Descartes’ Meditation on First Philosophy
René Descartes wrote against scepticism in the 17th century in his most famous text Meditations. Scepticism is a school of thought that demands the questioning of absolutely everything. Nothing can be what it seems because there is always a logical loophole or a catch to it. There are two types of scepticism in Western philosophy, both originating from ancient Greece. The first, Academic Scepticism, concludes that nothing can be proven and that everything has a tinge of falseness in it. The second, Pyrrhonian Scepticism, creates no conclusions because of their belief that conclusions are impossible. Descartes, a French Christian man, set out to prove the existence of God by using scepticism to try and firstly prove anything – going against sceptic beliefs that true beliefs are impossible.
Human impressions are things that leave an impression on us (such as the smell of rain or someone in the distance) and are categorised, according to sceptics, in certain and uncertain impressions. For example, you might look down at your hands and believe they are real but you could actually be in a simulation travelling through space, plugged into a device that makes you feel and think as though this was reality. The probability of the event doesn’t really matter – logically, it could be happening, so your hands being real is uncertain. You can see how difficult it would be to find something that is certain.
René Descartes thought the same. He stated that to eliminate all the possible uncertain beliefs (of which there are many), we must start at their foundation so that they may topple together. This he called the ‘Method of Doubt.’ Descartes started by eliminating his belief in the senses, declaring that all his basic beliefs originated from them.
In philosophy, it is common to use thought experiments in order to rule out or create a maxim, which Descartes does throughout all his meditations. He states pretty early in his first meditation that he is sitting in front of a fire, in his nightgown, simply thinking and writing his thoughts. Hence, meditations. His first thought experiment includes imagining the possibility that our reality is actually a dream, which Descartes argues would still be based on reality. Even if we were asleep, our minds would recreate an image from reality making everything somewhat not-fictitious. He further argues that even fictitious creations like sirens and satyrs have a touch of reality as their colours are real. It would be impossible to dream an unreal or made-up colour.
He comes to the conclusion that the disciplines dependent on the study of composite things (such as physics, astronomy and medicine) can never be certain and disciplines of the simplest things (geometry and algebra) are, stating that 2+3 will always equal 5 and a square will always have four sides, whether awake or asleep.
To find truth in his statement, Descartes thinks like a sceptic and asks himself if it could be possible that God made us so that we would always be wrong when we added 2+3 or counted the sides of a square. But God is all good, is He not?
Meditations on Second Philosophy
This leads us to Descartes’ second thought experiment, where he imagines a God who is all-deceiving – His sole purpose to derail us from the truth. In this experiment, Descartes separates the mind from the body as he still leaves the senses behind as false and uncertain. He goes through a thought process, which is, put simply:
- There is a God.
- He puts thoughts in me.
- I am also an author of my thoughts.
- Therefore, I am something.
- But, everything is false.
- So, do I exist?
- Yes, because I convinced myself of something.
All leading to possibly the most famous phrase in Western philosophy … drum roll …
- I think therefore I am!
Descartes arrived at this statement, declaring it to be an absolute truth with no loopholes or questions about it. He thought even if there were a deceiver trying to deceive him, it would never stop him from existing. As he thinks, he is.
But, what is ‘I’? He breaks it down to a man that has two parts: a body and a soul. The body – which is not doubtful – consists of a mechanical structure of limbs which has a shape, has a location, occupies space and is perceived by the senses. And, the soul – which is doubtful – consists of thinking. Descartes states ‘I’ is a thinking thing that doesn’t depend on any other knowledge for its own existence. He comes to the conclusion that the imagination of the self is not relevant to the knowledge of the self. He further states that to be ‘I’ is to be “willing, unwilling, aware, unaware, affirming, denying etc.” and that whether asleep or awake ‘I’ is still thinking and therefore real.
Descartes takes it further and conducts a third thought experiment where he narrates picking up a piece of wax and noticing the smell, shape and characteristics of it. He then melts it and wonders why – even though all those aspects were gone – he believes that it is still wax. He states it is “not by imagination but by the faculty of judgement which is the mind.” Therefore, the existence of the wax ascertains the existence of ‘I’: if I touch the wax, it exists, then, so do I.
Descartes comes to the conclusion that the perception of other bodies makes ‘I’’s knowledge of itself more distinct. Every consideration that contributes to perception establishes even more clearly the nature of the mind.
My Thoughts:
I, too, believe that it is impossible to prove anything. Although I understand Descartes’ logical thinking, I’m still unconvinced about the conclusion that simpler disciplines are certain. We must first prove that 2+3 actually equals 5. And, seeing as we know that between each number there are infinite numbers, there is the tiniest possibility that we are wrong about that as well. Further, seeing as numbers are only ideas, which humans created to make sense of things (they don’t take up space or have a form) it is difficult to say that they are absolute. Who’s to say we didn’t mess up our counting system? And, who’s to say that, if we were in a simulation or dream right now, numbers as concepts weren’t created for us? Descartes would say they have a sense of realness to them because we can only dream and create what we already know. But not really… We didn’t know numbers before we created them.
Further, I have a few problems with the wax thought experiment. Here’s my thought process:
- Has the wax melted and solidified into wax again or simply evaporated?
- If the wax solidified again, then that would mean that it still has a smell, a shape, and so on, and the thought experiment didn’t work.
- If it evaporated it would’ve separated into tiny little particles floating in the air and wouldn’t be wax anymore.
With Descartes’ logic, being able to perceive wax without a shape, smell or other characteristics would ascertain his own existence. I disagree with this because, once again, the wax is still taking up space (as minute as it is) and still has a shape, just as a gas particle in the air rather than a solid one on a candle.
I hold my belief that we can’t prove our existence in this reality, however, I do agree with Descartes’ statement of “I think therefore I am,” because, even if we are in a simulation right now, we are thinking and that means we are real.
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