Descartes - Meditations Essay

To what extent if any is Descartes successful in showing there is a real distinction between mind and body

He also knows for certain that various ideas appear before his mind. To work with Descartes has himself as a non-extended thinking thing and his ideas.

Descartes' overall objective in Meditations on First Philosophy is to question knowledge. To explore such issues as the existence of God and the separation of mind and body, it was important for him to distinguish what we can know as truth. He believed that reason as opposed to experience was the source for discovering what is of absolute certainty. In Meditation Two, Descartes embarks on his journey of truth. I find, in Meditation Two that Descartes has accomplished part of his journey, in that only the intellect perceives the material world.

The wax, so conceived, is merely a substance with the essential properties of being extended, flexible, and mutable—properties general enough that the wax can be taken to stand for a generic, supposedly physical, objects. Descartes concludes that he knows the wax through “an inspection of the mind” alone. To understand this reasoning, first note that by this point in the Meditations, Descartes is operating under the understanding that, insofar as he knows, he is only a thinking thing. Therefore, if we perceive, we do so with powers that are innate in us as a thinking thing. These powers of thought are earlier enumerated to include the capacity to doubt, understand, affirm, deny, will, refuse, sense, and imagine.

He would think the reason he exists is because he thinks and not about other attributes such as senses to the surroundings. But Descartes was gradually

Meditations is a discussion of metaphysics, or what is truly real. In these writings, he

I do agree with this premise to a certain extent due to the fact that there are many practices where demon possession can cause individuals to be delusional. Practices such as voodoo and other phenomena around the world is proof. However, to say that we do not know we have a body is a powerful statement; one in which I object. Firstly, Descartes cannot be satisfied that there is simply a thing that does the thinking and a body does not exist. Descartes implies that no action can occur without something or someone that does the action in Meditation II where he mentions, one thing that he is indeed certain of and that is “Cogito Ergo Sum’ which means ‘I think therefore I am’.

In Meditation I, Descartes begins by casting doubt on the foundation of most ideas: the senses, which are capable of deception such as during a dream. For ideas thought to be more certain, Descartes proposes the existence of an omniscient demon whose sole purpose is to deceive people into thinking something is true when it is really not. In Meditation II, Descartes asserts that the only certainty is the existence of himself as “a thing

Descartes uses the Evil Demon hypothesis to prove that all one knows for sure is that they exist. To call reality into doubt, Descartes supposes the existence of an all powerful, evil deceiver, a supposition which he asserts he cannot know to be false. Descartes supposes that it is conceivable that this deceiver has tricked him in every moment of what he perceived to be life, such that, every feeling and every experience Descartes ever had was merely a sequence synthesized by the deceiver. This being could powerful to not only manipulate our senses, but to cast doubt over other things such as mathematics.Thus, he renders himself into a state of complete uncertainty and denial of all known existence, since he cannot be certain that this deceiver does not exist. Any understanding or knowledge that there is could simply be an illusion or false input. Later, Descartes refutes the existence of such a being. Instead, he puts forth the assumption of a merciful God. His

If an object or thing does not think, it does not have a mind and therefore it does not exist. Descartes' mind body split theory led him to believe that the information we receive through our senses might not be accurate. An encounter he had led him to attack the idea that our senses contain accurate information and he began to question whether he existed. In Descartes' dream argument, he argues that our dreams can be so vivid and so real. Because our dreams can feel so real, this does not allow us to know if we are awake or in a dream state.

He then avows the possibility that at any moment he could be dreaming, or his senses could be deceived by either God or an evil demon which leads him to conclude that he cannot trust his senses to any extent. Ultimately, however he comes to realize that he cannot doubt his own existence because in order to even doubt or think, there must be someone doing the thinking or doubting. Due to the fact that his existence derives from the fact that he is thinking, Descartes concludes with the Cogito principle. This is one of Descartes major arguments for our existence “Since I only can be certain of the existence of myself and that I’m thinking, I have knowledge of my existence only as a thinking

This being said, Descartes is confident about his knowledge of the human mind and guarantee the truth of whatever is clearly and distinctly understood. This certain guarantee is based on Descartes believe that God exist and that God can never be a deceiver. Besides that, Descartes also claims that he have absolute faith in believing the clear and distinct ideas to be true. Likewise, if God gives him a clear and distinct idea that was untrue, he cannot help but to believe in the falsehood, and would never be able to figure out. Since God is responsible for this falsehood, he would, therefore be a deceiver, which cannot be true. Thus, given God’s non-deceiving nature, all clear and distinct ideas about the human minds must be

His point arises from the claim that he is a thinking thing, “Something that doubts, understands, affirms, denies, wills, refuses—and also imagines and senses” (Introduction of Philosophy, P.140). For there to be a “thinking thing,” there must be a mind which in turn provides the French philosopher with the belief that the evil demon argument cannot hold true. The evil demon argument states that there exists an evil demon whose role is to deceive Descartes at all costs. In conclusion, Descartes can be certain that he exists therefore he can assent to it. Despite knowing “cogito ergo sum” (I think, therefore I am) Descartes is still doubtful of what he can be certain of because there is a possibility that God could be deceiving him thus he must now inquire about

other hand, Descartes admits that God has given us senses. If the senses cannot precisely represent the nature of material bodies, then wouldn’t this make god a deceiver? Descartes pursuits the idea that God cannot be a deceiver; but if God gives us senses, doesn’t this contradict, and ultimately falsify Descartes argument as a whole? Descartes must defend this argument into order stand by his meditations. Furthermore, Descartes spends the first meditation rendering the senses as useless since they deceive us, diminishing all sensory beliefs. In the second meditation Descartes uses the wax as a thought experiment in order to replace the sensory beliefs with intellect. According to Descartes, not only are our senses deceiving us, but even things

At a point in time Descartes begins to ponder on his ability to think, develop ideas, and concepts in his head, so he concludes that if he is able to question his ability to exist, his ability to think, there for thinking exists. So now he is certain that even if he does not know he physically exists, or what of him exists, one thing he knows for sure is that he can think. Since thinking exists and he is capable of performing this task, he therefore exists; but only this bit of him is known with confidence to exist nothing more. Now I surely am awake, and I see something true; but