Descartes mediations question all the things we know to be true about the world around us. I believe his central argument is that we exist (C). He seeks to prove existence through multiple factors. He will prove it by discussing the mind (A) and the body (B) which are two completely different objects, yet are intertwined. The mind and the body have their own separate ideas too, 1, 2, 3, and 4. These ideas consist of imagination, sensory perception, extension, and motion. These ideas all come together to conclude that A+B=C.
The mind is a complex thing. Descartes explains how imagination (1) and sensory perception (2) are used in the mind. Imagination brings about the idea that we are thinking things. We use our senses all day every day, yet how do we know when we are using them while we are awake and when we are dreaming? Sensory perception is used to explain the concept that the senses are the same whether they are in a dream or not. …show more content…
The body has extension, which is not obtained by imagination or by the senses. Descartes uses a piece of wax to represent the body. The wax has flavor (sweet), scent (flowery), color (white), shape (cube-shaped), size (small), texture (hard), temperature (cold), and makes a sound when tapped. When brought to a flame, all the properties of the wax changed, but in the end it is still the same piece of wax. The piece of wax is an extended substance. Extension (3) is used to explain how a body can have many different shapes and sizes. “There is nothing that this nature teaches me more explicitly than that I have a body that is ill disposed when I feel pain, that needs food and drink when I suffer hunger or thirst, and the like. Therefore, I should not doubt that there is some truth in this” (Meditation VI, pg. 45). The other factor with body is motion (4). Motion describes the body’s ability to move, not only the parts of the body, but from one location to
The mind is a complex thing. Descartes explains how imagination (1) and sensory perception (2) are used in the mind. Imagination brings about the idea that we are thinking things. We use our senses all day every day, yet how do we know when we are using them while we are awake and when we are dreaming? Sensory perception is used to explain the concept that the senses are the same whether they are in a dream or not. …show more content…
The body has extension, which is not obtained by imagination or by the senses. Descartes uses a piece of wax to represent the body. The wax has flavor (sweet), scent (flowery), color (white), shape (cube-shaped), size (small), texture (hard), temperature (cold), and makes a sound when tapped. When brought to a flame, all the properties of the wax changed, but in the end it is still the same piece of wax. The piece of wax is an extended substance. Extension (3) is used to explain how a body can have many different shapes and sizes. “There is nothing that this nature teaches me more explicitly than that I have a body that is ill disposed when I feel pain, that needs food and drink when I suffer hunger or thirst, and the like. Therefore, I should not doubt that there is some truth in this” (Meditation VI, pg. 45). The other factor with body is motion (4). Motion describes the body’s ability to move, not only the parts of the body, but from one location to