Does Descartes Succeed in Explaining how Mind and Body Interact?
The enlightenment was an attempt to replace the faith truths of religion and traditional beliefs with scientific knowledge and reason, as people had become disillusioned with both the ruling aristocracies and the church, especially in Europe and America. They began to question the previously absolute power that these institutions held, and soon began to realize that where there had been certainty there was really only ignorant faith. In this age of uncertainty, Philosophers and laymen alike sought to determine whether mankind could have knowledge at all, and much of this enquiry began with thinking about the human mind. Descartes was one of the pioneers of the age of enlightenment; his method of doubt now provides a paradigm example of the sentiment of the age. As with any pioneering philosophy, Descartes made great headway into modern thinking about the mind/body union. Whilst he was unable to satisfactorily explain how the mind and body interacted his work served to provide a startin
