Cartesian dualism

9 Fevereiro 2026, 11:00 • David Yates

This week we will introduce the relationship between mind and body, and this will be our focus for the first 4 weeks of the course. It would be very helpful to read at least one of the introductory articles listed in the syllabus during those 5 weeks. We will be discussing Cartesian dualism, including Descartes' conceivability and divisibility arguments for it, and the problem of mind-body interaction, which was first highlighted by Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia. 

Reading for this week is a very short article by Jen McWeeny: Princess Elisabeth and the Mind-Body Problem.

---