ly from person to person, Descartes believes that they are not really in the thing perceived, but rather only caused by it. Only primary qualities are in the thing. This notion reduces the universe to a cold, senseless, mechanistic bunch of matter in motion. However, Descartes main point is to show that our real knowledge of things measurement, like math, is done in our understanding comes not from the sense, but from our rational faculty and that we have good reason to mistrust our senses.What Descartes wants to impress upon the reader is that what we know of external objects (i.e. the wax) is not gained by any other means but through the mind alone. The essence of objects can present itself in many ways, but that is all it is a presentation. The essence itself resides behind the attributes. This abandonment of the traditional idea of gaining knowledge about the outside world through the senses was crucial to Descartes goal of a body of undeniable truths as he had formed the hypothesis that the senses could be fooled, but not the mind.The upshot of the investigation of the wax is not that the ontological status of the wax is sorted, but rather that the mind itself is better known. Indeed, Descartes conclusion is that nothing can be so well understood as the mind itself. Senses and imagination are seen to be faculties of the mind that are separable from it. All that belongs properly to the mind is that which cannot be doubted the understanding. Every time he uses his mind to think about something, the wax for example, he gathers a better idea of what it means to be a thinking thing. Since even his perceptions are accompanied by thinking, every time he perceives, he also thinks. Thus, he concludes that he knows his mind better than he knows his body; since he both employs his mind all of the time, and since his mind is a better source of knowledge than his perceptions.The teaching of Descartes has influenced many minds si...
