Descartes Meditations On First Philosophy Summary

The author of Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes, is a philosopher of the 17th century. After his vision of philosophical insight, Descartes realized we have no basis for our knowledge. With his background of a Jesuit education and training in law, Descartes began to write. He begins by making his first philosophical claim: the fundamental characteristic of human beings is that we all have an equal ability to reason (Discourse on Method, 1). Through Descartes’ meditations and skepticism, he hopes people will see through his eyes. He does not want to tell his readers what to think; instead, he wants to show them how to think. Descartes hopes that just as he is successful in building a firm foundation of knowledge, others will be able
As he becomes more and more skeptical, he begins doubting his initial beliefs regarding logic and mathematics. Unlike his arguments against dreams, two plus three always equals five and a square always has four sides, no matter what state he is in (Meditation One, 61). Descartes’ main argument of deceiver god is his worst-case scenario, in his most skeptical state. Descartes proposes a belief that there is an all knowing being who is trying to trick us. He then goes on to realize that if this is the case, we cannot even be sure if mathematics and logic are true. But if the idea of a deceiver god is accurate, then even the strongest foundation of knowledge will be proven unstable, as that foundation would be a deceiver god feeding false thoughts. Descartes finally comes to the conclusion that if there is no greater being, we are created imperfectly, which means our thinking and rationality can in no way be trustworthy or worthwhile. He chooses to believe in neither the dream argument, nor the deceiver
He comes to the conclusion that there is only one thing we are sure of – the cogito (I think, therefore I am). Descartes claims the one thing we can be sure of is our existence. The mind, the soul, and one’s rational thinking capacity are the only things we can prove to exist. As long as a person doubts, questions, and thinks of the world around him, he is sure of is his existence (Meditation Two, 65). If the idea of a deceiver god was true, there must be someone the deceiver god is deceiving, which again, confirms our existence. Descartes chooses to make the knowledge of our existence, the cogito, a foundation of knowledge, as it is the only thing he is completely sure of. Descartes is not able to prove the existence of our bodies, of the external world, or even god. What he does prove is the existence of our ability to think