Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T03:50:00.421Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Descartes' Causal Principle and the Case of Body-to-Mind Causation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

Raffaella De Rosa
Raffaella De Rosa*
Affiliation:
Rutgers University, NewarkNJ
*
*Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

It is a common view that Descartes' causal principle is to be understood in light of a similarity condition that accounts for how finite causes (as opposed, or in addition, to God) contribute to an explanation of their effects. This paper challenges this common view and offers a sui generis reading of Descartes' views on causation that has also the advantage of solving the two exegetical issues of whether Descartes thought of the body-to-mind relation in occasionalist or causal terms and of whether Descartes regarded sensory ideas innate or caused by bodies.

Keywords

DescartesCausationBody-to-Mind CausationSimilarity ConditionCausal PrincipleSensory Ideas
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal of Philosophy , Volume 43 , Issue 4 , August 2013 , pp. 438 - 459
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2013

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

AT:Adam, C., andTannery, Paul, eds. 1964. Oeuvres de Descartes, Vols.I–XI. Paris: Libraire Philosophique. ‘AT’ will be followed by volume and page number.Google Scholar
Broughton, J. 1986. “Adequate Causes and Natural Change in Descartes' Philosophy. ” In Human Nature and Human Knowledge, edited byDonagan, A., Petrovich, A., andWedin, M., 107 – 127. Dordrecht : Reidel.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clatterbaugh, K. 1980. “Descartes's Causal Likeness Principle. ” Philosophical Review 89 : 379 – 402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CSM :Stoothoff, Cottingham, John, Robert and Murdoch, Dugald, eds. 1985–1991. The Philosophical Writings of Descartes. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press. ‘CSM’ will be followed by volume and page number.Google Scholar
CSMK: Cottingham, John Stoothoff, Robert Murdoch, Dugald, andKenny, Anthony, eds. 1991. The Philosophical Writings of Descartes. The Correspondence, Volume III. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press. ‘CSMK’ will be followed by volume and page number.Google Scholar
Della Rocca, M. 2008. “Causation without Intelligibility and Without God in Descartes.” In The Blackwell Companion to Descartes, edited by Broughton, Janet and Carriero, John, 235 – 250. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
De Rosa, R. 2010. Descartes and the Puzzle of Sensory Representation. Oxford : Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garber, D. 1993. “Descartes and Occasionalism. ” In Causation in Early Modern Philosophy, edited byNadler, S., 9 – 26. University Park : The Pennsylvania State University Press.Google Scholar
Gorham, G. 1999. “Causation and Similarity in Descartes. ” In New Essays on the Rationalists, edited byGennaro, R. J. andHuenemann, C., 296 – 309. New York : Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Gorham, G. 2002. “Descartes on the Innateness of All Ideas. ” Canadian Journal of Philosophy 32 : 355 – 388.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gorham, G. 2003. “Descartes's Dilemma of Eminent Containment. ” Dialogue 42 : 3 – 25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kenny, A. 1968. Descartes: A Study of His Philosophy. New York : Random House.Google Scholar
Loeb, L. 1985. “Replies to Daisie Radner ‘Is There a Problem of Cartesian Interaction? ’” Journal of the History of Philosophy 23 : 227 – 231.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nadler, S. 1994. “Descartes and Occasional Causation. ” British Journal for the History of Philosophy 2 : 35 – 54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Neill, E. 1987. “Mind-Body Interaction and Metaphysical Consistency: A Defense of Descartes. ” Journal of the History of Philosophy 23 : 227 – 248.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Radner, D. 1971. “Descartes' Notion of the Union of Mind and Body. ” The Journal of the History of Philosophy 9 : 159 – 170.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Radner, D. 1985. “Is There a Problem of Cartesian Interaction? ” Journal of the History of Philosophy 23 : 35 – 49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rozemond, M. 1999. “Descartes on Mind-Body Interaction. ‘What's the Problem?’ ” Journal of the History of Philosophy 37 : 435 – 467.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmaltz, T. 1992. “Sensation, Occasionalism and Descartes' Causal Principle. ” In Minds, Ideas and Objects: Essays on the Theory of Representation in Modern Philosophy, edited byCummins, P. D. andZoeller, G., 37 – 55. Atascadero : Ridgeview.Google Scholar
Schmaltz, T. 2006. “Deflating Descartes's Causal Axiom. ” Oxford Studies in Early Modern Philosophy 3 : 1 – 31.Google Scholar
Schmaltz, T. 2008. Descartes on Causation. New York : Oxford University Press.Google Scholar