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
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
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