A Summary of Descartes Second Meditation - 1016 Words

Descartes starts by doubting everything (â€Å"I will suppose then, that everything I see is spurious†) and thinks that anything which admits the slightest doubt must be false. He attempts to find something which he is unable to doubt and if he cannot he must conclude He contends that he is not able to doubt his existence. Even if there is a deceiving god who is constantly deceiving him about the world, he still must exist, as he must exist in order to be deceived. (â€Å"I am, I exist†). He then tries to define what exactly this ‘I’ that exists is. His first answer is a ‘man’, which he defines as a ‘rational animal’. (Aristotelian answer).But this answer is far too complex for one would have to go on to define rationality and animal and these†¦show more content†¦If we simply knew the world through our senses, we would be unable to recognize that the wax in two different states was still wax. So, we identify things through a different means to our senses. Descartes called this an intellectual perception or understanding. Once you strip away the changeable qualities of the wax, you are left with something extendable, flexible and changeable. In order to define the ‘extendable and flexible’ we try to imagine some physical shape, but wax can take almost any shape. So the definition of extendable and flexible goes beyond the imagination. He assumes that it must be our understanding that allows us to recognize t he wax, not our imagination, as our imagination cannot comprehend all the possible forms the wax could take. The idea of something flexible and extendable is just an idea, something we grasp intellectually. The only other area he recognizes is sensory perception, which is not responsible for our recognition of the wax as already stated. This mental scrutiny/understanding can be imperfect, but it is more perfect than other forms of perceiving the world. Mental scrutiny/understanding gives us the most perfect understanding, for it requires a human mind and gives us a perfect knowledge. The point can be illustrated by considering a scene in which one is looking at a crowd of people all wearing hats and coats. All the senses can determine is the presence of the hats and coats, and it is notShow MoreRelatedDescartes Philosophical Meditations On God And His Perceptions1446 Words   |  6 PagesDescartes philosophical meditations offer a window into his beliefs on God and his perceptions. He begins his first meditation by describing his Madness and Dream arguments, which outline his doubts in his own perceptions. He wants to be acutely aware of deception as he moves forward because he has no way of determining when his perceptions are true and when his perceptions are false. 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