Rene Descartes The Personalist vs. the Naturalist Viewpoint

We can use the word history in so many ways and it can have so many meanings and usages. We often find that using the term history without considering the underlying concepts can be troublesome at best. In some instances we use the word history to articulate an actual event that has happened prior to today. We can also say history to show a timeline that includes a group of events or actions. We try to learn from history but often find ourselves repeating the patterns depending on if we have learned anything previous history, sometimes repeating because we did learn effective uses of past history. We want things to be consistent, in our minds we want to repeat those things that went well and avoid the things that did not. So many†¦show more content†¦He separated the mind and the body into two separate and very different parts. The mind was considered a non-material object. This concept of mind did not follow any of the laws of nature. He viewed the body as the mater ial part of the person which contained tubes that would carry thoughts from the mind, almost as a rope on a marionette would to help the body move. Ironically, Descartes who was credited with mind body separation has been buried with his head/mind in one place and his body in yet another due to his coffin being too short. (Thorne, 1999) Sometimes referred to as the â€Å"great man† theory, the personalistic theory states that there are few individuals that we deem different or unique and that they are created with an extraordinary inner quality that gives them abilities to perform extraordinary tasks. From a scientific perspective or history this ability would then give them the ability to change history, to create new things with nothing more than just their mind. They can shape the way we think and the way we do things with little more than ideas or concepts. As a society we may consider them â€Å"genius†. That individual shapes not only his life by his individulal behaviors but also the lives of others (E.G. Boring, 1950). We often refer to things as someone’s idea, theory, or belief and this personalistic view shows that personalism vs. naturalism still exists in today’s society. Great leaders like Martin Luther King, Hitler, Freud,