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Article: How deep is Rene Descartes' cut? How am I related to the paperweight on my table?(relation of matter and consciousness)
- Article from:
- Frontier Perspectives
- Article date:
- September 22, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 Temple University - of the Commonwealth System of Higher Education, through its Center for Frontier Sciences. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Abstract
How am I related to the paperweight on my table? The paperweight is matter and I am a conscious being. The question is a simplified version of a profound question, how is matter related to consciousness?
Introduction
Rene Descartes (1596-1650), a French mathematician, was the first to recognize consciousness in his publication, "Discourse on Methods." Cogito ergo sum, "I think, therefore I am," Descartes said. However, to keep the Church from interfering with scientific pursuits, he divided substances of the world into two categories, the Mind and the Matter. This cut is popularly known as the Cartesian cut.
There are various ...