A few other people so far in these blog postings for this topic have said that they do not believe there in the idea of the Cartesian split. I find myself agreeing with these people for a few reasons. If the body and the mind are truly separate, then how would one explain, for example, the Placebo effect? I feel as though an argument that the body and the mind do not affect each other falls flat when looking at countless psychological studies / phenomena.
I took a Health Psych class at the U and there was a unit in which we discussed the Placebo effect. A placebo, being a “seeing device” as discussed in class, albeit a false or simulated one, can cause some startling effects in the body. If the mind is convinced of some effect that a drug or medication will have, whether or not it is true, the body may react. Certain studies have done this using imagined side-effects for different medications, and the patients react with the side-effects even though the drug has been proven to have no effects described. There was a study done on baldness with similar results, and another one that we discussed in this Health Psych class about poison ivy. The Placebo effect, though often times seemingly impossible, is a very real occurrence. If there is truly a split between the body and the mind, how is it that the mind, when it is firmly convinced of something, can affect the body? Or in cases of depression or anxiety, the imbalances in the body cause the mind to have altered thinking.
In discussing the Cartesian split, I also begin to think about irrational fears. Fears that take place solely in the mind, and yet the body reacts in a way that would suggest a very real danger. For example, I’ve noticed since I was a child that I have several irrational fears. One being that I am absolutely horrified of falling up, but this fear is only active when I am in a situation where I am looking up at a very tall ceiling (in Cathedrals or churches with high-arch ceilings, in theatres or auditoriums). Now, being a rational human and having an understanding of the laws of gravity, I know very well that I am not suddenly going to be uprooted and find myself flying towards ceiling. And yet, for some reason, when I find myself in a place with high ceilings, my heart races, palms sweat, and I am seized by feelings of panic and dread. If I know fully that it is impossible for me to fall up, how is it that I find myself with such fears?
How would we even begin to classify “disorders” such as depression, anxiety, eating disorders, etc. if the mind is truly separate from the body? If the body has become depressed, has it not been proven that the mind itself follows, and a person’s way of thinking drastically changes? Think of the Zoloft ad in class – inability to get out of bed, feelings of inadequacy, feeling crushed by self-doubt and sadness – if the body and mind are so separated, what explains this? And as for the idea that we can gain knowledge simply through reason, and we can only have reason within the mind, where does the reason come from? Universal reasoning, as explained by Descartes, can only go so far. I do not believe in any true Cartesian split, because I don’t think it quite possible that the mind and body can be separate entities that an individual must wrestle with, constantly quelling urges while encouraging reason.
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