An Analysis Of René Descartes Mediations On First Philosophy

In the first two of Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes builds skepticism and then begins to dispel it. In the first, Descartes calls into mind three possibilities to prove our inability to trust our senses and what we fundamentally believe to be true. Descartes’ main refutation of this skepticism is known as the Cogito. The Cogito claims that since Descartes’ thinks, he must at a minimum exist as a thinking thing. In the remainder of Meditations, the Cogito serves as the fundamental premise for Descartes’ proofs for the existence of God and of body.

MEDITATIONS ON FIRST PHILOSOPHY René Descartes Meditation I. Of The Things Of Which We May Doubt. QUESTION 1. What was Descartes’ reason for writing his “Meditations”? People hold many erroneous beliefs and accept them without doubts.

I will argue that Descartes ' proof of God in theory sounds valid, until one realizes they 're being led in a circle. Descartes has an idea of an infinite, perfect (omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent) being or God. He believes the fact he, a finite being, can imagine such a perfect being, must mean this being instilled the idea in his mind. He claims that this idea is clear and distinct, or in other words, cannot be denied. Therefore God exists, and because God exists, he would not deceive Descartes by allowing him to have clear and distinct ideas that are false (SparkNotes Editors).

Analysis on 3rd meditation of Rene Descartes on Existence of God In his third meditation, named “The existence of God”, Descartes proves that God exists and the only cause of God is our clear and distinct perception. In previous meditations Descartes proved that he is a thinking thing, he exists, but now he is still in doubt and is asked by questions like where his existence came from, where his ideas or thoughts came from, why they appear in his mind. The raising so many questions makes me think too as a reader and imbued in Descartes’ thinking. That 's why I chose this argument to clarify and explain the chain of his thoughts and how he came to the conclusion about the existence of God.

In the sixth meditation, Descartes postulates that there exists a fundamental difference in the natures of both mind and body which necessitates that they be considered as separate and distinct entities, rather than one stemming from the other or vice versa. This essay will endeavour to provide a critical objection to Descartes’ conception of the nature of mind and body and will then further commit to elucidating a suitably Cartesian-esque response to the same objection. (Descartes,1641) In the sixth meditation Descartes approaches this point of dualism between mind and matter, which would become a famous axiom in his body of philosophical work, in numerous ways. To wit Descartes postulates that he has clear and distinct perceptions of both

He According to him, “every clear and distinct perception is surely something, and hence cannot come from nothing . . . it must necessarily have God for its author” (42). Descartes also offers some doubt into the belief that God exists, for he claims that, “I can attach existence to God, even though no God exists” (44). He raises the idea that his thoughts do not entail existence, however, he claims that existence is inseparable from God because he cannot think of God as anything other than existence. As a result, he concludes that, “the necessity of the thing itself, namely the existence of God, forces me to think this” (44).

Within his first argument he views god as a perfect being. In his eyes it is more perfect to exist than not too, hence why god exists. Descarte raises the question of god’s existence within the third meditation and follows up on the topic in more detail throughout the fifth meditation. His beliefs are solely based on the theory of innate ideas (ie. ideas found within oneself)

In Meditations II, Descartes expresses doubt through a form of meditation. Descartes claims to have accepted many false opinions over time. However, to reject all previous opinions, he states that he needs to “rebuild from the foundation.” In the first section (paragraphs 3-4), Descartes questions our senses by inferring that they often deceive and mislead.

Descartes starts The Meditations by regarding all knowledge as deception imposed by a deceptive God. He does this in an effort to rid himself of any possible falsehood, so that he can attain what he can rebuild his reality with only what is deemed to be certain. Eventually he disregards the notion of a deceptive God, and is able to regain with confidence many of his previous convictions. The first step he takes in his search for truth is to identify whether or not he exists. After some analysis he concludes that he must exist, because he is able to question his existence.

Descartes presents an argument for how we know that we exist. It is difficult to question something we don’t know because we don’t know where to start. If there is an answer, there is a question, however if humans do not exist, there would be no one to question their existence. On the topic of existence, Descartes claims that he cannot be misinformed about his own existence, and that he is a thinking thing. Everything exists both through imagination and through reality.

Descartes argues that one can exist because one has the capacity to think and therefore some part of him or her must exist for them to think. Through a series of meditations, Descartes wants to prove that one can possess true knowledge, a keystone with which one can build the rest of their beliefs on. As a result, Descartes describes the belief that one cannot rationally doubt their own existence as true knowledge and uses this as his keystone for further science. To build credibility for his argument, Descartes undergoes a series of meditations to prove that one cannot truly rationally doubt their existence. Anything in which Descartes finds a reason to rationally doubt, he treats as false until he discovers something that he cannot rationally

“I think, therefore, I am,” a syllogism turned symbolic by repetition. Descartes’ signature phrase, stated in the search of a proper base for the pursuit of knowledge and as a result of a project of radical self doubt, this basis was founded. A project of radical doubt ranging from his empirical knowledge to his sense of self. While meditating on what is and is not real he begins to doubt himself and realizes that this metaphysical doubt (thought) is the last level of doubt, as he finds himself unable to doubt the idea that he is thinking, therefore unable to doubt at the very least his own existence. Descartes meditates on causal arguments for his existence, in this God is found.

In the second meditation, Descartes said, " I am therefore, precisely speaking, only a thinking thing, that is, a mind (mens sive animus), understanding, or reason, terms whose signification was before unknown to me. I am, however, a real thing, and really existent; but what thing? The answer was, a thinking thing." He understood that the only way he could believe he existed was by continuing to ask questions, thinking, and try to understand his rationality. He tested his new foundation by doing experiments.

In Rene Descartes meditations on Philosophy, he is seen constantly trying to question what he knows to be real or not. To settle the doubts that bother him, he tries to rid himself of all his pre-conceptions, hoping to rebuild what he does know from the ground up, determining what is absolutely certain, and what is still questionable. In the first meditation, Descartes reflects on all things false he had believed in his life. He goes through a process in which he separates himself from his senses and the world, so as not to be deceived.

Meditation one sums the doubts of everything (p.101) therefore Descartes realizes he must begin at the lowest step imaginable. Meditation two concentrates on the conclusion that the mind is the key to removing the doubts and concluding that “I am a thing that thinks, which doubts, understands, conceives, affirms, wills, refuses, imagines and feels” (p.104). This brings the act of thinking as the one point that is indisputably independent of externalities; therefore “I exist”. The four conclusions in meditation two all revolve around the conceptualization of thinking and how it proves one’s existence.