The meaning of body and soul distinction in Cartesian dualism

The theory of differentiation or unity of body and soul has been one of the most important philosophical topics in the field of anthropology from ancient Greek times to the present day. The main issue in this study is to examine Descartes' attitude to the relationship between the two, as there is a disagreement with the Cartesians. Some insist on Descartes' dualism that Descartes has emphasized the distinction between body and soul in his thought, and so he should be regarded as a radical-modest dualist in the sense of distinguishing between body and soul, and he does not believe in a real union between them. On the contrary, some also argue that Descartes is a modest hardliner and at the same time a moderate moderator; that is, he considers man to be soul and body, in such a way that the true distinction between them cannot be judged. In this article, these two views on Descartes are examined in various ways, including Descartes' meaning of substance, and his classification of different types. The result of the study is that in Descartes' thought the soul and the body, although conceptually distinct, are the same in concept and are not separate. So we must seek to confirm the idea that Descartes is concerned with these two notions of the extremist monotheist and the moderate dualist.