The Meditations of Rene Descartes Essay - 493 Words

The Meditations of Rene Descartes In 1916 Rene Descartes wrote What I wish to finish is . . . an absolutely new science enabling one to resolve all questions proposed on any order of continuos or discontinuous quantities. (p8 Methods Meditations). He made this ambitious statement at the young age of twenty-three. Renes ambition would take him far but it kept him from becoming the Aristotle of the modern age. The Meditations were an attempt to solve the many questions about life, existence, and God. At the time of their publishing many philosophers did not quit accept his writings. Today however the Meditations are widely read and reviewed throughout the world. In the First Meditation Rene begins by stating that he know†¦show more content†¦He would continue and urge us not to trust what we see because there is no way of being certain about anything. Methodological doubt was his basis on life claiming that everything is to be doubted. Rene Descartes first begins to come to some kind of belief by the Thi rd Meditation. Rene states . . . I am certain that I am a thinking being; but do I not therefore likewise know what is required to make me certain of something? (p113 Methods Meditations). He goes on to say that God could not possibly be deceitful, it would not be his divine nature. This is when things start to come together for Rene. After acknowledging that a divine God could not possibly be evil Rene goes even further to say that he (God) must exist. This equation sounds strange but to this point Rene never really considered if God even existed or if he was simply a part of his imagination. Renes motto, De omnibus dubitandumest (everything is to be doubted), lead him back to basic proofs. His theory of analytical geometry was the first major contribution to the field of science. This theory helped to offset some of his doubts and in many ways gave him the realization that some qualities in life can be proven. For Descartes rule of everything to be doubted was only part of his philosophical life. While taking this rule very serious he did not recommend it as a way of life. Descartes was only interested in the study of wisdom. He knew that the wisdom learned would be a sort ofShow MoreRelated The Meditations by Rene Descartes1003 Words   |  5 PagesIn Descartes’ Meditations, his goal to prove the existence of things could only be accomplished if he was logical, clear, and correct in his thoughts and writings. The most important issues he noted were the threat of being deceived and the potential of being incorrect in his judgments, both of which would lead him into error. Error exists as a problem that individuals encounter on a regular basis, and it also exists as a focal point in Descartes’ Meditations. Descartes defines error as â€Å"a privationRead MoreThe Meditations By Rene Descartes1384 Words   |  6 PagesRenà © Descartes main goal in the Meditations is to establish that one exists and that a perfect God exists. Howe ver, he first argues that the idea that everything perceived around one could be false because the senses are sometimes deceiving. In the first Meditation, Descartes introduces skepticism and brings forth a method of doubt in which he evaluates his beliefs, and questions whether they are true or false and why they should be doubted. He presents various hypothesis that prove there is reasonRead MoreDescartes First Meditations By Rene Descartes1352 Words   |  6 PagesIn Renà © 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 plausibi lityRead More Renà © Descartes Meditations Essay1116 Words   |  5 PagesRenà © Descartes Meditations Renà © Descartes’ argument that he does not know his piece of wax through his senses is rather straightforward. First, his sensory perceptions of the wax are its color, scent, sound, texture, temperature and the like. However, these purported properties of the wax are not constant; if the wax is brought close to a flame, its color, sound, texture and all the rest will change. Nevertheless, Descartes claims, no one would deny that the object now by the fire is the sameRead MoreRene Descartes Meditations on First Philosophy1234 Words   |  5 Pages In Rene Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes does and experiment with wax to try to prove that things actually exist in this world. This essay is going to prove how we can tell that things actually exist and what can perceive the wax. Rene Descartes starts off with a description of the wax so he can prove to us the changes that will happen throughout his experiment. â€Å"Let us take, for instance, this piece of wax. It has been taken quite recently from theRead MoreMeditations On First Philosophy By Rene Descartes Essay839 Words   |  4 PagesPrà ©ciso of Meditations on First Philosophy Through his series of books, Meditations on First Philosophy, Renà © Descartes enlightens his philosophical ideas about knowledge in which we should discard all belief we aren’t absolute certain about and establishes what we know for sure. In the introduction he clarifying the main ideas of each of the 6 books and using to them build up to his belief. Starting with the First Meditations, he discusses about doubt. He believed that there are no real foundationsRead MoreThe Meditations On First Philosophy By Rene Descartes916 Words   |  4 Pages The Meditations on First Philosophy by Rene Descartes is a thorough analysis about doubt. Descartes describes his method of doubt to determine whether he can truly know something. One of his major arguments is the proof of the existence of God. In this paper, I will attempt to unravel the flaws in Descartes proof that God exists. In the meditations, Descartes evaluates whether or not everything we know is a reality or a dream. Descartes claims that we can only be sure that our beliefs are trueRead MoreMeditations On First Philosophy By Rene Descartes1062 Words   |  5 PagesIn Meditations on First Philosophy, Renà © Descartes philosophies made a substantial advancement in enabling us to understand the world around us by querying many of the Aristotelian doctrines that are still being discussed in philosophy today. He attempts to answer the question; can you fully trust your senses? Descartes uses methodological doubt, which is a process of being skeptical about truths of someone’s belief to revoke from his senses. In Meditation One: Concerning Those Things That Can BeRead MoreRene Descartes Meditations On First Philosophy1758 Words   |  8 PagesPerhaps the most startling conclusion reached by Renà © Descartes in Meditations on First Philosophy is his proposed disconnection between the Mind and Body. Striving to separate the spiritual from the corporeal to enable scientific examination of the earthly without interference from the divine, Descartes conceives that the two basic human substances, Mind and Body, are distinct and therefore able to exist separate of one another in his [in]famous claim of substance dualism. His conclusions rest uponRead MoreMeditation and Discourse on the Method by Rene Descartes831 Words   |  3 Pagesphilosophers attempt to satisfy them, such as Renà © Descartes. Descartes was a modern philosopher and rationalist, or an advocate of â€Å"the view that through unaided reason we can come to know what the world is like† (792). Descartes attempts to seal conclusions on such questions by using his mathematical knowledge and relating them to philosophy. Traces of such views can be found in many famous works that include the Meditations and Discourse on the Method. Descartes was a firm believer in the view that knowledge