The Second Meditation Essay

In Descartes’ First Meditation, Descartes’ overall intention is to present the idea that our perceptions and sensations are flawed and should not be trusted entirely. His purpose is to create the greatest possible doubt of our senses. To convey this thought, Descartes has three main arguments in the First Meditation: The dream argument, the deceiving God argument, and the evil demon “or evil genius”. Descartes’ dream argument argues that there is no definite transition from a dream to reality, and since dreams are so close to reality, one can never really determine whether they are dreaming

At the beginning of Meditation three, Descartes has made substantial progress towards defeating skepticism. Using his methods of Doubt and Analysis he has systematically examined all his beliefs and set aside those which he could call into doubt until he reached three beliefs which he could not possibly doubt. First, that the evil genius seeking to deceive him could not deceive him into thinking that he did not exist when in fact he did exist. Second, that his essence is to be a thinking thing. Third, the essence of matter is to be flexible, changeable and extended.

Something very essential to know about Descartes is his idea of Cogito Ergo Sum; I think, therefore I am. He believes that he exists because he is thinking, making him a thinking thing. Descartes first premise states, "I have a clear and distinct idea of myself, in so far as I am simply a thinking, non-extended thing" (Descartes, 54). The first thing that we need to understand from this premise is what Descartes means by extended; to occupy space. So, since he believes that he is not an extended thing, it follows that he does not take up space. Given this, he looked inside himself and saw no parts within his mind, no space or boundaries that his mind contains. In addition, the mind provides a place for free will and faith, which are not parts but different ways of thinking. He rationalizes this by making the mind of a qualitative substance. By saying that only things that can be measured must be of a material substance and those things that cannot be measured are of a thought like substance. The relation between body and mind now seem to be more divided since he believes that his mind is not extended. In short, this premise states that the mind has no parts, making it indivisible.

Having assured himself that he exists and that the essential nature of his self includes at least the capacity to think he then explored the question What else am I? (Section 27) and reached this conclusion: But then what am I? A thing that thinks (res cogitans). What is that? A thing that doubts (dubitans), understands (intelligens), affirms (affirmans), denies (negans), wills (volens), refuses (nolens), and that also imagines (imaginans) and senses (sentiens) (Section 28). Descartes acknowledges that thinking includes doubt, understanding, affirmation, denial, will (volition), refusal, imagination, and senses .

In René Descartes’ First Meditations, he introduces three main sceptical arguments for the possibility of doubt: illusion, dreaming and error. Descartes’ purpose in his First Meditations is to define knowledge by placing doubt on the sceptical arguments capacity to provide truth. In this essay, I will focus on the argument from dreaming. There are many objections against the argument; therefore I will assess the soundness of the argument and whether it establishes universal doubt based on the plausibility of the objections. Moreover, I will further conclude that it is possible to know if we are dreaming or not at any given moment and that we are not always in a dream.

He states that if something else was to have created him, then that thing must have supplied him with the idea of God since it exists within his mind- which previously stated is the only thing in this world that is true. So if the creator was a finite being, then the question arises of how the creator obtained the knowledge of God. This must mean that the creator in question had a previous creator, and they had a previous creator- thus making a countless chain of creators. From this reasoning can we conclude that God must be derived from an infinite being-Himself- and not a finite being with limited knowledge. Descartes uses this reasoning to explain that one man simply cannot have the ability within his own senses to be able to tell if God has a part in deceiving us, but we must be able to conclude that the idea of God can only derive from God. We must understand that He is no deceiver, since deception comes from a defect with which does not exist in a perfect and infinite being such as God

Throughout Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes argues for the ideas and philosophical beliefs behind skepticism. In his writings, he describes the fallibility and importance of the body of man and through extension the senses with which we observe the world. This paper will first show that within Descartes’ writings the body is an extension of the mind. Secondly, this paper will prove that the senses are a false form of understanding which leads to the deception of the mind. Finally, this paper will address the inconsistency that arises from these definitions of Descartes, specifically the incompatibility of a completely independent mind and a body dependent upon that mind.

In our everyday conversation, we do not generally question the validity of small claims that we make during normal interactions. In Meditation 1, Descartes decides that it is the right time to reevaluate the foundation of knowledge that he will rest his life upon from that point forward. He puts in question the things that he thinks he knows for certain. He acknowledges that everything he knows has been perceived from the senses or through

In Meditations on First Philosophy, it is the self-imposed task of Descartes to cast doubt upon all which he knows in order to build a solid foundation of knowledge out of irrefutable truths. Borrowing an idea from

In Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes looks closely at three ideas about God. First, he investigates the possibility that he is being deceived by God. Next, he delves into the likelihood that he may

In his Second Meditation on Philosophy Descartes investigates the nature and the idea of real knowledge. After describing his doubts in the truthfulness of his beliefs in the First Meditation Descartes strives to discard his prior knowledge on the base of its uncertainty and aims for a thing that would not induce any doubts. After finding this point of absolute certainty and the foundations of real knowledge Descartes then ties it to the idea of a free will, which when not corresponds to the extension of knowledge serves as a source of mistakes. This essay will discuss Descartes' argument on the essence of certainty and knowledge described in the Second Meditation and connect it to the idea of the essence of mistakes examined in the Fourth Meditation.

In the second meditation, Descartes declares that this universal doubt makes him feel like a swimmer who is suddenly plunged into deep water. He therefore assumes that everything is false and that he has no memory, senses, or body. Even what he perceives as “reality” could just all be a lie. At this point he has found the first of what he calls “clear and distinct ideas,” ideas so certain that they cannot possibly be denied.

Meditation is very difficult to describe and can only truly be explained once experienced. It is the practice of mental concentration leading ultimately through a sequence of stages to the final goal of spiritual freedom, nirvana. The purpose of Buddhist meditation is to free ourselves from the delusion and thereby put an end to both ignorance and craving. The Buddhists describe the culminating trance-like state as transient; final Nirvana requires the insight of wisdom. The exercises that are meant to develop wisdom involve meditation on the true nature of reality or the conditioned and unconditioned elements that make up all phenomena. The goal of meditation is to develop a concept in the mind.

He divided the thinking substance into infinite and finite substance. The infinite thinking substance is God. God is the perfection in his mind, because besides “I thinking, so I exist,” he also realizes that he is imperfect and he cannot create perfection. A substance bringing him a meaning of naturally perfection is God. The existence of God is “very clearly and distinctly,” which is also the reason Descartes needs to doubt deeper in his thinking process. Moreover, he divided finite substances into thinking substance, such as mind or soul, and extended substance, such as body. He believed that mind and body are separated substances that can independently exist without each other. He believes that there is a big difference between mind and

come to the conclusion that there is a limit to what they can do. A conscious