meditations #2 Flashcards
What are the overall themes of meditations (2)
1) descartes gives first item of knowledge
2) description of the human mind
3) mind is better known than the body
What was Descartes’ most powerful argument?
the demon argument
How does Descartes come to the conclusion that he, himself, is real?
since the demon is trying to convince him, therefore he, himself, has to be real
What are Descartes famous words
“I am, I exist is necessarily true whenever it is put forward by me or
conceived in my mind”.
What am ?…
A thinking thing… that doubts, understands, confirms, denies, affirms
What is descartes perception on dreaming?
Even if i am dreaminng i still see physical objects even if none of them exist because i am in a dream, therefore thinking is still going on and since i am thinking and none of it exists i still am I
What are the two goals of the wax passage
- metaphysical goal/ determine essential nature of a body of wax
- epistomological/ how one understand/ indentifies bodys and physical objects
Explain the wax passage
since all of the senses have been changed to unrecognizable, perhaps it is not identified by its futures because they become unrecognizable but the essential natures of those extensions are located somewhere spacially
What is the consequence of the wax passage?
If it has to be located in space.. but everything is stripped away from the body and your only left with the think of the object then man must not be a physical thing.. the mind cant physically be located to the body because
Knowledge: mind vs senses quote
“Perhaps what I distinctly knew was neither the sweetness of
honey, nor the fragrance of flowers, nor a sound, but a physical
object that sometimes appeared to me one way and sometimes
another.”
Does Descartes provide this view… way in which we come to conclusion is that of the mind and not of the sensor
yes, specifically from the wax passage this can be seen as the candle itself has changed into unrecognizable features yet one is still able to discern that it is a candle
What is a lesson we can take away from the wax passage
all physical objects are grasped in virture of them being understandable
