Mind-Body Dualism

The distinction between the thinking substance (mind) and the extended substance (body), arguing that the mind is immaterial, distinct from the body, and more clearly known than any physical object.

The treatise aims to demonstrate the real distinction between the human soul and the body, a key Cartesian doctrine.

Discusses the nature of the mind as a thinking thing, distinct from the body, and addresses objections to this view.

The Second and Sixth Meditations establish the real distinction between mind and body, with mind as indivisible and body as divisible.

Descartes argues that the mind is known more clearly than the body, and that the essence of the mind is thought, while the essence of body is extension, laying groundwork for dualism.