Descartes Mind-Body Dualism Against Darwin’s Monism.Docx...

In my essay, I am going to argue for Descartes mind-body dualism against Darwin’s monism. I believe that the mind and body are two separate entities and that human life is not simply the result random mutations that took place throughout the past two billion years or so. I am not going to attempt to disprove science; I can’t do that. I am however, going to try to give specific examples on the origin of existence and the nature of reality. Renà © Descartes believed that the mind and body are separate; that the senses could not always be trusted, but that because we as humans are able to think about our existence, we possess some sort of entity separate than our fleshly body. I believe this separate entity to be a soul†an immaterial and†¦show more content†¦Machines have no reason why to ponder their purpose of their existence— it is ingrained in them. I highly doubt that when you starting thinking concrete thoughts that you knew exactly why you we re here on this earth; that required some higher level of thought. The fact that we are here now thinking and talking about life and souls helps affirms the existence of a higher level of thinking; something that biology and Darwin fail to explain. According to Darwin, man is a product of a mindless, chance algorithmic process. He believed that humans and nature evolved through a process of chance mutations that have thus far resulted in us and the rest of the natural world. He believes there is no soul, that humans are tantamount to nature, and that the world is a machine. I agree with Darwin on a few levels; yes, species change over time. Yes, usually the stronger survive more often than the weaker. Yes, nature does follow a series of governing laws that makes it much like a machine. However, Darwin made a lofty assumption in claiming that because of these things, species were not independently created. This tossing away the idea of a creator and intelligent design disposes the possibility of the existence of a soul independent of the body. Existence is about surviving. If life really is about â€Å"the survival of the fittest,† then what’s so great about life if it’s