ELISABETH OF BOHEMIA

Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia was in correspondence with Descartes on many matters . One matter that provoked her to question the philosopher was on the union of the mind and body . Her quandary was how to explain the fact that the soul /mind as a thinking substance should not have the ability to make the body perform actions . A month later she writes to Descartes again on the same problem that she feels is the relationship between the connections of substances with differing natures of the mind /soul and body

His first response

to Elisabeth in regard to her question about the ability of the mind to control the body , he based on the fact that the there were two parts of the mind that worked within and with the body The first factor is that the mind thinks . The section is that the mind is in union with the body and therefore can act or can react in relation to the stimuli confronting the body . He stayed with this response until he was again questioned by Elisabeth on the union of the mind and the body . In this second case , Descartes discusses two more factors of the union . The first is the concept that the mind and body are connected through a primitive bond . The second factor has to do with the scholastic account of the heaviness and the power of the earth to move the body , as in gravity

The main problem with all his responses was that he...