Introduction
The first and the second meditation are found the book called the meditation of the first philosophy written by René Descartes. The book talks about the existence of God and the distinction of the soul from the body. The people who want to pursue careers in philosophy are recommended to read this book. The first meditation people are aware that with doubt then that means it does not exist. The second meditation talks about how the mind, which brings about thinking is said without a doubt that it exist thus ideas are able to be formulated.
The first meditation: concerning those things that can be called into doubt
He starts by stating about the number of falsehood opinions he has believed his enter life and points out about the faultiness of the body of knowledge that was brought about by the falsehood. He resolves by erasing all this views he has had his entire life and starts a fresh with new ideas. The process of erasing the ideas was a big step for him therefore; he waited for a long period of time until when he was ready. He goes into solitude where he starts destroying all the opinions he had because his mind was free of all worries. The meditator looks for reasons that would lead him to doubt the opinion that he has presently in order to look for more foundations for that knowledge. All the opinions that the meditator has are all made into doubts rather than singling one of them. René used his senses in order to accept that some of the opinions he had was true.
He agrees that the senses sometimes can mislead a person especially with objects that are small. The insane or mad people are the ones that can be deceived by what they perceive to be true. Rene also starts that while he is sleeping he believes that what he is sensing is the real deal. He is sure that while dreaming he is sitting by the fire and is awake. The sensations in the dream are just the dream images. He believes that the dream images are derived from the waking experience just like the people who are painting. This is because in painting, it is an imagery creature such as that of the mermaid but the characters are derived from the real things such as the human and the fish. Rene concludes that the universal parts such as time and weight can never be doubted but the composite things can be doubted. He also doubts subjects from the complex structures such as astronomy and medicine he believes that things like the geometry cannot be doubted.
The meditator acknowledges that as long as he has lived he has believed that there is an omnipotent God who made him what he is. He believes that God is an evil genius who is powerful that was able to deceive him. He believes that the external things such as the earth and air to be nothing but a dream. He claims that he will regard that he has no blood, no senses and no flesh in which he has been falsely made to believe that he posses by God. René questions the notion that God is good because he believes that if He was good then He would not allow him to be deceived all the time. The meditator explains how he has tried to keep away the habitual opinions but they never leave him. This leads him to pretend that they are imagined thus are false. He believes there is a demon that is making him be this doubtful about everything.
The second meditation: The nature of the human mind, and how it is better known than the body
This meditation took place the day after the first meditation. This is the continuation of the first meditation, which René was trying to erase any information considered false because of doubt. He remembered the sayings of Archimedes, which states that with one immovable object the world, could be turned. This was how René thought that whenever he found an opinion that was true without any doubt he would be able to help the world. By recalling the first meditation he claims that whatever he is able to see is not real. He says that his memory is faulted thereby meaning that the body and senses are real. He went further to claim that the only thing that is definitely certain is the uncertainty. With this kind of thinking he begins to question himself of whether the senses and body are not there does it mean that he exists? This means that when he claims that the physical world is non existence this could also mean that he does not exists.
The existence of doubt is what makes one alive or be in existence. He claims that there must be an ‘I’ in order for one to be able to be deceived and have doubt. He states that through the existence of I mean that the existence of life of a thing is one of the things that is true. The question that René asks is what exactly the ‘I’ that exist is. In the beginning he thought that he had a soul but since the meditation began he had to erase all the knowledge he had that includes him having a body and sense. In the meditation, there are so many things that have been doubted but one thing that remains very clear without any doubt is that he can be able to think. He also believed that due to thinking he was able to exist. He therefore, makes the conclusion that he is just something that is able to think.
Rene tries to explain what this I is that is able to think. He says that the ‘I’ is not only a thinking thing but also is able to will, sense, understand and imagine. The evil demon could be able to mislead a person but one is still able to hear, see and imagine things. The sensory perception is very essential in thinking mind. Rene asks himself of how he come up with the term I. This is because according to the sense as seen earlier in the meditation is that sometimes it cannot be trusted. He also goes further and states that he does not believe in the imagination. This is because the idea is made up of events and ideas that have never occurred. This made him came up with the conclusion that he is a thinking being. The fact that he is aware that he is a thinking being then why is it so hard for him to grasp what his body is and what is the thinking of I? This question was compared to the question of how the wax can be taken from the honeycombs. He states that the wax was what it was because of the smell, taste, hardness, colour, shape and size.
He comes up with the conclusion that the wax is seen by the intellect alone because it can change into different shapes. This is how the ordinary people’s perception and judgements is found. Rene is able to explain how people are deceived by drawing example from the wax that is seen as an intellect rather than looking at its colour. In real life, this situation is observed when the people are walking down the streets and all that one is able to see is their hats and their coats. According to one’s eyes, those hats and coats are people and nothing else. He believes that the mind has more knowledge than the body. This means that it was important for him to know more about his mind than anything else in the environment was. He provides an example of the wax, which he states that he may not be able to perceive it because it may be an illusion. He says that the thoughts that one about things in the environment could only be true once it has confirmed with certainty about its existence. The conclusion of the meditator in this second meditation is that he believes that he exists because he was thinking and used his mind over his body to search for answers about the doubted things. He also states that he is an intellect because he did not use the imagination to explain the unknown.
In conclusion, in the first meditation of René it is clear that he does not believe what he sees to the point where he secludes himself in order to forget all the opinions he once had. The thought of doubting things in one’s life happens to everybody especially when it is hurting other people. It is also good to see that René secluded himself in order to find answers to his burning questions about knowledge. This will enable the philosopher to be able to have a sound mind in which he would be able to think. I believe also that senses can be used to explain certain phenomenon things in our environment as stated by René. Rene explained how used his senses in order to explain an idea that he had. I believe that God is the creator of all things in the world therefore, I will never agree with him when it comes to religion. This could be because of the ideas that have been instilled me to the point where I believe in everything I heard while growing up. In the second meditation, there are some points that he stated that I agree with. When René explained that he existed because of thinking this is true. This is because without thinking then people will be like zombies who will not have any knowledge or will not expand the knowledge. According to René mind will triumph over body when it comes to the existence of humans. This is because the mind is working overtime in order for people to have ideas that will enable them to be distinguished.
