René Descartes believed that humans are distinct from animals because humans have minds or souls, while animals are simply complex machines. Descartes argued that this is evident from two key facts: 1) Humans can think, while animals just behave mechanically based on their physical form. 2) Humans can communicate their thoughts to others through speech, while animals just make noises that are not a form of real communication since they have no thoughts to convey. Descartes believed the rational soul is what gives humans these unique capacities for thought and communication.

1. Descartes Discourse on Method
Part V

2.  He lived from 1596-1650
His Life and  He was a famous French
Work philosopher, mathematician and
Descartes was a
writer.
DUALIST. The mind  He is considered the Father of
and body are made up
of two different Western Philosophy.
substances.  You will recognise two of his major
ideas.
 In Maths, you will have worked with
the Cartesian co-ordinates system.
 The idea of ‘I think, therefore I am’
was his important insight which
establishes human beings as
essentially thinking things.

3. BACKGROUND TO THIS DOCUMENT
 Descartes believed that the • The human body moved
universe and all objects and because it has nerves.
living things and how they Messages are conducted along
worked could be explained by these by ‘animal spirits.’
using the ‘laws of mechanics.’ • The animal spirits raced along
 Humans had an eternal the nerves and could travel to
soul/mind. This was separate the brain where they tugged
to the human body although on ‘ventricles’ and passed by
the two interacted. They were the pineal gland where the
made of different substances. mind resided. The animal
 The human soul was a gift spirits would then flow back
from God and not subject to to the part and move the limb.
the laws of mechanics.
 Animals were ‘machines’ and
did not have a soul.

4. Human movement

5. If humans and animal bodies are
machines how are humans
different to animals?
HIS ARGUMENT IN THIS PASSAGE
1. HUMANS CAN THINK
2. HUMANS CAN COMMUNICATE THEIR
THOUGHTS

6. WHAT GIVES US THESE TWO
CAPACITIES?
OUR RATIONAL SOUL
ANIMALS DO NOT HAVE A
SOUL OF ANY KIND.

7. SUPPORTING POINTS FOR HIS ARGUMENTS
ARG 1 Animals are machines.  ARG 2 Humans have a
They don’t have souls rational soul.
• Animals do have organs that  Humans communicate their
enable them to make sound. ideas. Even a child who
They can even repeat speech suffers from ‘ a clouded mind’,
BUT they cannot convey what Down’s Syndrome, a stupid
they are thinking. Little is person, someone who is born
required for speaking thus deaf and dumb can make
they do not think. themselves understood to
• Animals,’brutes’ make sounds other human beings. Even the
but these are simply the most perfect animal of its
working of their physical species cannot communicate
parts just like the clock their thoughts. This is
through its internal because they don’t have
mechanical working shows thoughts.
time.

8. Supporting points
ARGUMENT 1 ARGUMENT 2
 Animals can often do things that we
cannot. This is not a sign of their  Human beings reason.
intelligence but simply a result of
how their bodies are organised and
move. If it was they would have more
reason than us. They are acting
according to nature.
 We must not think that the sounds
they make are speech. Machines can
imitate their movement and sounds.
Ancient people used to believe that
animals ‘spoke’ to one another and
that we simply didn’t understand
them. This is simply not true. If it
were they could communicate with
us.