Obrona Kartezjusza. O toposie dualizmu w badaniach nad umysłem

Abstract

The article describes the topos of the Cartesian dualism, characteristic for different trends in philosophy of mind. The topos is based on the well-known argument against soul existence: it assumes that if soul and body exist, there must be also causal relations between them. But it seems impossible, because we can think about causes only in a physical sense. So only bodily relations are comprehensible and body cannot cause something that is non-corporeal and vice versa. Author of the article points that on the one hand, this strict dualism does not belong to Cartesian philosophy, and on the other hand, this argumentation fails because there is a wide range of relations (for example logical or social) that are not physical. So he reaches conclusion that the Cartesian topos in the philosophy of mind is based on the so-called straw man fallacy.