Rene Descartes's view of the relation between the mind and body is a very
             complicated one. However if one was to put it simply, Descartes's view is that
             the mind and the body are separate substances (Grayling 2001 p, 1). This
             idea of the mind and body being separate entities is known as "Dualism."
             Descartes claimed that because he could think of the mind and body as being
             apart from each other, then they could also exist apart (Mattey 2001 p, 10).
             Descartes also stated that human bodies are "external" in that they can be
             observed by others (Mattey 2001 p, 11). This ability to be observed, coupled
             with the thought that a body is a part of space, also labeled the body as
             "extended" and part of the "physical world". Descartes also believed that the
             body was subordinate to mechanical laws (Ryle 1949 p,120). In contrast to
             the body being external, Descartes declared that the mind was internal, in
             that no one could observe the workings of the mind, aside from the person
             themselves (Mattey p, 11). The mind was said to be part of the "mental
             world". By taking Descartes views into account, one could then conclude that
             a person is divided into two separate entities, the mind and the body.
             However Descartes definitions of the relationship between the mind and
             body, or more importantly the lack of, raised many problems for philosophers
             and people in general (Kihlstrom p, 1). One of the major problems for
             dualists, such as Descartes, to over come was initiated by the fact that the
             body and mind can interact (Kihlstrom p, 2). This interaction can be seen
             when one considers that the mind can control and cause actions in the body,
             for example the movement of one's arms or legs. It can also be seen that the
             body acts with the mind, for example when someone burns their skin, their
             mind results in the mental event of pain. So if the mind is a internal
             substance and the body is external, as Descartes ...