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Descartes first meditation

Descartes first meditation Rene Descartes decision to shatter the molds of traditional thinking is still talked about today. He is regarded as an influential abstract thinker; and some of his main ideas are still talked about by philosophers all over the world. While he wrote the "Meditations", he secluded himself from the outside world for a length of time, basically tore up his conventional thinking; and tried to come to some conclusion as to what was actually true and existing. In order to show that the sciences rest on firm foundations and that these foundations lay in the mind and not the senses, Descartes must begin by bringing into doubt all the beliefs that come to him by the senses. This is done in the first of six different steps that he named "Meditations" because of the state of mind he was in while he was contemplating all these different ideas. His six meditations are "One:Concerning those things that can be called into doubt", "Two:Concerning the Nature of the Human mind: that it is better known than the Body", "Three: Concerning God, that he exists", "Four: Concerning the True and the False", "Five: Concerning the Essence of Material things, and again concerning God, that he exists" and finally "Six: Concerning the Existence of Material things, and the real distinction between Mind and Body". Although all of these meditations are relevant and necessary to understand the complete work as a whole, the focus of this paper will be the first meditation. In the "Meditations", Rene Descartes attempts to work backwards. He realizes "how numerous were the false opinions that in [his] youth [he] had taken to be true".(Pg59) He secludes himself away from people and distractions and has "suitably freed [his] mind of all cares."(Pg59) It is his goal to dismantle his conventional thinking and to only acknowledge what he can determine to be wholly and undeniably true. He does this by attacking "straightaway those principals which support everything [he] once believed."(Pg60) He decides that he must not try to "show that all of his opinions are false, which is perhaps something [he] could never accomplish"(Pg59) but rather he should " withhold [his] assent no less carefully from opinions that are not completely certain and indubitable that [he] would from those that are patently false."(Pg.59) By doing this he will tear down all the false ideologies that he holds, and be subject to only the opinions that he can prove to be absolutely and necessarily true. In the first meditation, "Concerning those things that can be called into doubt", Descartes main goal is to distinguish what it is he can take to be true, and what supposed truths hold even the smallest degree of doubt. When he reviews all of his opinions he concludes "eventually [he] is forced to admit that there is nothing among the things [he]believed to be true which it is not permissible to doubt--and not out of frivolity or lack of forethought, but for valid and considered reasons. Thus [he] must be no less careful to withhold assent henceforth even from these beliefs then [he] would from those that are patently false, if [he wishes] to find anything certain."(Pg62) At the beginning of Descartes' meditations, he finds that there is really no concrete pillars of knowledge to base the foundations of his supposed knowledge on. He concludes that he must attack the foundations of his knowledge "because undermining the foundations will cause whatever has been built upon them to crumble."(Pg60) He proposes three arguments related to determining his path for the future meditations when instead of focusing in destroying the foundations, he will concern himself with rebuilding his knowledge based on absolute truths. His first argument in the this meditation, the sense deception argument, is quite easy to understand. He proposes that there are times when our senses can deceive us and "it is a mark of prudence never to place our complete trust in those who have deceived us even once."(Pg60) The significance in this argument is Descartes admits that there is a possibility that the information received by the senses are mere deceptions. He concludes "that whatever [he] had admitted to be true [he] received either from the senses or through the senses."(Pg60)Everything in Descartes world must be taken as a possible falsity. Now that he has proven that his senses could be nothing but delusions, he still must account for the input he receives from those senses. Descartes argues that although his senses have deceived him before, there "are many other matters concerning which one simply cannot doubt, even though they are derived from the very same senses."(Pg60) He uses his current situation as an example. Surly he is "... sitting here next to the fire, wearing [his] winter dressing gown, that [he] is holding this sheet of paper in [his] hands and the like."(Pg60) How can he account for these sensations? He concludes that there are "... no definitive signs by which to distinguish being awake from being asleep."(Pg60) He argues that he has had such vivid dreams, that he can not say without any doubt that he is either awake or asleep and dreaming. He goes on to say "How often does my evening slumber persuade me of such ordinary things as these: that [he] is here, clothed in [his] dressing gown, seated next to the fireplace-- when in fact [he is] lying undressed in bed!"(Pg60) Thus he divides objects into two categories, primary and secondary. Secondary objects are those that are sensed, and could possibly be an illusion or a dream, such as color, taste, smell or sight. Primary objects are those related to quantity, mathematics, time and magnitude. For example, whether dreaming or awake, a square will always have four sides and two plus two must always equal four. These are the first absolute things that Descartes can distinguish, and he uses the dream argument to determine these things. In order for Descartes to maintain his objective outlook in the first meditation and the ones to follow, he devises the Evil Genius hypothesis. With this hypothesis, Descartes admits that he believes there is a God who is omnipotent and omnibenevolent and who has created him. But Descartes is also forced to consider God may have brought it be "that there is no earth at all, no heavens, no extended thing, no shape, no size, no place, and yet bringing it about that all these things appear to [him] to exist precisely as they do now?"(Pg61) To co-inside with this last thought, he devises the evil genius, who is "supremely powerful and clever, [and] who has directed his entire effort at deceiving [him]" (Pg62) Employing the evil genius hypothesis allows Descartes to remain objective because "long standing opinions keep returning, and, almost against [his] will, they take advantage of [his]credulity, as if it were bound over to them by long use and claims of intimacy."(Pg62) Basically, Descartes is reversing his idea of a conventional god and making him the ultimate deceiver. Descartes uses all of these methods to bring his world into doubt; and that is why the passage "but eventually [he is]forced to admit that there is nothing among the things [he] once believed to be true which it is not permissible to doubt--and not out of frivolity or lack of forethought, but for valid and considered reasons. Thus [he] must be no less careful to withhold assent henceforth even from these beliefs then I would from those that are patently false, if I wish to find anything certain."(Pg62) is so important. This is when Descartes realizes that he can begin to doubt his world "for valid and considered reasons", and it is this doubt that drives the remainder of the Meditations. Had Descartes not begun to "withhold [his]assent henceforth", he would have never come to the conclusions he makes later on. This is where Descartes realizes that he must attack the pillars of knowledge with even the smallest doubt "and not out of frivolity or lack of forethought",but because much of what humans think they know absolutely; are actually just safe assumptions. It is these realizations that fuel Descartes future meditations. There are no real objections to Descartes' first meditation in my opinion, since once we raise the possibility that some of our opinions are in doubt, we must conclude that all of our opinions could possibly be false. This conclusion that Descartes comes to in the first meditation is hard to argue, although in the further meditations, Descartes develops the Cognito argument; "I think, Therefore I am." This Argument applies to the first meditation, as does its objection. For example, Russell argues that the cognito argument fails to prove that Descartes himself is doing the thinking. If Descartes can't prove that "he" is doing the thinking, then he will fail to prove that "he" is actually calling all these things into doubt. This objection would also nullify his further work in the meditations if he cannot prove that it is "he" himself that controls his thinking and subsequent actions. My overall opinion of Descartes first meditation is one of belief. When speaking exclusively of the first meditation, he provides concrete evidence that everything we receive from our senses can be called into doubt. Although Russell objects Descartes cognito argument, when focusing only on the first meditation, this objection does not apply. He provides good foundations for his arguments with the three methods he uses to call things into doubt. Although there are some objections to the furthers meditations, when I look at the first mediation, I personally cannot find any objections, especially with the chosen passage. He even provides an argument for those who do not believe in an all powerful god, and proves these non-believers would be further cast into doubt. Rene Descartes is recognized as an influential abstract thinker. Although there have been objections to his idea's, he continues to invoke thinking among huge numbers of people. In the first meditation, Descartes does an excellent job of convincing the reader that all the information received from the senses can be called into doubt. He uses concrete arguments to show how humans often have the tendency to assume things they don't really know about, especially when this information is based on the senses. This work is a classic because of the originality of Descartes ideas, and the matter-of-fact way that he presents them. These are just some of the ingredients that compose a classic philosophy masterpiece. Bibliography:

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