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Descartes: Wax Argument
Descartes philosophy heavily deals with the "thinking thing," of perception and knowledge, and the correlation of the two. Like Plato's views on knowledge and opinion, Descartes concludes that human perception -- or opinion, according to Plato -- is faulty. However, unlike Plato -- who takes sense-perception in stride and allows the use of it to gain knowledge -- Descartes discards sense-perception, determining that it is an unreliable path to true and ineffable knowledge. In Meditations II, Descartes further discusses this argument using the changing of wax.
Prior to his examples with the wax, Descartes has logically deduced that he is a "a thing which thinks," and through that realization a thing that thinks has the inherent ability to "doubt, understand, conceive, deny,...
A wax is put forth over a fire, where it gradually changes shape over a period of time, gaining with it a different set of properties. It is still a wax, though Descartes argues that this realization does not necessarily come from one's perception of the wax melting into a different shape. How does one know what shape the wax forms at the end? Descartes heavily argues that said wax can take on an infinite number of shapes, far more infinite than one's imagination over possible forms.
What then did I know so distinctly in this piece of wax? It could certainly be nothing of all that the senses brought to my notice, since all these things which fall under taste, smell, sight, touch, and hearing, are found to be changed, and yet the same wax remains. (Meditations II)
Descartes argues that sense-perception cannot be reliable as a means of determining the existence of an object. As a…
Resources
Descartes, Rene. Meditations on First Philosophy. Retrieved March 24, 2011. <http://www.filepedia.org/meditations-on-first-philosophy>.
Plato. The Republic. Retrieved March 24, 2011. <http://www.filepedia.org/the-republic>.
In other words, yes he has found doubt in everything, but he now sees that his finding doubt in everything is something. Because he doubts, he must exist! He could doubt everything his senses told him. He could even doubt he had a body. But he could not doubt he had a mind because if he did not have a mind, how could he doubt? The steps Descartes takes to
Perfection might exist in a more general picture, one that brings together imperfect beings and where everyone contributes to making flawlessness. According to the Meditator, people have to focus on society and the world as a whole instead of only being interested in themselves. God's perfection is, according to the Meditator, translated into humans through the fact that they have free will, both God and people being unlimited from this
And on the same principle, although these general objects, viz. [a body], eyes, a head, hands, and the like, be imaginary, we are nevertheless absolutely necessitated to admit the reality at least of some other objects still more simple and universal than these, of which, just as of certain real colors, all those images of things, whether true and real, or false and fantastic, that are found in our consciousness
If this is true, then thoughts that mankind form -- principles of morality and knowledge of a rational life -- are determined solely by reason because the Creator allowed Man to have that capability which then must mean that the capability produces truth. To prove these ideas, Cartesian Rationality asks the reader to take formal steps into the manner of analysis and development within the ideological process. In six
In stark contrast, these things do not happen in the 'waking' world (LaBossiere 2). While there are many other differences, these two standards show that even though I might not be able to know the true natures of these two worlds, there are good reasons for assuming that the "waking" world is fundamentally different from the "dream" world. Given this ability to distinguish "waking" from "dreaming," it must be
" With that statement, Descartes proves his five-step theory that proves he exists because he is, in his words, "a thinking thing." Third Meditation have explained at sufficient length the principal argument of which I make use in order to prove the existence of God," Descartes claims. He claims that the idea of God is placed in us by God and that, if he (Descartes) exists there must have been a