Renee Descartes Meditations essays

Renee Descartes Meditations essays Descartes is a philosopher who is very disturb with the happenings of the world around him. Things are changing and he does not know if what he has been taught in the past is true. He has extreme doubt in everything that he has ever known. He feels that everything is false and he can not trust authorities. He decides that he needs to look for a new foundation (a reconstruction of knowledge). He believes that this new found knowledge should be certain and never doubted. Descartes starts to argue his points in his meditations. Descartes starts by doubting those qualities that we obtain through are senses. He first doubted those qualities of objects which involved only are senses and then he started to doubt ideas of mathematics. He says that some evil being must be deceiving him in anything that he has ever known. In the second meditation, Descartes starts again from almost where he left off in the first. He goes on to try to argue his existence. He starts by saying that he used to see himself as a rational animal, nut he wonders if he exists or if some kind of being is making him thing he exists. Descartes finally says that he can prove that he exist by thinking. He says I think therefore, I exist. This is his proof for his existence. Then Descartes gives an analogy through wax. First he describes the outward appearance of the wax. He puts the wax by a fire and it starts to melt. He begins to question if this is the same piece of wax that he had moments before. Descartes states that if perceives that the wax exists and in order to do this he must be perceiving so this proves that he exists. He uses this wax argument to establish that the mind is the only means of knowledge. His defense is the minds ability to clearly and distinctively perceive truths. ...