A Rational Cosmology: The Rejection of the Cartesian Dualist Position Regarding the Human Mind

Essay LXXIII

This is Essay LXXIII of Mr. Stolyarov's series, "A Rational Cosmology," which seeks to present objective, absolute, rationally grounded views of terms such as universe, matter, volume, space, time, motion, sound, light, forces, fields, and even the higher-order concepts of life, consciousness, and volition. See the index of all the essays in "A Rational Cosmology" here.

The traditional Cartesian dualist argument, stemming from the ideas of Rene Descartes (1596-1650), asserts that the mind itself is not physical, although it is capable of perceiving the physical world. This essay shall endeavor to refute this view and its current manifestation in the ideas of Mr. Reginald Firehammer.

In his essay, "Life," Mr. Firehammer continues to make his argument on the separation of matter and consciousness:

"Even if Ayn Rand had never specifically said the physical and consciousness were not the same thing, it is not logically possible that they be. Physical existence is that which consciousness is conscious of. That which consciousness is conscious of and the consciousness itself cannot be the same thing; if they were the same thing, that is if the consciousness itself were the physical, it would be conscious of itself, which leads either to extreme empiricism (essentially denying that consciousness exists) or idealism (essentially denying the physical exists, that is, solipsism). Existence and our consciousness of it cannot be the same thing, consciousness cannot be physical."

This argument is remarkably similar to Cartesian dualism, the idea that, by virtue of the mind being aware of the realm of physical existence, it must be outside that realm entirely. Yet this argument falls into the same trap as the following line of reasoning: "That which the ball is pushing and the ball itself cannot be the same thing; if they were the same thing, that is, if the ball itself were physical, it would be pushing itself, which leads you to either deny the ball or the physical..."