How Does Descartes Argument That Material Things Exist

1005 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Descartes mind and body theory

In his sixth meditation found in the text Meditations on Philosophy, Descartes argues that material things exist and that there is a definite distinction between the mind and body. He forms a strong supposition that material objects exist because they fall under the subject of mathematics, which contain truth that he thoroughly understands. Descartes then states his two arguments for the existence of material things, one based on senses and the other on the faculty of imagination. He starts off by defining imagination and distinguishing it from understanding. He uses the example of a triangle, he can identify that it is three-sided and name all kinds of other characteristics using only his understanding. Descartes can also identify these …show more content…

The strategy demonstrated in Meditations distinctly displays the existence of body through reason. He states he can clearly and distinctly identify the primary characteristics of bodies are extension. He argues that the ones senses and imagination are supposed to reveal that his intellect seems to be linked to an external source. He then goes on to say that imagination and sensory perception are merely modes of thought. As stated earlier, Descartes would still be the same without his imagination or sensory perception, or they are not part of his essence, however, these modes of thought couldn’t be without a mind to hold them. Sensory perception is a passive faculty, or a mode of thought that is only activated when an external source stimulates it. The cause could be from other bodies surrounding our own, some other entity capable of creating these perceptions or it could be God. Descartes states that he is naturally inclined to believe that sensory perceptions originate from things which resemble those perceptions, and if they were to be caused by something else he would be deceived. He believes God is not a deceiver, therefore He would not have misled René into believing in material object when in fact they do not exist. This leads him to conclude that material objects have to

Show More
Related

  • An Analysis Of George Berkeley And Descartes

    850 Words  | 2 Pages

    According to Descartes, “because our senses sometimes deceive us, I wanted to suppose that nothing was exactly as they led us to imagine (Descartes 18).” In order to extinguish his uncertainty and find incontrovertible truth, he chooses to “raze everything to the ground and begin again from the original foundations (Descartes 59).” This foundation, which Descartes is certain to be the absolute truth, is “I think, therefore I am (Descartes 18).” Descartes argues that truth and proof of reality lies in the human mind, rather than the senses. In other words, he claims that the existence of material objects are not based on the senses because of human imperfection. In fact, he argues that humans, similarly to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, are incapable of sensing the true essence or existence of material objects. However, what makes an object real is human thought and the idea of that object, thus paving the way for Descartes’ proof of God’s existence. Because the senses are easily deceived and because Descartes understands that the senses can be deceived, Descartes is aware of his own imperfection. He

    Read More

  • René Descartes: The Ideas Of Skepticism

    1204 Words  | 3 Pages

    A major strength of his was the idea of objective reality. He believes that it is useless to claim the existence of one thing until we are positive as to how that claim can be defended as a true belief. He shows how we are able to prove our beliefs about existence by limiting what we believe is indeed certain. He goes about doing this through three main points. First, that “in order to have knowledge, we need to be able to tell the difference between a hallucination and a perception.” Secondly, “it is impossible to distinguish between an hallucination and a normal perception.” And lastly, “we do not know whether any of our perceptual beliefs are true.” Through his ideas presented in Meditation I, he pleads that our look on the world cannot provide an insured basis on which all other knowledge can be based. This makes us think about whether everything that we see to be obvious are actually inaccurate. In order for us to prove something's existence, Descartes recommends that we use a method that traces what we know back to a definite foundation of unquestionable

    Read More

  • Exploring Knowledge and Doubt in 'Meditations on First Philosophy'

    1031 Words  | 3 Pages

    He explains the concept of Cartesian body in which he states that there is some connection between mind and body. Mind doesn’t necessarily need any imagination for thinking process but body is somewhere linked to imagination. He explains many links between mind and body. He gives examples like if he feels hungry, his mind would tell his body to eat something. These types of examples make him understand that mind and body works in a parallel way. But mind is distinct from the body, as Descartes’s existence is a thinking thing which is independent of body and Descartes’s body is an extended thing which is independent of mind. So he concludes that he being a thinking thing can exist without a body. But mind and body are combined to form one unit. This leads him to the idea of Cartesian dualism, which is mind-body dualism. If we carefully use our mind, we can avoid judgments which consist of errors. Furthermore, he explains the existence of external material things. He proves it by explaining that he believes in the existence of external material things because of his senses. God has created him with this nature and as God is not a deciever, material things exist and contain the properties necessary for

    Read More

  • René Descartes' Meditations

    1127 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...ng”) and there may not even be corporeal things about which we can gain accurate sensory perceptions. Were this the case, however, reason alone could also not know the wax, because there would be no wax to know, no substance with the properties of extension, flexibility, and mutability. That this is so is not counter to the spirit of the Meditations either, as Descartes’ entire discussion of the wax is couched in his indulgence of his deep-seated belief in the existence of external physical objects, of which the wax is archetypical. That “an inspection of the mind” will not suffice for true perception of the wax without the aid of sensory and perhaps imaginative perception should come as no surprise, however. After all, even if we are only thinking things—only minds—our capacity to sense, to imagine, and to reason and understand are all modes of that self-same mind.

    Read More

  • Descartes Sixth Meditation

    1379 Words  | 3 Pages

    Descartes is hopeful to prove subsistence of the external world (physical objects located in space), and so he returns to a very basic stage and acknowledges the existence of minds as an immaterial substance and God. He then accepts that matter exists as long as it is not a projection of his own mind or God. As Descartes previously established the existence of God as a perfect being, he therefore has concluded that God is not a deceiver. This very clear concept leads him to accept his clear and distinct sensory experiences are a result of external objects of material nature. Once these corporeal things (objects of a tangible, material nature) can be considered as self-evident ideas, they can no longer be products of the mind or God.

    Read More

  • montaigne and descartes on doubting

    1564 Words  | 4 Pages

    Not only did Descartes set aside all of his previous knowledge, but he also set aside all knowledge he had gained, and that he continued to gain from his five senses. He would not believe what his eyes saw, or what his hand felt, because he could not yet determine his senses as giving him knowledge that could be turned into certainties. He did not have any reason to believe that he could rely on his senses. Descartes doubting of his senses also caused him to reject any knowledge that he had gained through life experience. Most of the knowl...

    Read More

  • Descartes' Wax Argument

    1444 Words  | 3 Pages

    The purpose of the wax argument is designed to provide a clear and distinct knowledge of “I”, which is the mind, while corporeal things, “whose images are framed by thought, and which the senses themselves imagine are much more distinctly known than this mysterious ‘I’ which does not fall within the imagination” (66). Through the wax argument, Descartes’ demonstrates that corporeal things are perceived neither through our senses nor imagination, but through our intellect alone. In this argument, you will see that there is cause to doubt Descartes’ analysis of the wax and his method of philosophical reasoning.

    Read More

  • Analysis of Descartes’ Mind/Body Distinction

    1172 Words  | 3 Pages

    One of the ways in which Descartes attempts to prove that the mind is distinct from the body is through his claim that the mind occupies no physical space and is an entity with which people think, while the body is a physical entity and cannot serve as a mechanism for thought. [1]

    Read More

  • Descartes' First Meditation

    1330 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Descartes Sixth Meditation

    1138 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...rity and distinction, but we can conclude what Descartes means. He is saying that we can be sure that these primary qualities exist in bodies in the same way that they do in our ideas of bodies. This cannot be claimed for qualities such as heat, color, taste and smell, of which our ideas are so confused and vague that we must always reserve judgment. This can be seen in the wax example.

    Read More

  • Weaknesses of Descartes' Arguments

    1636 Words  | 4 Pages

    Descartes was incorrect and made mistakes in his philosophical analysis concerning understanding the Soul and the foundation of knowledge.  Yes, he coined the famous phrase, “I think therefore I am,” but the rest of his philosophical conclusions fail to be as solid (Meditation 4; 32). Descartes knew that if he has a mind and is thinking thoughts then he must be something that has the ability to think. While he did prove that he is a thinking thing that thinks (Meditation 3; 28), he was unable to formulate correct and true philosophical arguments and claims.  For instance, his argument for faith that a non-deceiving God exists and allows us to clearly reason and perceive was a circular argument.  Another issue with Descartes' philosophy is that he wanted to reconcile scientific and religious views, which is wrong since the two maintain completely different foundational beliefs and they should exist exclusively- without relation to the other.  Thirdly, he believed that the mind was the Self and the Soul, failing to recognize that humans have bodies and the outside world exists, and through which we gain our knowledgeable. Lastly, Descartes argues that ideas are all innate while they actually are not- we gain knowledge through experience.

    Read More

  • Descartes' Wax Passage

    1085 Words  | 3 Pages

    Once Descartes recognizes the indubitable truth that he exists, he then attempts to further his knowledge by discovering the type of thing that he is. Trying to understand what he is, Descartes recalls Aristotle's definition of a human as a rational animal. This is unsatisfactory since this requires investigation into the notions of "rational" and "animal". Continuing his quest for identity, he recalls a more general view he previously had of his identity, which is that he is composed of both body and soul. According to classical philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle, the key attributes of the soul involve eating, movement, and sensation. He can't claim to h...

    Read More

  • Comparing Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy and Plato's The Republic

    1499 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...r what they really are. Descartes also believed that we must look for an object's uniqueness without relying on sense-perception.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Descartes And Hume

    1247 Words  | 3 Pages

    But his habitual ideas and opinions are still present no matter how hard he tries not to present them, to solve this problem he decides that all of his opinions are false. Descartes finds himself certain about one thing that nothing is certain. Resorting back to the idea that his senses are the only way he is able to obtain the truth in life, he believes that his senses are apart of his mind and body. He uses a honeycomb to examine this topic that the body and mind are one. The wax changes shape therefore he uses imagination to understand it

    Read More

  • Rene Descartes and the Source of Knowledge

    2129 Words  | 5 Pages

    Descartes is clearing away all knowledge that can be called into doubt. By doing this he hopes to create something real and lasting in the sciences, a foundation to build on. This indisputable fact will become the starting point or origin of all other true knowledge he can build upon it. He starts the first argument by attacking the very beginning of knowledge, human senses. Descartes states, "Surely whatever I had admitte...

    Read More

More about How Does Descartes Argument That Material Things Exist

Open Document