Descartes Second Meditation Essay

Descartes’ First Meditation attempts to prove that everything can be called into doubt. However, his Cogito argument in his Second Meditation is successful in proving that we can know at least one thing for certain.
In his First Meditations, Descartes begins a quest to establish a firm foundation for philosophy. To do this, he must demolish his opinions and start with a clean state. Descartes attempts to undermine the foundation behind all of his beliefs. He believes that if something can be doubted, even in the slightest, it can’t be true or trusted. This method of radical doubt is applied to his opinions, to see what can withstand such scrutiny.
Descartes first attacks the senses. He believes that because our senses can be deceptive, they
can never be trusted. From there, he talks about the person dreams. When some one dreams, they experience many sensations. They may think that the things they are experiencing are very real. For example, many people experience a dream where they genuinely feel like they are falling. They may wake up with strained breath, a fast heartbeat, or with a feeling of panic. Although it was simply a dream, the senses tell us otherwise. Because dreams seem so real, there are no definitive signs to recognize whether we are awake or dreaming. Therefore, it is possible that one could be dreaming while reading this paper and all of their perceptions could be called into doubt.
Another argument for radical doubt Descartes raises is the evil deceiver.
This argument claims that we could be under the power of a supreme being that aims to deceive us in every aspect of life. Although we believe that we have hands, eyes and feet, this could simply be the illusion placed on us by some evil genius. We could be falsely imagining ourselves to have body parts that are not actually real. Because this is a possibility, we can never trust any of our ideas. Therefore, if we can’t trust our senses or ideas to disclose information about reality, then we can’t trust any judgments or opinions we have made based on these. Descartes raises a robust case for universal doubt with these arguments: The possibility of doubt can never be completely eliminated. Therefore, if everything can be called into doubt, how can we be certain about
anything?
However, in his Second Meditation, Descartes discovers something we can be certain is true. He provides the Cogito argument- “I think; therefore I exist." (Descartes 64). This means that because Descartes has the ability to think, he must exist in the first place. The very action of thinking confirms his existence. For example, Descartes is persuaded that his senses can be doubted. Even in the act of doubting, he exists. One can’t doubt if they do not exist in the first place. This argument successfully withstands the doubts raised in the First Meditation.
Descartes has proven that he exists, but he makes this argument much more powerful by applying the same doubts he raised in his First Meditation. These doubts were meant to weaken an idea, but they strengthen Descartes argument. In the First Meditation, he claims that the senses are as real in dreams as they are when awake. However, in order to be dreaming, one must first exist. Similarly, an evil deceiver is able to trick Descartes, which proves that his perceptions of reality can’t be trusted. However, if he is able to be deceived, he must exist to be deceived. While he can be deceived by his senses, he can’t be deceived in the existence of his mind. The very act of dreaming, being deceived, or any type of thinking follows from the fact that Descartes exists. By applying the very doubts that destroyed his arguments in First Meditations to his Cogito, Descartes strengthened it. Descartes then enhances his argument by trying to determine what the “I” that exists is. Initially, he provides the definition of a “soul” or a “body” that exists. However, Descartes is careful to apply his first rule to these definitions- never to accept anything as true that he did not plainly know to be such (11). Both a soul and a body are things that are known to us through our senses. And, as Descartes noted in his First Meditation, our senses can’t be trusted. Therefore, he casts aside both definitions of the “I” that exists. In doing this, he makes his discovery: he is a thinking thing. As long as Descartes is thinking, he exists. Thought is something that can’t be separated from existence, therefore it can’t be doubted. Similarly, Descartes provides a reason for how he comes to know of the “I” that exists.
He does not rely on his senses or his imagination for this information, because they can’t be trusted. The imagination can conjure up ideas that are not false, so we can’t trust it to give us information. Similarly, the senses can deceive us. So, how does Descartes come to know of his body and of the “I” that exists? In order to answer this question he uses an example of wax from a honeycomb. He considers what can be known about the wax by our senses, including its color, shape and size. However, if this piece of wax is placed near a fire, its texture and shape will change. Our senses will deceive us and tell us that because the wax is melted, it is not the same piece of wax that we started with. However, we know in our mind that it is still wax, whether melted or solid. We know this not through our senses, but through the essence in our mind of what wax is. Therefore, we know the mind as a better indicator of truth than the body, because it does not rely on the senses. Descartes utilized this example well in order to further prove his argument. He not only provided the Cogito argument, but also strengthened it by basing it off of true thought that did not rely on anything that can be
doubted. In conclusion, Descartes’ Cogito argument successfully overcomes the radical doubt in the First Meditation. He followed his own rules in developing his basis for the claim: “I think; therefore I exist” (64). Thought can be trusted and known without our senses, meaning that it has a solid foundation. By applying the same radical doubts that were meant to weaken an argument to his Cogito, he strengthened it. He exhausted every possibility for doubt, and in doing this successfully provided us with one thing we can know for certain.