Anthropological dualism of René Descartes

Abstract

The article offers critical analysis of Descartes’ dualistic understanding of human being from from the percpective of Thomistic philosophy, with the purpose of highlighting novel elements of his philosophical anthropology compared to Aristotelian-scholastic philosophical tradition. The analysis starts with the Descartes’ explanation of the way that the human being exists and continues to examine his interpretation of the basic actions of human being – cognition and volition. The method used in the research is philosophical analysis of Descartes’ texts, such as Meditations on First Philosophy, Discourse on the Method, Principles of Philosophy and Passions of the Soul. This research of Descartes’ novel anthropology manifests it’s difficulties and inconsistencies and their far-reaching negative consequences on the theoretical as well as on the practical level.