Essay On My Take On Descartes' Contention That “The Mind Is Better Known Than The Body”

Of course Descartes’ assertion is that to us, our mind is easily known than our body. He offers an example of the wax piece that is observed both in solid and liquid forms while supporting this particular idea. His claim that perception cannot be seen, touched or imagined but rather an inspection done by the part of the mind a lone sounds convincing especially as he points out the challenges in relying on physical body senses in understanding the nature exhibited by the wax.
Basing on the arguments that are brought out in Meditation II, I tend to contend on Descartes’ assertion that we can comfortably use mind in helping us understand the exact nature of various things. Although the senses of the mind on their own are insufficient for truth determination (as they are mostly deceived), and that everything that can be certainly known is the ones we do know by thinking, but understanding and judging them is purely in our minds. As such, his argument has no rejection on the roles played by the senses of the mind in understanding processes.
I concur with him as he agrees on the role of mind as being part of the thinking process. However, his clarification on what he implies by talking about mind seems incomplete or impartial in my view. The claim that in as much as he can see, feel and hear things is only about sensing and nothing more is to a considerable extent, a mere impartial justification in a manner which sways away a common usage to meet the credentials of his argument as he attempts redefining the term ‘sensing’. The truth of the matter is that seeing, hearing and feeling things serve the same purpose in cogitation process as the real physical body’s senses possesses if one’s body is complete and real.
What perhaps Descartes fails to recognize is that we use our minds in understanding abstract elements, whereas senses helps us in the exploration and examination of physical body things. He contradicts himself by the use of wax piece as an example which shows that physical things are only understood in a precise manner by using the mind to inspect them. Quoting from wax; it has distinctive taste, odor, size, temperature, sound, and feel. When it is heated, every sensory attribute change in dramatic manner or are lost together. Relying on the physical body senses of the wax alone may lead to concluding that wax, in the original form differs when changed into its acquired later form and none discredits both as not being the same substance.
The use of the wax as an example by Descartes is an effective one for the demonstration of the difficulty in reliance on the mind for understanding the surrounding world. The larger argument where he states to know himself more than he could have known other things done through his senses of mind realistically can only be known in proper dimensions through the use of minds.
In summary, the arguments by Descartes do not support his final conclusion that the perception of mind being known more than the body. Basing my declaration on the arguments presented in this work, I can suggest the thesis to read: the perception of the senses relies more on the mind as compared to the physical body senses. This premise offers specific conclusion which can be supported by both Descartes’ examples and practical experiences throughout our lives.