|
|
|
Featured Papers from Rad Essays |
|
|
|
|
This is only a preview of the paper
Click here to register and get the full text.
Existing members click here to login
|
|
|
Julia Mancini
First Year Seminar
Michael Ives
Descartes, Discourse on Method: First Draft
Man Versus Beast, According to Rene Descartes
In the fifth part of Discourse on Method, Descartes expounds on the nature of circulation of blood through the body. ...
Descartes gives the reader three proofs that animals are of an entirely different nature from men. ... However, Descartes says memorization is not a facet of having a “rational soul. ... Descartes gives an example: a machine is able to repeat simple tasks, as has been said before. ...
The third and final piece of evidence Descartes presents is the most controversial. If animals are endowed with all the same organs as man, if they are able to eat, digest, walk, run, speak and memorize, there must be some difference that renders them incapable of human-like communication and reason. ... Their soul, if indeed they have a soul, is not as closely connected to the rest of their body, or they would be capable of the “feelings and appetites similar to our own, and thus to constitute a true man” (33).
The essential error Descartes makes is comparing animals to machines. The difference between an animal and a machine is so obvious that it is shocking that Descartes didn’t think his statement over, what with his penchant for checking his deductions to make sure nothing is omitted.
Approximate Word count = 1073
Approximate Pages = 4.3
(250 words per page double spaced)
|
|
|
|
|
|