Question

Reading Questions for Descartes’ Meditations

Meditation II (for Wed July 22th)

Descartes discovers that one thing is certain and beyond doubt.

1. What is the first thing/person Descartes proves the existence of? Why is this certain?

2. What is Descartes’ answer to the question, what kind of thing am I?

3. How is a thinking thing different from the wax he describes?

4. At the end of Meditation II has Descartes established that he has a body?

Answer 1

In Meditation II :

1 Concerning the Nature of the Human Mind: That the mind is more than the body. Descartes yays out a pattern of thought, sometime called representationalism, in response to the doubts forwarded in Meditation I. he defines 5 steps in this theory

1. We have access to only the world of our ideas; things in the world are accept only indirectly
2. These ideas are understood to include all of the contents of the mind, including perception, images, memories, believe, intentions, decisions etc
3. Ideas and the things they represent are separate from each other
4. This represented things are many times “external” to the mind
5. It is possible for these ideas to constitute either accurate or false representation

2. Descartes argues that this representational theory disconnects the world from the mind, leading to the need for some sort of bridge to spend the separation and provide good reason to believe that the idea accurately represents the word outside. The first plank he uses in constructing this Bridge can be found in the following excerpt:

I have convinced myself that there is nothing in the world- No Sky no Earth no Minds no bodies. Doesn't it follow that I don't exit? No, surely I must exist if it is me who is convinced of something. but there is a deceiver, supremely powerful and cunning whose aim is to see that I am always deceived. but surely I exist, if I am deceived. Let him disease me all he can, he will never make it the case that I am nothing will I think that I am something.Thus having fully weighed every consideration, I must finally conclude that the statement “ I am, I exist” must be true whenever I state it or mentally consider it.

3. Descartes , to define himself he turns to the example of wax. a determines that wax isn't wax because of its colour, texture or shape as well as these things can change and the substance still be wax. He believes that wax is perceived “ by the intellect alone”. distinguishes between ordinary perception and judgement. when one understands the mathematical principles of the substance, its expansion under heat, figure and motion, the knowledge of the wax can be clear and distinct. if a substance such as wax can be known from this fashion, then the same must be of ourselves. The self, then, is not determined by what we sense of ourselves- this hands, this head, these eyes- but by simply the things. Thus one cannot grasp anything more easily e plainly then mind.

4. Descartes concludes that he exists because he is a” a thinking thing”. If he is the thing that can be deceived and can think and have thoughts, then he must exist.