The Unity of Consciousness (excerpt)
The unity of the mind was one of the reasons that Descartes thought that the mind has no parts, therefore the principles that account for the mind are not mechanistic. He averred that when I am conscious of a thing "I can't distinguish in myself any parts." Therefore the principles that can be applied to the body can not be applied to the mind.
CUT TO:
INT. QUOTE
DESCARTES
When I consider the mind, that is to say, myself inasmuch as I am only a thinking thing, I cannot distinguish in myself any parts, but apprehend myself to be clearly one and entire.
(Rene Descartes (Descartes, 1641, p. 196)
CUT TO:
INT. QUOTE
DESCARTES
When I consider the mind, that is to say, myself inasmuch as I am only a thinking thing, I cannot distinguish in myself any parts, but apprehend myself to be clearly one and entire.
(Rene Descartes (Descartes, 1641, p. 196)