ABSTRACT
In Descartes’ day, “physics” or “natural philosophy” meant simply “the science of nature.” “Nature” encompassed everything having a nature or essence (at least on the Earth), including human beings and human cognition. Aristotelian works on psychology (including De anima, “On the Soul,” as well as works on dreams, memory, and the senses) were classed within physics. Descartes conceived of physics in this broad sense. He included animal and human physiology, and even the Passions of the Soul (11:326), within physics. While he wasn’t clear on whether the human mind considered by itself fell within physics, he was clear that mind-body union and interaction were part of physics or the science of nature. Although affirming mind-body substance dualism, he did not take that position to imply that the embodied mind is somehow unnatural, or supernatural, or beyond natural science. It was not Descartes’ intent to exclude mind from nature through his dualism.
