Descartes' Wax Argument Essay

He regards the “I” as a thinking soul/mind. The problem of identity is also described by Descartes as essence versus existence. When comparing the wax, Descartes talked about mental and subjective thoughts and bodily or objective things. Descartes concluded that regardless of the shape that wax took place or what his mind perceived it to look like it would still remain just wax. Descartes bridges the gap by mentioning that he understands and is capable of being created by God so it makes sense with his understanding of it and being capable to being separated since they are both distinct. (pp.206-207, Descartes)

Descartes concludes from his first meditation that he is a thinking thing, and as long as he thinks, he exists. In the second meditation, Descartes attempts to define what the “thinking thing” that he concluded himself to be in the first meditation actually was. Descartes’ determines that he gains knowledge of the world, that is, knowledge that is separate from the mind, through the senses; and that the senses can deceive. This he outlines within the first meditation, and mentions on the second meditation. Furthermore, in the second meditation, Descartes refuses to define himself as a rational animal, instead going back and relying on labeling him mind as a thinking thing. In the fifth and sixth paragraphs of the second meditation, Descartes distinguishes the body from the soul. Descartes indicates that there is the presence of the body, and it seems to be in the physical world, but he also notes that his mind does not seem to exist in the same manner. Descartes also claims that the ability to perceive is a power of the soul, but inoperable without the body. Descartes then explores another object with physical substance, which is a piece of wax. The piece of wax is undeniably physical; it takes up space within the material world. The body falls into the category, just as any other physical object in the material world. The main point of Descartes’ second meditation is that any given person can know more about their mind than of the world surrounding them.

     This is where the wax argument comes into play. All the properties of the piece of wax that we perceive with the senses change as the wax melts. This is true as well of its primary properties, such as shape, extension and size. Yet the wax remains the same piece of wax as it melts. We know the wax through our mind and judgement, not through our senses or imagination. Therefore, every act of clear and distinct knowledge of corporeal matter also provides even more certain evidence for the existence of Descartes as a thinking thing. Therefore his mind is much clearer and more distinctly know to him than his body. At this

He then tells us his final perspective on how he perceives the wax. “It remains then for me to concede that I do not grasp what this wax is through the imagination; rather, I perceive it through the mind alone.” (Descartes, 22) He ends his argument on how he perceives the wax with telling us that it is not our imagination that grasps all of the perceptions of the wax, but the mind that does it.

The reasoning behind the investigation of the wax in the second meditation is that the wax serves as an analogy of our perception on life and what we assume is truth. Descartes believed that many or even most of the truths we know could in fact be an illusion. This means that

Logan, 1 The motive behind Descartes wax argument is to provide distinct knowledge of what “I” is, regarding the mind, and what bodily things, “Whose images are framed by thought, and which the senses themselves imagine are much more distinctly known than this mysterious ‘I’ which does not fall within the imagination.” Within the wax argument, Descartes’ shows that bodily things are not perceived through our imagination or senses, but within our intellect. Descartes introduces the wax argument when he tries to clarify what this “thing that he thinks” or “I” is. With Descartes trying to clarify what exactly that “thing” is, he comes up with a conclusion. Descartes comes to a conclusion that he is not only something that both understands

What was just explained above is Descartes first step to gaining knowledge, that is to build on what you know is certain and use yourself as the foundations. Now his second step he tries to show how we know bodies through reason and now through our senses. He uses a piece of wax to demonstrate this theory.

In Meditation six: Concerning the Existence of Material Things, and the Real Distinction between Mind and Body, Rene Descartes wrote of his distinctions between the mind and the body, first by reviewing all things that he believed to be true, then assessing the causes and later calling them into doubt, and then finally by considering what he must now believe. By analyzing Descartes’ writing, this paper will explicate Descartes’ view on bodies and animals, and if animals have minds. Before explicating the answer to those questions, Descartes’ distinctions between the mind and the body should first be summarized and explained.

As a result, Descartes questions that if we eliminate the qualities observed by our sense perception of a body, can we still claim that the body remains? To clarify, although our initial perception of the wax differs from our perception now of the wax, we still agree that that the same wax is present: “It must be admitted that it does; no one denies it, no one thinks otherwise” (Descartes 1988, p.84).

One of the most notable documents to consider in the study of Philosophy is Rene Descartes’, Meditation on First Philosophy. Within this compilation there are six individual Meditations, each with multiple parts, composed by Descartes himself. Although he begins by discarding his beliefs in all things that are not absolutely certain, each Meditation builds upon the last as Descartes attempts to think through what can be established as fact or fiction. Perhaps one of the most conspicuous arguments of Descartes Meditations is located in the later part of the Second Meditation titled, “the wax argument”. The wax argument was created by Descartes as a medium to further define and analyze himself as a being. Through evaluating this piece of wax

However, he argues that what remains is still wax because he doubts one’s senses, but not one’s intellect. He believes that the piece of wax must exist because his imagination cannot completely analyze it. On page 22 he states, “Not at all; for I grasp that the wax is capable of innumerable changes of this sort, even though I am incapable of running through these innumerable changes by using my imagination.” There are infinite possibilities of what could have actually happened, but he believes that the wax is still wax because of this. Descartes therefore believes that he perceives the wax through the mind and intellect alone, rather than through the senses and imagination.

Every people has their own particular conclusion, In regards to what Descartes says that all the tactile characteristics of the wax steadily change is something that I don't concur with. Many people don't perceive what wax really is. in case someone was capable to see wax before it is condensed and they would have the ability to touch it and notice the scent of the wax they would not have the ability to stop considering the sentiment it. I was to a great degree perplexed when I first read this question and expected to examine it a few circumstances to really understand that some individual trusts things we see to a little bit at a time change, apparently irrelevant points of interest, for instance, wax. How we see things and totally

How, then, do we know the wax as wax? Since the object itself contains no information which can be used, the answer must be found in the internal mind, rather than external object. Thus, the wax example shows that perception of objects is based not in mere externally provided sense data, but in how these sense data are combined and are interpreted by the mind. That these aggregate judgments of sense data are

Surely rather scrupulously Descartes articulates that the mind is ontologically separable from the body, insofar that the mind possesses qualities; which stand incongruous to the body. The nature of these qualities will be expounded more punctiliously throughout the discourse of this essay, to illuminate Descartes argument for this claim. But let us first consider the conundrum that has arisen promulgated from his thesis of distinction. The uncanny question ‘how can an immaterial substance interact with a material substance, if they are so radically distinct?’ has proved a popular enquiry throughout the history of philosophy and even still succumbs the face of philosophers. For surely it is conceivable that the mobility of a causal affinity

This is seen through the changing of the features of the wax when it is melted. Although it appears that we know about this piece of wax by perceiving its visible qualities in actuality we know a lot more about it by using our minds. For example, through our senses we can see that it is hard or what colour it is, or even how it smells. The question is how do we know it is the same piece of wax even after it is melted and appears to be liquid instead of solid, and takes a different shape? He argues then that the only thing we can be sure of about the piece of wax is that it is an extended body that takes up space. This is because if we relied solely on our senses then it would not appear to be the same piece of wax as it can change completely from what it appeared to be before it was melted. So, the only real quality to the wax is our understanding of it. Descartes also acknowledges that we cannot even grasp the concept through imagining it. Since we would just imagine a succession of multiple images of the wax changing which would be millions of pictures, our brain could not accomplish this. Thus, the only really essential to a sensible body like a piece of wax is our capability to comprehend