Cartesian bodies

A Sowaal - Canadian Journal of Philosophy, 2004 - cambridge.org
A Sowaal
Canadian Journal of Philosophy, 2004cambridge.org
How we understand Descartes's physics rests on how we interpret his ontological
commitment to individual bodies, and in particular on how we account for their individuation.
However, Descartes's contemporaries (notably, Cordemoy and Leibniz) as well as
contemporary philosophers (notably, Kenny and Garber) have seen Descartes's account of
the individuation of bodies as deeply flawed. In the first part of this paper, I discuss how the
various problems and puzzles involved in Descartes's account of the individuation of bodies …
How we understand Descartes's physics rests on how we interpret his ontological commitment to individual bodies, and in particular on how we account for their individuation. However, Descartes's contemporaries (notably, Cordemoy and Leibniz) as well as contemporary philosophers (notably, Kenny and Garber) have seen Descartes's account of the individuation of bodies as deeply flawed. In the first part of this paper, I discuss how the various problems and puzzles involved in Descartes's account of the individuation of bodies arise, and the relevance of these problems for his physics. With an eye toward resolving these puzzles, I argue for an interpretation of the Cartesian ontology in which bodies are not individuated by motion but, instead, are mind-dependent. As part of this reading, I demonstrate the sense in which we can clearly and distinctly perceive bodies, and also the senses in which the real, conceptual, and modal distinctions apply to them.
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