Summary Of René Descartes Meditations Of First Philosophy

René Descartes’ work the Meditations of First Philosophy is made of six meditations in which Descartes’ goal is to discard all beliefs in which are not absolutely certain and establish a new foundation in which things are built upon certainty. Within Meditations I and II, Descartes attempts to illustrate the concept “I think therefore I am” through his use of radical skepticism. He illustrates that one can rely and know their mind more than their own body. It simply implies how there is a connection between intellect and ones understanding of existence. Descartes begins meditation one by doubting everything such as knowledge from the senses because the senses can sporadically be incorrect. He explains how often, our perceptions may seem like the ones we encounter when dreaming, and due to the fact there is no definite way to distinguish the difference between a dreaming and waking experience, it is possible that the perceptions we encounter in the present may in fact be false, therefore emphasizing how one has reason to doubt the images that we believe we see. However, it does not end there, seeing as he continues on to doubting humanity, one’s bodies, and intellectual reasoning, because we as humans can be deceived. Leading him
By doubting everything he previously believed to be true and simply starting with a clean slate, he believed one was then able to build knowledge only with things that were certain. But in order to do that he explains how the knowledge of the senses must be rejected because they are unreliable and open to deception. He then reasons with himself in the fact that he himself might actually exist because he is able to doubt and think, leading to his explanation in which one is able to trust their intellect and their ability to reason more than one’s own body, due to one only being aware of their bodies through the knowledge of the