Abstract

Descartes (1596–1650) insisted that the mind was as a special kind of substance, one which contrasts sharply with material substance (see history). Hence, the label ‘Cartesian’ tends to be applied to any view that is DUALIST in thinking of the mind as fundamentally different from matter. Accompanying this Cartesian dualism of substances is a dualism of ways of knowing about minds and about matter. The Cartesian conception has it that we have access to the contents of our own minds in a way denied us in respect of matter. That is, we can know what we think, feel and want, and know this with a special kind of certainty that contrasts with our knowledge of the physical world. Indeed, Descartes thought that we could be mistaken about even the existence of our own bodies, whilst we could not be in error about what passes in our minds.