Meditations 6: more on what nature teaches us...

In the first half of part 6 of Meditations, Descartes uses nature as an excuse for the pairing of a particular mind with a particular body despite his claims that the two are separate. It turns out that Descartes goes on to discuss how nature teaches us many things, some of which are true and others false. He makes a point that anything which we seem to know naturally is implanted in us by God. Descartes tries to make a distinction between nature's true and false teachings. He says that there are three subsets of natural teachings. The first pertains only to the mind; the second pertains only to the body; the third pertains to the relation between the mind and body.  The first subset, according to Descartes, is always true. Things pertaining only to the mind are clear and distinct concepts that must be true. Descartes is not concerned with the second subset, and he claims that the truth of the contents of the third subset varies. He claims that false natural teachings regarding the relation between mind and body are mere misinterpretations. So although it is true that something in heat excites pain, there is nothing that resembles pain inside the heat. Descartes claims that the problem is that we have conflicting signals about what to do or not do, and this can be blamed on our bodies. He says that there are two main sources of error that are a direct result of the body:  (1) the mind and body are distinct; the mind is unified and the body is divisible... (2) some bodily feelings are exaggerated or misdirected, making them deceptive.