Manifestations of Cartesian Dualism in Painting Practice
Central to Rene Descartes philosophy is the distinction between the mind and body. Descartes Dualism deals specifically with the dual nature of man. Simply put, its argument is that man is made up of a material body and immaterial soul. When examined closely, notions of Cartesian Dualism are manifest in almost everything, including painting practice. The goal of this paper is to highlight the synergistic relationship between art and philosophy. It argues that painting practice, in process and product, can be aligned with the Cartesian dualistic system of thought which sees the mind as distinct from the body.The paper employed,as itsmethod, a comparative analysisof the monist dualism perspective and the Cartesian split.It investigated the propagated ideas, evaluated available evidence, and established its arguments about the manifestations of Cartesian Dualism in painting practice. Findings show that works of art present to us not only the physical objects that appeals to our visual senses, but also something cognitive that is not physical.
Keywords: cartesian, dualism, manifestations, painting, practice