Descartes On First Philosophy Essay, Research Paper

Rene Descartes? Meditations in the First Philosophy is a skeptic?s

speculation on certain inalienable truths. Descartes meditations are based on

the epistemological theory of rationalism: that is if someone truly knows

something then they could not possibly be mistaken. He provides solid arguments

for what his six meditations stand for, and how he obtained a clear and distinct

perception of "innate" ideas. In Meditations he comes to terms with

three certainties: the existence of the mind as the thing that thinks, the body

as an extension, and God as the supreme being. He attests that he came to these

conclusions by doubting all that had been taught to him in his formal education,

and all he received through the senses. Descartes? first uncertainty was noted

in Discourse of Method. "I found myself embarrassed with so many doubts and

errors that it seemed to me that the effort to instruct myself had no effect

other than the increasing discovery of my ignorance" (Baird p. 11). He had

difficultly embracing the diverse, and sometimes hypocritical, ideas he

encountered in his studies. He developed a skeptical frame of reference; this

uncertain point of view aided him in developing Meditations. All that he saw,

tasted, touched, smelled and heard was caste into uncertainty. He thought all of

his confusion and indeterminate ideas were caused by the senses. According to

Descartes, "The senses deceive, and it is prudent never to trust completely

those who have deceived us even once?(Baird, Forrest E. p. 22). He used the

example of perceiving the sun and the moon. When both are looked upon from

earth, they appear to be about the same size and distance from our planet.

Mathematics, however reveal an enormous difference in their size and distance.

This is why he desperately needed to abandon all he had learned and acquired

through the senses. Certainty surfaced beyond all that he doubted, and to know

these certainties led Descartes to the truth. To know, according to Descartes,

was to have a clear and distinct perception of an idea. One could perceive ideas

clearly and distinctly through a process of introspection and reflection. When a

person abandoned all that was received through the senses they were then able to

deduce the essence of an idea. The essence was the most basic foundation of

existence; that is the simplest universal truth. To know was to truly understand

the essence of a thing or idea. The first thing Descartes was able to clearly

and distinctly perceive was the idea of the mind. The mind represented the self

or the idea of "I". It did not represent the self as in physical

appearances because the mind has no physical attributes. The mind, according to

Descartes?, is simply the thing that thinks. The essence of the mind is,

"A thing that doubts, understands, affirms, denies, is willing, is

unwilling and also imagines and has sensory perceptions" (Baird, p. 13). He

also knew with certainty the idea of an extended thing. By extension he means a

body or substance that exist in nature, and outside the thinking thing. It was

the essence of that which he could describe with mathematical certainty. He

emphasizes a distinction between the mind and body. "…in as much as the

body is the very nature is always divisible as the mind is utterly

indivisible." (Baird, Forrest E. p. 53) Descartes clearly and distinctly

perceived an idea of a Supreme Being or God, the perfect infinite manifestation

of mind. "By the word ‘God’ I understand a substance that is infinite,

independent, supremely intelligent, supremely powerful, and which created both

myself and everything else that exists" (Baird, Forrest E. p. 34).

Descartes has a clear and distinct perception of God and reasons that it must be

It that grants him the ability to clearly and distinctly perceive God. Descartes

speculations on certainty may not have satisfied an empiricist’s point of view

of experience as an essential element in knowledge, but alas, he was a

rationalist. So in Descartes? mind one can only know with certainty the Mind

as the thinking thing, the Body as the extended thing and God as a supreme

being.

Descartes, Rene. Meditations in the First Philosophy. In Baird, Forest E. and

Walter Kaufmann, Modern Philosophy, 3rd Edition Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice

Hall, 2000.