Rene Descartes Meditation 1 Analysis

Rene Descartes: Meditations on First Philosophy

In Meditation on First Philosophy, Rene Descartes argues the existence of God and the dualism of the mind and body. There are several conclusions that Descartes makes throughout his Meditations, one being the existence of corporeal things. To reach this conclusion, Descartes must address many issues which overshadow and doubt his knowledge. In his Meditations, Descartes illustrates the origin of his doubts and how God plays a major role in it. He addresses his issues by using a system of logical reasoning which leads him to the conclusion of the existence of corporeal things.

In Meditation one, Descartes clarifies the origin of his doubt and how his opinions and body of knowledge can be doubted as a whole. He reflects on how he had come to believe so many falsehoods in his life which resulted in the tainting of his body of knowledge. Descartes stated that up to this

point, all the things he had believed to be true was “received from the senses or through the senses”(Descartes 18). However, upon further reflection, he concludes that sometimes the senses do deceive him. He argues that he often senses real objects when he is dreaming and is convinced that he is awake when he is actually not. This brings up a new source of doubt for Descartes—that since the senses are deceiving, it will not allow him to clearly distinguish dream from reality; however, he argues, even when we are dreaming our dreams are drawn from our real experiences, consisting of properties we have previously conceived and understood. In other words, dreams are a form of reality that is derived from actual experiences. Descartes concludes that we can doubt composite things such as physics and astronomy, but we cannot doubt the simple things such as arithmetic, geometry, corporeal extension,

and duration (Descartes 20). These basic and simple things are true regardless whether he is dreaming or awake. After further reflection, he then realizes that even the most simple and fundamental things can be doubted if the possibility of God deceiving him is true. He argues that since God is a perfect being, then God will not deceive and lead him to believe any false opinions. Clearly, this is not true, as he had believed in numerous falsehoods throughout his life. The origin of Descartes’ doubt will lay the foundation of his Meditations, as he will build his arguments and conclusions from the doubts presented in Meditation one. And before he can move forward, he must address this issue of God if he were to be certain of anything else, such as the existence of corporeal things.
In his Meditations, Descartes argues the nature of God and God’s existence.

He uses God’s existence as one of the basis of his doubts. First, he argues that the idea of God is innate, and that his idea of God has a far more objective reality than formal reality. It is not possible for him, a finite being, to have an idea of an infinite being (God) unless God exists and has put the idea in his mind in the first place. It is not possible to understand flaws and imperfection unless there is a perfect being to compare these flaws to, which in this case is God. Descartes believes that God is the creator of all beings including himself, thus his own existence cannot come from himself and must come from God. If it were to come from himself, why would not he just create himself to be a perfect and infinite being like God? Why would he create himself to be full of doubt, flaws, and desires? Elaborating on this conclusion, Descartes further argues that God cannot be a deceiver. Since God is an infinitely supreme and perfect being, deception and God

must

therefore have no association with one another. The will to deceive shows characteristic defections and weakness, and God possesses neither of the two qualities. To believe that
God is a deceiver contradicts the idea of God’s existence itself. God’s perfection lies on the foundation of his existence, and if he exists then he must be perfect because God cannot be God if he is not perfect. Thus, he concludes, an omnipotent, benevolent, and omniscient God exists and is not a deceiver. And with this subject laid, Descartes finally answers one of his most significant doubts and can now continue to argue the existence of corporeal things.
In Meditation six, Descartes comes into the conclusion that corporeal things exist. He argues that when he senses things, he can understand and not necessarily imagine what it is he is sensing. The example of Chiliagon demonstrates this idea where Descartes is able to understand the concept of the Chiliagon but has difficulty in forming a mental image (imagination) of it (Descartes 73). The pure understanding of the idea is subjected to pure mathematics, in which Descartes clearly and distinctly perceives in. The fundamental properties of the Chiliagon are true regardless if he imagined them or not. He reflects back on the concept where there must be as much formal reality in the cause as much as in the effect. His senses must have a cause that comes from outside of him, possibly the corporeal object itself or even God himself. Since God is an infinitely perfect being, thus it cannot be from God as God is not a deceiver and God would not allow him to sense corporeal object if it in fact does not exist. The fact that God is not deceiving Descartes will enable Descartes to differentiate one thing from another. Descartes believes that his sensual perceptions comes to him involuntarily, and has a high degree of

formal reality to it. It will be contradictory to say that his sensual perceptions comes from within him, as he can perceive a more formal and vivid perception from sensual perception coming from sources outside of him in comparison to those sources that resides within him. From building upon the arguments and conclusions he made from this and previous Meditations, Descartes concludes that the cause of his sensual perception must come from the corporeal object itself.
Through his system of logical reasoning, Descartes concludes that corporeal things exist. He begins by explaining his reasons for doubt and the importance of addressing them. Much of Descartes’ Meditations revolve around the nature of God and his existence, in which Descartes provides his reasoning through negation. Once he laid the foundation of his doubts, he continued to reflect and finally conclude on the dualism of the mind and body as well as the existence of corporeal objects.