笛卡尔的“身心二元论”的根据是:“Next I examined attentively what I was. I saw that while I could pretend that I had no body and that there was no world and no place for me to be in, I could not for all that pretend that I did not exist. I saw on the contrary that from the mere fact that I thought of doubting the truth of other things, it followed quite evidently and certainly that I existed; whereas if I had merely ceased thinking, even if everything else I had ever imagined had been true, I should have had no reason to believe that I existed. From this I knew I was a substance whose whole essence or nature is simply to think, and which does not require any place, or depend on any material thing, in order to exist. (6:32-3)”(斯坦福哲学百科)。我的看法与笛氏不同在于,二元的本质是“物质与生命”之别。而生命自身又生出了“相对与绝对”这两个部分。也就是说,第一个“一分为二”应该是物质与生命之分;第二个一分为二是“生命的相对性与思维和意识的绝对性之分”。这也可以看成,“一而二”是物质与生命之分,“二而三”是物质,生命和绝对的分别。