1. Descartes -- Meditations Two
Charles Manekin
2/21/2019
Modern Philosophy PHIL320

2. Modern Philosophy PHIL320
Topics of Discussion
The Search for the “Archimedean Point” “one thing…that is certain and unshakable”
The Argument of the Cogito
From “Cogito Sum” to “Sum Res Cogitans”
The Self is Known Better than Material Objects
2/21/2019
Modern Philosophy PHIL320

3. The Search for the Archimedean Point
What is Descartes trying to do?
To establish the existence of the self
To establish the nature of the self, i.e., Thought/Soul.
To claim that this is indubitable.
What is Descartes not trying to do?
He is not yet arguing that the soul is immortal, or even that it persists at times when we are unconscious.
2/21/2019
Modern Philosophy PHIL320

4. How Does the Argument for the Existence of the Self Work?
From the inability to doubt that I exist, I infer that I exist.
“So after considering everything very thoroughly, I must conclude that this proposition, I am, I exist is necessarily true whenever it is put forward by me or conceived in my mind.”
What does Descartes mean by “necessarily true.”
How does he see the inference from “I think (doubt, etc.)” to I am?
2/21/2019
Modern Philosophy PHIL320

5. Modern Philosophy PHIL320
Notes on the Cogito
“Necessarily true”
Not logical necessity
Something closer to psychological necessity, to indubitability
What sort of inference is the Cogito?
Reply to the Second objections; the inference is not syllogistic but by a simple intuition of the mind.
Objections
Why can’t you infer your existence from any activity? Why must it be thinking?
How can you know that you exist without first knowing what existence is?
2/21/2019
Modern Philosophy PHIL320

6. Modern Philosophy PHIL320
Sum res cogitans
How does Descartes get to this conclusion?
Begins with what “philosophy” then with what “common experience” teaches what he is.
I know what I am through introspection
Introspection of the unity of the self and its attributes
“The fact that it is I who is doubting and understanding and willing is so evident that I see no way of making it clearer.”
2/21/2019
Modern Philosophy PHIL320

7. Modern Philosophy PHIL320
The Subtle Inference
I think (doubt, will, etc.)
Thought is a property essential to me.
Thought is the only property essential to me.
Hence, I am essentially a thinking thing and not essentially material.
2/21/2019
Modern Philosophy PHIL320

8. Modern Philosophy PHIL320
The Subtle Inference
I think (doubt, will, etc.)
Thought is a property essential to me.
Thought is the only property I know essential to me.
Hence, I do not know thought to be identical with any corporeal property.
2/21/2019
Modern Philosophy PHIL320

9. Modern Philosophy PHIL320
Arnauld’s Objection
Surely there are things in our mind of which the mind is not aware.
The baby in the mother’s womb
Response: If it is in the mind, then it has to be mental.
2/21/2019
Modern Philosophy PHIL320

10. Modern Philosophy PHIL320
The Piece of Wax
What is more distinctly known – the nature of the mind, or nature of the external world?
2/21/2019
Modern Philosophy PHIL320

11. Modern Philosophy PHIL320
The Piece of Wax
How does one go about determining the essential properties of the wax?
Why is “essential” important?
What of the wax is preserved over time, after the incidental properties are subtracted?
Answer: the property of extension
2/21/2019
Modern Philosophy PHIL320

12. Modern Philosophy PHIL320
The Piece of Wax
How does Descartes show that wax is known better by the mind than by the senses/imagination.
Objection: if I didn’t have my senses, then how would I know that it is wax?
Answer on next slide
2/21/2019
Modern Philosophy PHIL320

13. Modern Philosophy PHIL320
The Piece of Wax
What Descartes is interested in is the essential nature of the wax, i.e., the wax qua material object, and that nature is one of extension.
2/21/2019
Modern Philosophy PHIL320

14. Last Claim of Meditation Two
“Surely my awareness of my own self is not merely much truer and more certain than my awareness of the wax, but also much more distinct and evident.”
“I know x” implies that “I know myself”
2/21/2019
Modern Philosophy PHIL320