Every single human being has a material body. Our bodies are what made us human. Without any material bodies, then we are nothing but the air. We may possibly have invisible immortal souls trapped within our bodies albeit that doesn’t mean we are immortals. Every material body has to die either by fate or a natural cause. Once the material body dies, who knows where the invisible soul will travel into next? Could it be reincarnation? Going to the Heavens? No one knows.
Apart from the theory that the immortal soul stays within the mortal body until death, there are a myriad of unique abilities that material bodies can do. For instance, there’s thinking and there’s existence. There’s also the connection of both the mind and the body. The questions remain: how does thinking work? How can we be sure that we, mortal humans, exist? How is the mind connected to the body? Are the mind and the body distinct? Not all of us have the same answers; we cannot be a hundred percent sure if any of our dissimilar answers are correct. There are several philosophers, mainly focusing on Rene Descartes and George Berkeley, from the modern period who theorized the same aforementioned questions. Despite that these two philosophers have different perspectives, Descartes and Berkeley may have the answers to the knowledge of material bodies.
French philosopher, Rene Descartes, was known for his theories of doubt, thinking and the belief of God whilst Irish philosopher, George Berkeley, was known for his theory of immaterialism and nothing else but the mind and ideas. With their own theories, both Descartes and Berkeley became the subject of the knowledge of the material body. The answers to the knowledge of the material body and its existence could be thinking and perception.
First off, Descartes once questioned to himself about the connection between the mind and the body in his Meditations VI. He believed that the two are entirely distinct from one another; the mind controls the body. However, this was not enough for him. Descartes, as a devout God-believer, claimed that God was the main reason of our existence. According to Descartes, God was the one who created us by assigning the mind, or souls, into our bodies, which are the cages for the invisible souls. He added that God was the one who provided us senses and experiences, whereas we use these two methods into increasing our knowledge about Nature and Truth all around us. In addition, Descartes believed that the mind is indivisible and the body is divisible. To decipher this, he is saying that it is impossible for the mind to be divided into separate parts, but the body is; it’s highly possible that the body can be divided into separate parts, also known as amputation. Descartes was aware that once a body part is amputated from the individual’s body, he is still able to become a thinking thing. The amputee may have his foot or hand cut off albeit he still has his mind within himself; as long as he still has his soul within his body, he’s still capable for this thinking in order to exist.
Berkeley was under the influence of Descartes. Even though the former has different beliefs than the latter, the two are analogous with one another pertaining to existence. For Berkeley in Philosophy of Human Knowledge, perception is the main reason for existence. Perceptions can lead to ideas and ideas lead to thinking which, as said by Descartes, can lead to existence. According to Berkeley’s quote esse est percipii, “to be is to be perceived,” he is saying that if one doesn’t perceive or if something is not perceived, then everything is not reality. Berkeley is saying that his theory is all about using senses, mainly sight and hearing, because they are the key into gaining knowledge according to what our mind is telling what the visual and auditory object is. Our perceptions are interacted with our minds. One will know what it’s real if you see and hear it by using our minds; that’s reality. Berkeley even added that mind and reality are oil and vinegar; they cannot be mixed together, so mind and reality can only be divided apart and they can never interact with one another. In order to get reality, it’s essential that our minds have to perceive first, then we have to think the truthful facts about what the perceived object or scenery is. We also cannot think about the outside world, which is what Berkeley is strictly opposed to. Therefore, perception counts as thinking and it does lead to existence and knowledge of the material body.
Both Descartes and Berkeley are compatible about thinking and perception being the doable theories to the knowledge of material body, although there are distinctions between the two philosophers and their theoretical perspectives. Descartes believes in matter and spirit and Berkeley’s only beliefs are ideas and the mind. One of the distinctions between their ideas is pertaining to God. Descartes believed that God was the reason for our existence; He created us and He was responsible for creating the perfect being. He provided us senses, which was the main source of our thinking, the most imperative method of our existence. On the other hand, Berkeley did have some beliefs for God, but he believed that there is nothing relevant about God being the source of our existence. In addition to his theory, Berkeley opposes the external world; the external world is nothing but hallucinations and dreams, which can happen into our unconscious minds. The external world only exists within God’s mind and it is something we do perceive albeit we will never know if it’s reality. If we perceive something that is not reality, it can and will affect our minds and knowledge about the real world. God is imperative for Descartes, but not much to Berkeley unless if it’s in regards with the scientific laws. Berkeley also claimed that we only need God id there is no reality; if there is a reality, then we don’t need God at all.
There are a myriad theories to describe the knowledge of material body. To Rene Descartes and George Berkeley, the answer to this complex theory would be thinking and perception. Thinking is to Descartes whilst perception is to Berkeley. The comparison between thinking and perception was involved with using our senses, which later became the notable source of our experiences and knowing about reality and Truth. The contrast between Descartes and Berkeley is their perspectives of God. Descartes believed that God was the reason why we exist and for creating reality. Berkeley believed that reality is not caused by God and He’s not entirely necessary unless if we lost our reality.
The questions I’ve asked have been answered, thanks to these two philosophers. Thinking is done by Berkeley’s perception and Descartes’ senses. We know that we exist by thinking and by understanding our minds and ideas. The mind interacts with the body by providing us senses and to aid us into thinking and perceiving our surroundings in order to know the meaning of reality. It’s affirmative that the mind and body is distinct from one another; the mind is indivisible while the body is divisible. In addition, the body is what we can perceive by eyesight whilst the mind is not meant to be perceivable. Overall, the knowledge of material bodies is done by thinking and perception.
References:
Flage, Daniel E. George Berkeley (1685-1753). “Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: A Peer-Reviewed Academic Resource.” http://www.iep.utm.edu/berkeley/
Kemerling, Garth. “Berkeley: Immaterialism.” (1997, 2011). http://www.philosophypages.com/hy/4r.htm.
Kemerling, Garth. “Descartes: God and Human Being.” (1997, 2011). http://www.philosophypages.com/hy/4d.htm
http://www.bukisa.com/articles/390328_the-metaphysics-of-descartes-and-berkeley
-Written by Nicole Cheng, 2015
Special thanks to Professor Clayton Shoppa, St. Francis College
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