Descartes 6 Meditations Analysis

The Six Meditations by Descartes offer valuable insight into the differences between the mind and the body. Through his discussion he demonstrates to us that the mind and body are two distinct things that could potentially exist without one another. The dialogue Monday Night puts many of the claims made by Descartes through many tests. They question many of the ideas that Descartes presents, and both explain and shoot down his ideas. The ideas demonstrated in the Meditations are confusing and absurd and don’t prove a distinction between the mind and body. We will begin by analyzing the Meditations by Descartes that he makes and what they mean. We will look at the many of the themes that are present in his meditations. We will then move onto looking at the dialogue between Ponens, Nous, and Tollens. We will express their objections to the Meditations. Finally we will conclude with the argument that is most convincing.
Descartes has …show more content…
“ It is said by people whole leg or arm had been amputated that it seemed to them that they still occasionally sensed pain in the very limb” (Med VI, 77). Descartes explains this phenomenon by saying that the feelings they think they are feeling, they had felt at one time before when they had the limb. Everything that their mind was telling them they were feeling, were feelings from memory. These are feelings not derived from our senses, but from memories deep inside our minds.
In the Monday Night dialogue many points are raised that conflict and contest the ideas raised by Descartes. The dialogue begins by connecting the word soul with the word mind and making them the same thing. Ponens states how the mind is what makes us who we are and that everything we were (our memories) are also stored within our minds. They also decide that like the soul, the mind can also be eternal, “ perhaps an eternal mind”