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Substance Dualism

The French philosopher Rene Descartes' famous argument for dualism - "cogito ergo sum" ("I think, therefore I am") - established his view that the universe contains two fundamental types of substance: physical and mental. This is substance dualism, and is known alternatively as Cartesian dualism after Descartes.

In this view the universe contains physical substance - matter, the interactions of matter and energy and the structures of matter which are in principle objectively observable to all. The universe also contains mind - the immaterial qualities of consciousness, experience and intellect which occupy a non-physical level of reality and are subjective, understood by means of introspection.

The qualities of the different substances require different semantic terms as well, another indication that the substances are exclusive. Matter can be measured, has dimension, and can be apprehended directly by sensory means. Mind (in Descartes' view) has no positive qualities - it is invisible, occupies no dimensions, is immaterial, unchanging and indivisible. For this reason mind in substance dualism is often equated with the religious conception of soul.

Web Resources On Substance Dualism

Dualism - Substance Dualism
Substance Dualism
Substance dualism

Book Resources On Substance Dualism

Descartes's Dualism by Marleen Rozemond
Form and Substance in the Religions by Frithjob Schuon
Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz by Roger Woolhouse

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