RENAISSANCE:Rene Descartes

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Historyand Systems of Psychology PSY502

Lesson 06

RENAISSANCE

Renaissance is a French word meaning"rebirth." The term Renaissance is used to describe the

development of western civilization thatmarked the transition frommedieval to modern times. It is the

periodbetween 13th to 16th centuriesAD. Earlier Europe hadpassed through what wascalled the dark ages

the period between 5th and 11th centuriesA.D., when all researchesand fresh ideas werediscouraged.

Problemswere not being solved in the light of research and observation but by invoking religious edicts.

Intellectuals adopted Plato's idealism whileAristotle's empiricism and observation were rejected.

DuringRenaissance new ideas andfresh research wasencouraged. There was a movement to

searchfor ancient texts thatwould increase current scientific knowledge. Botany, zoology, magic,alchemy,

astrology, and psychology were developed during the Renaissance as a result of the study of ancienttexts.

Scientific thinkers such as Leonardo Vinciand Galileo attempted to refineearlier findings. Many othergreat

namesalso belong to this period, such as Francis Bacon, Newton andKepler. As the Dark ages had an

impact on the growth of philosophy/psychology so did the Renaissance.

ReneDescartes

An important name in this galaxy is that of a Frenchphilosopher/psychologist, Rene Descartes. He

wasborn in 1596 AD and he died in 1650 AD. He was the shining star of the Renaissance; a soldier,

scientist,mathematician, philosopher and a teacher. Descartes' methodologywas a major influence in the

transitionfrom medieval science andphilosophy to the modern era. In science,Descartes discarded

traditionand supported rationalization and logic rather than ideas based uponexperiences. Mathematicswas

hisgreatest interest; buildingupon the work of others, he originated the Cartesian coordinates andCartesian

curves; he is often said to be the founder of analytical geometry. He wrote a text on physiology, and he also

worked in psychology; he contended thatemotion was finally physiological at base and argued that the

control of the physical expression of emotionwould control the emotions themselves.His chief work on

psychologyappeared in 1649.

Descartes'main method of acquisition of knowledge was to doubt everything. This meantthat to

him the existence of everything was doubtfuland anything that he is feeling or he is seeing may be an

illusion. By logically, following hisskepticism and his doubtDescartes had come to the conclusion that he

could doubt everything. For example,when a person sits on a chair, according to Descartes, the chairmay

notactually exist and it mightjust be a deception of his or hersenses. If a person is eatingsomething, the

foodmight not be there and it might just be his or hersenses which are making himbelieve that he is

eating.Following his skepticism andhis theory of doubting everything, Descartes reached the conclusion

that he could doubt everything in this worldexcept for one; thatwas the fact that he is doubting. In other

wordsdoubting according to Descarteswas beyond doubt. Thisconclusion further led him to conclude that

a person can doubt everything in this world except for histhinking.

Based on these conclusions, ReneDescartes went on to say thatbecause he thinks therefore he

exists. This conclusion was beyond doubts, a correct conclusion. This meansthat the existence of an

individual is indicated by his capacity andability to think. Histhinking distinguished him fromother

individuals. Descartes gave hisconclusion as a French term:"Cogito ergo sum." It meansthat "I think

therefore I am." In other words, onceagain thinking signifies the existence of a person.

In the light of this argument, he concludedthat thinking or ideas areabove everything else. In other

words the thoughts are the exalted entities while the actions of the personbelow them.

Descartes went on to divide the human being intotwo parts based on hisconclusions of superiority

of thoughts. The two parts of the human beings are:

Thepart that thinks

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Historyand Systems of Psychology PSY502

Thepart that acts

Thethinking part was obviously the mind or the soul. It thinks,contemplates, and makesdecisions

for the body. Then thesedecisions are conveyed to the part that has to act,which obeys the orders of the

thinkingpart or the mind. The partthat acts is the body of the human being. This meant,based on the

conclusionthat thinking was aboveanything else, that the mind or the soul was superior to the body.

Descartesfurther proclaimed that the mind or the soul were eternal while the body was mortal. This

conceptwas similar to that given by Plato and Aristotle that the mind or soul was a permanententity.

Anothergreat contribution of ReneDescartes was, that based on his conclusion about mindand

the body, he proclaimed that the body is like a machine that obeys the orders of the mind. We candiscover

the operative laws of the body as we candiscover the operations of a machine. This meant that Descartes

supported the separation of body from the soul. The ancient Greekphilosopher Aristotle hadput forward

the view of the unity of the souland the body, but Descartesrefuted his claim. This separation of body

from the soul is called "Dualism" in psychology.

Further,Descartes was of the opinionthat the soul is metaphysicalwhile the body is physical.The

soul of the person and his mind interact and influence each other. This is also proven by the factthat the

soulthinks and orders the bodywhich obeys, while on the other hand the body feelsand receives stimuli

for the soul. In his view, the soul affects the body by a gland that he called "PinealGland," which he

thoughtwas the seat of the mind.

Descartesalso distinguished betweentwo types of thoughts:

Innate thoughts

Andacquired thoughts

Innate thoughts are thoughts that we areborn with. In other wordsthese thoughts areinherited.

On the other hand some thoughts areacquired thoughts that a personacquires through the course of his or

herlife, based on the experiencesthat he encounters.

Descartes is considered to be the first European who put forward the mechanical view of the body,

whichwas that the body is like a machine which obeys the orders of the mind. He also proclaimed that the

operative laws of the body were likethat of a machine and could be discovered.

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