DDR-ARCV / 001Doordoorium

An idea · Early Modern · first attested 1641

Mind-Body Dualism

Mind and body are two essentially different kinds of stuff.

Descartes argues that mind (res cogitans, thinking stuff) and body (res extensa, extended stuff) have no properties in common. This raises the interaction problem: how can two such utterly different substances cause anything in each other? The problem has not gone away. Most modern philosophers reject dualism; few have a fully satisfying replacement.