Descartes Second Meditation
Descartes's Second Meditation discusses how a "body" can perceive things, such as objects. Perception is vital to his first theory that "[he] thinks, therefore [he] is." In order to prove his conclusion; he goes through a series of premises, or arguments, that lead him to his final conclusion. In order to reach this conclusion, he uses a process of elimination. In Descartes's final premise, he uses the idea that in order to perceive something you must have a concept of it. Therefore, I'm arguing that the final premise is flawed, in that through this concept, he is going against some of his very own ideas.
The conclusion of Descartes's argument is "I manifestly know that nothing can be ...
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Argument made by elimination exists by beginning with a number of possibilities, then ruling out all but one possibility, therefore making that possibility be true. In his argument he gives three possibilities, in his first premise, then rules out the first two, to come to the conclusion stated above. There are also some implicit premises through the argument. The implicit premises are important in order to grasp the total effect of elimination. In order to begin, he implies that there are three possibilities, rather than just stating that there are. So as the first premise, he uses the reader's knowledge in order to begin his argument authority.
The next premise, which is laid out explicitly, is that bodies can not be perceived through the senses. The body that he refers to in all his premises is: "all that is capable of being bounded by some shape, of being enclosed in a place, and of filling up a space in such a way as to exclude any other body from it; of being ...
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is much like he referred to as a dream in his first Meditation. Imagination deceives the "dreamer" into believing something that could very well be past the point of sensible. The imagination is capable of creating images and ideas into the "body." The images that it conjures are often something that is very susceptible of doubt.
The last explicit premise explains that bodies are perceived by the intellect. The intellect is that which is thought, or the mind, which is the essential property of thought, or "intellect, or understanding, or reason" (19). Descartes explains that through the simple fact that, even if he is being deceived by something, he must be something in order to be ...
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"Descartes Second Meditation." Essayworld.com. October 27, 2007. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Descartes-Second-Meditation/73380.
"Descartes Second Meditation." Essayworld.com. October 27, 2007. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Descartes-Second-Meditation/73380.
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