''Res extensa'' is one of the two
substances described by
René Descartes
René Descartes ( or ; ; Latinized: Renatus Cartesius; 31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650) was a French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, widely considered a seminal figure in the emergence of modern philosophy and science. Mathem ...
in his
Cartesian Cartesian means of or relating to the French philosopher René Descartes—from his Latinized name ''Cartesius''. It may refer to:
Mathematics
*Cartesian closed category, a closed category in category theory
*Cartesian coordinate system, modern ...
ontology (often referred to as "radical
dualism
Dualism most commonly refers to:
* Mind–body dualism, a philosophical view which holds that mental phenomena are, at least in certain respects, not physical phenomena, or that the mind and the body are distinct and separable from one another
** ...
"), alongside ''
res cogitans''. Translated from
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
, "''res extensa''" means "extended thing" while the latter is described as "a thinking and unextended thing".
Descartes often translated ''res extensa'' as "corporeal substance" but it is something that only God can create.
''Res extensa'' vs. ''res cogitans''
''Res extensa'' and ''res cogitans'' are mutually exclusive and this makes it possible to conceptualize the complete intellectual independence from the body.
''Res cogitans'' is also referred to as the soul and is related by thinkers such as
Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...
in his ''De Anima'' to the indefinite realm of potentiality.
On the other hand, ''res extensa'', are entities described by the principles of logic and are considered in terms of definiteness. Due to the polarity of these two concepts, the natural science focused on ''res extensa''.
In the Cartesian view, the distinction between these two concepts is a methodological necessity driven by a distrust of the senses and the ''res extensa'' as it represents the entire material world.
The categorical separation of these two, however, caused a problem, which can be demonstrated in this question: How can a wish (a mental event), cause an arm movement (a physical event)?
Descartes has not provided any answer to this but
Gottfried Leibniz proposed that it can be addressed by endowing each geometrical point in the ''res extensa'' with mind.
Each of these points is within ''res extensa'' but they are also dimensionless, making them unextended.
In Descartes' substance–attribute–mode ontology, extension is the primary attribute of corporeal substance. He describes a piece of wax in the Second
Meditation
Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally cal ...
(see
Wax argument). A solid piece of wax has certain sensory qualities. However, when the wax is melted, it loses every single apparent quality it had in its solid form. Still, Descartes recognizes in the melted substance the idea of wax.
See also
*
Mind-body dualism
References
Concepts in metaphysics
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