Philosophy Social - Descartes The Finale
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## Meeting 7 – Meditation VI: Mind–Body and the External World
Le Bar 18 in the back of the Hotel Place d'Armes
Required Reading to Participate: Meditation VI and Objections and Answers https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70091/pg70091-images.html#Meditat_VI
Goal: Explore Descartes’ dualism and his argument for an external world.
Guiding questions:
- Why does Descartes think mind and body are genuinely distinct? What is his argument?
- How does he argue that there is an external world and that our senses art systematically deceptive?
- How does his dualism look in light of contemporary neuroscience and philosophy of mind? Can you imagine yourself existing without a body?