Okay, so today I’m gonna ramble about my little deep dive into René Descartes and how it kinda, sorta, maybe applies to psychology. Don’t expect anything too profound, just me thinking out loud, you know?
It all started last week. I was procrastinating on a project (surprise, surprise) and ended up reading some random stuff online. Somehow, I stumbled upon Descartes. I remembered him from philosophy class back in college – “I think, therefore I am,” the whole deal. Figured I’d refresh my memory.
First, I just skimmed through his Wikipedia page, then found some summaries of his “Meditations on First Philosophy.” Honestly, it was a bit dense at first. All that talk about doubting everything and proving God exists… my brain was starting to hurt.
But then I started focusing on the “mind-body dualism” thing. Descartes basically argued that the mind and the body are two separate entities. The mind is this non-physical, thinking substance, and the body is just a physical machine. That’s where things got interesting for me, especially thinking about psychology.
So, I started brainstorming. I began with, how does this old-school idea connect to modern psychology? Right away I thought about how, in the past, psychology leaned heavily into behaviorism – focusing solely on observable behaviors. It was like treating humans as just complex machines, kinda like Descartes’ view of the body, with little regard for the “mind” or internal thoughts and feelings.
I jotted down some notes about the cognitive revolution in psychology. That’s when folks started paying attention to mental processes again – thoughts, memories, problem-solving. It felt like a shift away from the purely “machine” view of behaviorism and a rediscovery of the “mind” that Descartes was talking about. But I needed to dig deeper.
I spent a few hours reading about the history of cognitive psychology. I read about people like Ulric Neisser and Noam Chomsky and how they challenged behaviorist assumptions. It was fascinating to see how the field evolved.
Then I started thinking about consciousness. If the mind and body are separate, as Descartes suggested, then what is consciousness? Where does it come from? How does it interact with the physical world? I started reading some articles on consciousness research, and immediately realised that I was way in over my head. It’s a HUGE topic!
Next, I tried to relate Descartes’ idea to some current debates in psychology. For example, the nature vs. nurture debate. Does our behavior come mostly from our genes (our “machine” body), or from our experiences (which shape our “mind”)? It seems like Descartes would probably argue for the importance of innate ideas and the power of reason, which could be interpreted as a sort of “nature” perspective. But I’m not sure, it is just an idea.
I even considered how Descartes’ emphasis on rationality and logic might be connected to cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). CBT helps people identify and change negative thought patterns. It’s all about using reason to challenge irrational beliefs, which sounds pretty Cartesian to me. So I took notes about CBT methods and the theory behind it.
I wasn’t trying to write a dissertation or anything, just connect some dots. I ended up with a whole bunch of messy notes, half-formed ideas, and more questions than answers, but hey, that’s the point, right?
In the end, I think it’s kind of cool how a philosopher from the 17th century can still spark interesting thoughts about psychology today. I mean, Descartes’ dualism might be a bit outdated, but his emphasis on the importance of the mind and its influence on our experience is still relevant. It got me thinking more about how we understand ourselves and our place in the world.
So, yeah, that was my little Descartes adventure. Probably nothing groundbreaking, but it was a fun way to spend a few days, and I learned a few things along the way. Maybe it’ll inspire you to do some thinking of your own. Who knows?
Here’s a quick recap of what I did:
- Read about Descartes’ philosophy.
- Brainstormed connections to modern psychology.
- Researched the cognitive revolution.
- Dabbled in consciousness studies (briefly!).
- Considered the nature vs. nurture debate.
- Thought about cognitive behavioral therapy.
That’s all for now! Thanks for reading my ramblings.
