am a thinking entity and with that being said, that is because I am doing the act of doubting which is a foundation for knowledge in the face of radical and rational doubt.

Mind-body dualism is such an important philosophy where we should understand how our body is connected to our mind by the means of senses and how our mind reacts to this information being presented upon. For some, it is hard to believe in some people’s philosophies because in life, we have different meanings and understandings in the world upon us but we can easily relate our life experiences as such to that of these philosophers where we can attain knowledge, transcendence and enlightenment to life. 

Hence, Rene Descartes is the Philosopher whom I admire and relate my life experiences upon because I deeply believe that our personas; Id, ego, and superego are greatly nurtured on how we think and perceive the environment and that it suits to the quote “I think, therefore I am.”