Blog #3

I’m not sure what I was expecting from this course, but if one thing is for sure, it’s been at hard work driving me out of my comfort zone. I’ve never been one that has been able to really theorize and think far outside the box, and as one of our fellow classmates explained in the first week of class, our readings are not the straightforward scientific reports that I’ve grown accustomed to. Descartes challenges the norms, and develops a new perspective on pretty much everything. Now I can’t say I’ve never had thoughts like Descartes has, I have somewhat wondered why we act and are the way that we are, but I have ultimately accepted the patterns and ways of life. My previous sociology courses have also come to enlighten me on how basically everything is a social construction, which is a term that I’m sure Descartes wishes he had coined himself.

Descartes’ big idea is that the mind and body are separate. His excerpt on dreams was really intriguing, as dreams have been of particular fascination to me throughout my entire life. I’ve had a hard time understanding the fact that in my dreams I can be a talented figure skater, or snowboarder (sorry I’ve been watching the olympics), but when I’m awake and in “reality” I have absolutely no coordination or skill to do either of these things. On the more frightening side, I’ve experienced dreams in which I’m being kidnapped or attacked and I’m unable to scream or move. I’ve always questioned how my mind can come up with such intriguing scenarios and ideas, whereas when I use my body it does not have the same capabilities as my mind can concoct. In my dreams, and therefore my mind, I am always outside of my comfort zone. And then there’s the fact that we really only have access to a small portion of the knowledge in our brain at any given time. The whole concept of dreams and brain function isn’t something that I have ever questioned heavily, but rather has just been something I’ve just come to accept. As I sit here and write this blog and finally put into words these wonders that I know I’ve always had, maybe Descartes has been right all along.