Meditations on First Philosophy: In Which the Existence of God and the Distinction of the Soul from the Body Are Demonstrated
Product Description
Meditations on First Philosophy written by legendary philosopher Rene Descartes is widely considered to be one of the top philosophical books of all time. This great classic will surely attract a whole new generation of readers. For many, Meditations on First Philosophy is required reading for various courses and curriculums. And for others who simply enjoy reading timeless pieces of classic philosophical literature, this gem by Rene Descartes is highly recommended…. More >>
Tags: Body, Demonstrated, Distinction, Existence, First, From, Meditations, Philosophy, soul
July 28th, 2010 at 1:26 am
The back of this book calls Meditations “the fundamental and originating work of the modern era in Western philosophy.” It was undoubtedly influential. Descartes is credited for the notion that the mind and body are separate entities, that man is a machine, and the phrase “cogito ergo sum.” For these reasons, this book is worth reading. However, Descartes makes many strange and incoherent arguments (especially concerning the existence of God), and I question the contemporary value of his philosophy.
One way of reading the Meditations is to see it as an argument showing that God and science are not at odds. Instead they are compatible, and he argues even that one cannot act rightly without proper understanding. Apparently, Descartes had been so horrified by Catholic Church forcing Galileo to recant his views that he stopped the publication of one of his papers.
As an attempt to make sense of what we can know, Descartes failed, and failed in some parts quite obviously. But as in all the other philosophical writings, an argument with holes does not make it worthless as philosophy. Its value lies in the influence it had on changing how we perceive the world.
Rating: 4 / 5
July 28th, 2010 at 1:49 am
I had to write a school term paper. I chose Mediation. After researching it a bit, I changed the paper’s subject. I only looked through this book I have not read it.
Rating: 5 / 5
July 28th, 2010 at 2:51 am
This book was translated from old French. It was in English but I could barely make sense of it and i’m into these kinds of books. I don’t know whether it was his style that I didn’t like or it was just plain hard to read. Could be because it was written so long ago.
This book has words from the 1500′s that no one uses anymore. The book discusses the soul and the body. Physics, Astronomy , Medicine and Science. This is 100 pages of heavy stuff. If you are very patient, interested in Philosophy and very smart you may like this book..
Rating: 3 / 5
July 28th, 2010 at 5:49 am
Rene Descartes, a great mathematician, surely a creative genius in the field, used his prodigious intellect to answer some of the great questions like how do we know, what can we know, what is the difference between thinking and sensing, and many other questions following from these basic ones. However, in doing so, he painted himself and generations of philosophers into a philosophical corner from which he and others have been trying to extricate themselves for hundreds of years. This philosophical cul-de-sac, this “corner,” is known as Dualism.
Using the “method of doubt,” Descartes concluded that there were two worlds, the world of mind and the world of the senses. The world of senses could be deceived, nay, easily deceived, whereas the world of mind could not be deceived because it was based on indubitable truths and understandings. These truths and understandings are indubitable because they are “clear and distinct” such as the fact that “I think.” The thought “I think” is clear and distinct because it cannot be doubted as such. Whether I am deceived or not about what I perceive or think, there is always an “I” thinking. So even when in error there is an I…thinking.
For Descartes, other ideas are clear and distinct in our minds because God puts them there. For example, the idea of a perfect, immutable, eternally existent God is clear and distinct because God Himself places the idea of him into our minds. Our own finite minds could not even conceive of this God, let alone conceive of Him in a clear and distinct way just because our minds are finite; thus we must have a clear and distinct understanding of Him because He places that thought in our minds.
In sum, there are two worlds: an outside world which cannot be known clearly and distinctly, which is relegated to the realm of imperfection and confusion by the method of doubt, and an inside world (non-material) which can be known clearly and distinctly in two ways:
(1)the thinking I is known by eliminating everything except the I through the method of doubt; and (2) God is known because He put the idea of Himself into my mind. Thus, “Dualism”arises.
To write a full exposition of the problem of Dualism would, I think, require a lengthy treatise or monograph so I shall briefly list some of the problems with this theory at this point.
A. The mind is often telling us to move towards or away from various experiences and places; likewise various bodily sensations will effect our thinking. Dualism thus does not account for the influence or interaction of mind on the body or vice-versa.
B. Dualism does not really satisfactorily rule out that a body cannot think or that bodily motions are not thought. May it not be that body is implicated in some way in our thinking even though when I think or say “I think” I am not aware of that bodily involvement? Does the “I think” necessarily exclude the idea of extension? It’s never demonstrated.
C. Has the idea of God really come from God? Has He put it in our minds? Does not our conception of Him also depend upon our books, our friends, our institutions, etc.?
Though an angel is more perfect than we, we might have an idea of an angel without the angel having caused it in us.
D. If the idea of God comes into our minds from God, why is it that many peoples in the world do not have the idea of the Christian Almighty God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in their minds when they “think” of God?
E. Why does an atheist agree about the existence of a triangle (which is understood for Descartes in an a priori sense just like the way we experience God), but not about the existence of God?
F. Why cannot that which we perceive clearly and distinctly also be doubted? What can we ever embrace if clarity and distinctness are our criteria for knowing?
G. Since the mind according to Descartes can only comprehend God in a manner that is “utterly inadequate,” how can one “investigate with sufficient clarity and distinctness” what or who God is as Descartes proposes to do?”
H. Why is it better to know of God’s existence by a purely inferential criterion (He put the idea in my mind) rather than by the scholastic method of going back to a Cause of all existent things, the basic Prime Mover? Does not the scholastic method have the advantage of not being self-referent nor depending on a mere inference to justify God’s existence?
I. How does it follow from the fact that one is unaware that anything else belongs to one’s essence that nothing else really belongs to one’s essence?
J. The mind is affirmed in Descartes by a process of negation of bodily knowledge. However, there is no real exposition of the mind’s operations.
K. Why is there no discussion of morals in the dualistic scheme proposed by Descartes? Is this not a serious omission?
L. Why does the idea of an immutable, eternal God need a cause? The idea of a triangle is immutable and eternal, but does not need a cause.
M. Descartes has described an insecure universe. Rationalism is king. In his version of the universe, mathe-matics is king, but empirical understandings are built on shifting sand, and are always untrustworthy. Descartes’ God has created an almost unintelligible material world. Yet, this goes against both our observations and against the dependability of scientific conclusions.
We observe a regularity of seasons and of day and night following each other, and many other regularities besides. Science observes and defines law-like operations in the material world that cannot be observed by the unaided eye; yet that knowledge produces remarkable and consistent results. Does not this suggest more certainty in empirical knowledge than Descartes would be prone to accept?
N. Descartes’ rationalism verges on solipsism because of the unreliability of shared, “outer” experience.
With so many areas for possible objections, I think it would be fair to say that Descartes’ Dualism is more problematic than helpful.
Rating: 3 / 5
July 28th, 2010 at 6:12 am
this book it’s a must even if you don’t believe in god. descartes tried to prove the existence of god using the proofs of existing of everything else that’s around us. well, i don’t believe that god shuld or can be proved by pure logic…cause in a world of pure logic the concept of god wouldn’t make any sense. none the less we should get to that conclusion yourself by reading this one !
Rating: 5 / 5
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