Download Descartes' Meditations: Stages of Skepticism and Proofs of God's Existence and more Schemes and Mind Maps Mathematics in PDF only on Docsity! Descartesā Meditations Meditation I Stages of doubt (1) Senses donāt always deceive; they have in the past on occasion ā when, for example, Iāve had to make judgment on distant or small things. (2) What about obvious things? E.g. that I am sitting here. (3) But what about the insane? Well, I āknowā Iām not like them. (4) But, how can I tell if I am asleep or awake? [More later.] Perhaps I canāt. (5) But even if thatās the case, there seem to be obvious truths about existence ā simple natures ā that are indubitable (e.g. truths of mathematics). (6) But maybe God is a deceiver and even the most obvious truths are false. The Dreaming Argument: A Reconstruction (1) I believe in the past I have dreamed that I was perceiving various physical objects at close range when it was false that I was really perceiving any such objects (when my experience was thoroughly delusory). (2) If I see no certain marks to distinguish waking experience of physical objects from dream experience when, I believe, I was deceived, I have reason to believe my waking experience too may be deceptive. (3) I see no such certain marks to distinguish waking experience from dreams. (4) Therefore, I have reason to suppose that waking experience too may be deceptive (thoroughly delusory). (5) But if I have reason to suppose my waking experience may be deceptive (thoroughly delusory), I have reason to doubt the existence of physical objects (for at present we are supposing this experience to be the best foundation for our belief in physical objects). God as deceiver argument (1) I have always believed that God is good and omnipotent. (2) Despite his goodness, Iām deceived sometimes. (3) If it is consistent with his goodness and omnipotence for me to be deceived sometimes, why isnāt it consistent with his goodness and omnipotence for me to be deceived all the time? (4) But if there is no omnipotent God, then we came to be through some imperfect means. (5) If through imperfection, then we can be deceived all the time. Introduction to Philosophy: Knowledge and Reality 2 Dr. Brandon C. Look, University of Kentucky Meditation II The three main arguments of the second Meditation: (I) cogito (āI thinkā) argument: establishes the existence of the self) (II) sum res cogitans (āI am a thinking thingā) argument: establishes the nature of the self (III) wax argument: shows that the self is known better than material objects (I) What the cogito is not: (1) Whatever thinks, exists (2) I think ā“ (3) I exist Rather, the point is that we are simply certain of the proposition āI existā whenever we assert it or whenever we think. In that sense, it is indubitable and not because it is the conclusion of a syllogism. (II) The sum res cogitans argument has gone through several stages, establishing increasingly powerful claims: (1) I think (2) I am a thinking thing (3) Thought is a property essential to me (4) Thought is the only property essential to me (5) I am essentially a thinking thing and not essentially material
