Descartes Philosophy in Meditations - Essay Example

? Descartes’s Philosophy in Meditations Descartes’s Philosophy in Meditations Introduction Rene Descartes is widely considered as the founder of modern philosophy. Majorly, his contributions are highly related to physics and mathematics. In this paper, his significant contribution in relation to the contributions he made with regard to the theory of knowledge will be discussed. This is through the analysis of his objections and replies as written in his meditations on First Philosophy book. This is after the book was circulated for a collection of objection upon which he provided his replies. Most of the people who read the meditations did not agree with some of the philosophical theories built by Descartes. Therefore, this brings about some kind of disagreement between Descartes and one or more objectives that he raises. As such, these objections and replies will be evaluated to gauge their adequacy. Descartes wrote the meditations to show that he had previously been mistaken in relation to things that he had initially thought to be certain. He, therefore, makes a decision to sweep away all of the perception that he had built in the past by constructing his knowledge from ground upwards. In turn, the only ideas that he was to accept as true were those that had been confirmed to be absolutely certain. It is his senses that helped him to get all that he had thought previously. Although his senses can also be deceiving, it only happens for tiny objects or those that are far away. He ultimately realizes that he cannot cast any doubt upon his own existence (Garber, 2003). Position of Descartes in the Meditations In the Meditations Descartes provides a means for first philosophy hence the beginning of modern day philosophy. From the book, he starts by attempting to doubt everything. He also builds up from those things that are likely to be known with certainty. He bases his first mediation on skeptical doubts by defining knowledge in terms of doubt. With this, he makes a distinction between rigorous knowledge or scientia and the other lesser grades of convictions or persuasio. He makes a clear distinction between the human soul and body. In this, he demonstrates the existence of God and the immortality of the soul and questions how certain knowledge is. As such, his position is that people should establish what is likely to be known for sure. In order to make out what is claimed in the sciences and form a firm structure from them, it is important to make a new foundation. This is because of the way he connects with the development of knowledge from the senses. This kind of information is what should be taken as true and certain (Garber, 2003). It is thus important to have a clear and distinct perception in order to secure knowledge. He thus develops a new state of mind conception by stating that the mental states are similar to what it represents. Therefore, the subject of the objections is that there should be no belief in things that are absolutely certain. In particular, the objection being made is that people only think about things that know the mind in a clear and distinct way. He claims that senses are not the source of knowledge but a means through which individuals practically move through the world. This makes the mind of human beings sufficient enough to know God. However, the reply to this objective is that people must work hard to understand their bodies. It is because the mind and body are extremely distinct and have nothing in common. With this, there must be the presence of doubt to gain more knowledge (Descartes, 1993). In my opinion, this reply is highly adequate because it appears to take a rational stance. It brings out the two truths that show the philosophical evidence on the existence of God, as opposed to the authority of scriptures. First Meditation: What can be called to doubt: the reliability of senses For the first meditation by Descartes which is about the reliability of the senses, he claims that the human is a complete form of spirituality. According to his idea, essentially the human being has a temporary connection with the material body. This body has the knowledge about the validity of it perceptions since God is not a deceiver. He claims that individuals know about God because God has put his own concept about his perfect self. This takes place in a similar way that the mark of a craftsman s placed on a piece of his work. In essence, this is mostly used to show that “I know what I know”, which is justified by the statement that is made regarding the knowledge of a benevolent God, although it is done pointlessly in a circular motion of an introspection process. He states that most of the things that he knew he was certain about in the past are currently realized to be nonsense. It is because most of the things that he firmly held during his youth were false hence the development of doubt. Subsequently he developed some faultiness from the body of knowledge that he had constructed from these falsehoods. It is, therefore, useful to establish what is absolutely known to be true by the careful demolition of his former opinions. Therefore, he needs to find a good reason to doubt the opinions that he holds presently for him to seek a more solid foundation of his knowledge. According to him, one cannot be sure about the things he knows but can be sure that he knows things. Thus, instead of individual doubt on his opinions, it is better to cast all of his opinions into doubt based on the foundations and principles of their foundation (Descartes, 1993). This is, however, objected on the claim that this meditation suggests that people cannot made a difference between their dream state, the state in which they are awake and the sensations of truth The images that are viewed while awake and with sensations do not prove the existence of external objects. If senses are followed without reasoning, it will be just to doubt the existence of things. The view is thus viewed as correct although it had been initially discussed by other philosophers in the past. He, in turn, provides a reply to the effect that he was only applauding them and not presenting them as novelties. By bringing them out, readers would be able to study intellectual things and separate them from corporeal things, he would get an opportunity to reply to the arguments and express the firmness of the arguments on a later date (Descartes, 1993). I view this reply to be genuine since Descartes knew that such ideas had been discovered in the past. By giving the readers a chance to object, it shows that it was a preparation for readers, and a basis to introduce the arguments for later advancement. The Second Meditation: The Piece of wax The second meditation by Descartes is about the piece of wax where he suggests that God does not always put ideas in his mind since he at times forms them on his own. The issue of existence is only conceived every time that someone mentally generates it. As such, all ideas act as modes of thought and are, therefore, equal in the same sense. Their formal reality that is intrinsically related to them in terms of reality is the same. However, the things that they attempt to represent are different, and the objective reality of the things that they attempt to represent also has a great difference. In this sense, the idea of God possesses more objective reality than that of a tree. The latter, however, has greater objective reality than that idea of the color red. Although all the three of these are basically ideas, they all have a valid degree of formal reality (Descartes, 1993). According to Descartes there is no greater effect than the cause of a reality. In this sense, everything that is existent is brought about by another thing that has a greater degree of reality. For instance, it is from a larger piece of rock with a greater level of reality that a stone, which has a lower level of reality, is created. However, a stone cannot be made out of color since color appears to have lesser reality than the stone. In this relation, it is shown that an idea can be formed only from something with as much formal reality as its objective reality. Although ideas can be caused by other ideas, there must be something greater than an idea to bring about these ideas. The initial cause of this idea should thus be something with as much formal reality as it has an objective reality. If this is the case, then an individual can surely know that there is something that exists outside his mind. Thus, the ideas about items such as animals, and plants may be generated from the mind even if such things do not exist. From this argument, it is made clear that people can only perceive properties such as size, motion, number, substance and duration. However, it is objected that the word cogito is used to mean “I think”, whereas the term sum cogitans is used to mean “I am thinking”. Yet, these two words literally mean the same thing. Both of these bring the same meaning in an image when one is awake or dreaming. From the thinking, it signifies that “I am” since something that thinks is nothing. However, doubt is cast when Descartes adds that “it means, I am mind, intelligence, intellect or reason”. In this sense, Descartes identifies something related to thinking as that which the thing does. On the other hand, his reply is that the quoted statement was not meant to show mere faculties or abilities, but they are a faculty of thought. All of these words are usually understood in that way. Thus, no doubt is cast about them since a difference is expressed between an act and the act of ability or faculty. This reply does not exhaustively dismiss the objection since the two words “walk” and “walking” are not different things. They basically symbolize the same thing. However, if he argues that, in Latin, they are quite different, then it can be understood since they are translated from Latin words. References Descartes, R. (1993). Meditations on First Philosophy. Tweyman: Routledge. Garber, Daniel. (2003). Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “Descartes” (in Snell). Retrieved 6 Nov. 2013 from http://www.rep.routledge.com/article/DA026 Read More