René Descartes - Meditation #6 - Proof of the Physical World & Distinction Between Mind and Body

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This is a video lecture about the sixth and final Meditation on First Philosophy by Rene Descartes. In it, Descartes argues that the physical world outside of his own mind does exist, though it may be that he is wrong about some of the specific details of physical reality. He does this by arguing that God would be a deceiver if there were no physical world in general, but a few mistakes here or there do not demonstrate that God is a deceiver. He then offers two arguments for Dualism, the theory of mind according to which the mind and the body are two distinct things. The conceivability argument comes first, but it is more complicated, so I don't discuss it here because this is part of an introduction to philosophy. The divisibility argument is discussed at length. The basic idea is that the mind and body cannot be the same because the mind is indivisible while the body is divisible.

Here are links to video lectures about the previous five meditaitons.
Med #1:    • René Descartes - Meditation #1 - The Metho...  
Med #2:    • René Descartes - Meditation #2 - I think, ...  
Med #3:    • René Descartes - Meditation #3 - A Cosmolo...  
Med #4:    • René Descartes - Meditation #4 - The Probl...  
Med #5:    • René Descartes - Meditation #5 - The Ontol...