Descartes Sixth Meditation

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As he is very sceptical he raises the problem whether any of these given experiences contain truth or objectivity at all. Since we never have the chance to stand outside our own perception, it is impossible to contrast it with the external world.
Descartes is hopeful to prove subsistence of the external world (physical objects located in space), and so he returns to a very basic stage and acknowledges the existence of minds as an immaterial substance and God. He then accepts that matter exists as long as it is not a projection of his own mind or God. As Descartes previously established the existence of God as a perfect being, he therefore has concluded that God is not a deceiver. This very clear concept leads him to accept his clear and distinct sensory experiences are a result of external objects of material nature. Once these corporeal things (objects of a tangible, material nature) can be considered as self-evident ideas, they can no longer be products of the mind or ...

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medicine was not yet so advanced in Descartes time and therefore many facts about the very close relationship of bodily state and physical sensation were not known yet. Another thing that contributes to this is that Descartes was a strong Dualist and subsequently believed mind and body to be very separate entities.


An addition Descartes questions the origin of dreams. He argues that sleeping and being awake can be very easily segregated; as when one sleeps (dreams), one does not perceive anything one could experience in the state of being awake. He believes that when we dream it is an entirely different faculty is at work. Nothing one dreams originates in what one experiences when ...

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