9/15/2015 Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy » Descartes, Rene: Mind­Body DistinctionInternet Encyclopedia of Philosophy » Print René Descartes: The Mind­Body Distinction One of the deepest and most lasting legacies of Descartes’ philosophy is his thesis that mind and body are really distinct—a thesis now called “mind­ body dualism.” He reaches this conclusion by arguing that the nature of the mind (that is, a thinking, non­extended thing) is completely different from that of the body (that is, an extended, non­thinking thing), and therefore it is possible for one to exist without the other. This argument gives rise to the famous problem of mind­body causal interaction still debated today: how can the mind cause some of our bodily limbs to move (for example, raising one’s hand to ask a question), and how can the body’s sense organs cause sensations in the mind when their