Analysis Of Rene Descartes Meditation

Words: 565
Pages: 3
Open Document
In meditation II, Rene Descartes describes the wax experiment. Descartes's purpose of the wax experiment is to show how our senses are unreliable, using the experiment as his argument. He states that there’s a complication with empiricism and that the wax is identified through the mind, which means it is rationalism. Descartes also shows how we perceive things and their qualities. Rene Descartes first describes the wax, “everything is present in the wax that appears needed to enable a body to be known as distinctly as possible.” Descartes describes the wax using all the senses. He moves the solid wax into the heat and that is when all of the properties transform. Descartes says that the wax “loses what’s left of its taste, it gives up its smell, it changes changes color…” It is not the same wax and does not have the same characteristics it once had, meaning our senses were unreliable. They are unreliable due to the fact that when we first inspect the wax, it is completely different then when the wax is heated, but it is the same wax. …show more content…
He relates this by saying, if the wax is heated and changed into a different state, we still know its wax. We can imagine the wax in different shapes and sizes, but does not exactly indicate what the wax is. Descartes tries to argue that the imagination is not the intellect because the intellect interprets clearly and distinctly. We can not use the mind alone to know what the wax is. Both imagination and our senses are not a reliable source according to Descartes’s experimental conclusion; however, the senses advise us about the wax, but the senses cannot prove that the solid wax and the heated wax are the same. We can imagine the wax with different properties, but it is not useful for the knowledge of what the wax is, because it has many ways to be
Show More

Related Documents: Analysis Of Rene Descartes Meditation

Essay about The Meditations of René Descartes: Never Believe What You See – I Don’t Mind If I Do

Within Meditations on First Philosophy (1641), René Descartes undertakes the project of developing a new belief system regarding his existence. Descartes begins this project by demolishing his former belief system. Having his trust in the senses eliminated through a process of methodical doubt, Descartes attempts to establish a sound platform, upon which he will build an indubitable foundation for all knowledge. Upon evaluation of the first two meditations, three conditions for establishing this…

Words 2052 - Pages 9

Could All Reality Be A Dream Essay

Could all reality be a dream? Discuss, with reference to Descartes' Meditations and the film, 'The Truman Show'. In order to truly understand the world that surrounds us we must not only analyse it but begin to question it. Among some of the biggest philosophical questions would be the unknown truth behind our existence and whether or not our reality is truth or merely an illusion or dream state within or produced by our mind. Socrates states that an unexamined life 'is not worth living', essentially…

Words 1693 - Pages 7

To Whom does Descartes edited 1 Essay

To whom does Descartes’ Discourse on Method speak? Answer this question making reference to [1] Key passages; [2] the idea of the public sphere; [3] language. Descartes speaks to the great public by presenting his method to all different types of readers. He wants one to apply a distinctive type of thinking. It can be seen that Descartes wants the public to interpret his method in a unique way. The author aims to communicate with the readers, regardless of one’s status or social background. He wants…

Words 2170 - Pages 9

Essay on Vertigo: René Descartes

as “I think, therefore I am”. But what is the underlying meaning behind ergo sum? Who is the I and who decides whether one thinks or not? Is it possible to not think? These are a few of the many questions that have arisen from Descartes’ complex statement. Descartes spent years questioning himself and everything around him to come to the conclusion that he exists. As a result he found that he could only be sure of his own existence. Chomsky, another rationalist thinker, believed that ideas…

Words 2569 - Pages 11