The success of his attempt to achieve certainty can be analysed in relation to how far he overcomes the universal doubt he has introduced in the first meditation. ... In the second meditation, he appears to define thinking in terms of all conscious acts when he describes a thing that thinks as "a thing that doubts, understands, affirms, denies, is willing, is unwilling and also imagines and has sensory perceptions". ... However, as he asserts in the first meditation, it is not the case to believe that "I have sensory perceptions" necessarily makes it a true belief. ... Thus Descartes is unable...

• Word Count: 1657
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The mind/body issue in philosophy asks many questions. At first, what are these things, these substances, that we call "mind and ˜body?" ... Still, as noted, many philosophies and religions attempt to answer the question of mind and body by simply subordinating one side to the other. ... In his Meditations, Descartes set out to prove that in fact he was a thinking thing, and this fact alone guaranteed his existence. ... Descartes, realizing the problems with his dualism, attempts to construct a link between the mind and body with reference to the pineal gland (Meditation VI), that which...

• Word Count: 1471
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

History is, of course necessary to any understanding of philosophy: how it came about, what people did with it. ... Rather, philosophy should be integrated with the rest of the sciences through the method of rational judgment. Rather than sailing behind, or next to but away from, the rest of the sciences, philosophy should be the flagship of the group. ... Descartes was the first to bring philosophy to its "renaissance." ... In this meditation on his philosophy, Descartes on numerous attempts tries to convince both the readers, as well as himself, of his theory that we must reject all of ...

• Word Count: 2227
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Rene' Descartes, a French philosopher, mathematician and writer has been dubbed the father of modern and Western philosophy. ... Descartes understands the body as follows: " whatever can be determined by a certain shape, comprised in a certain location, whatever so fills a certain space as to exclude it from any other body, whatever can be apprehended by touch, sight, hearing, taste or smell and whatever can be moved in various ways " [Meditation II] For example, the material does have extension in space. ... First of all, how is it possible for the mind which does not possess any physica...

• Word Count: 1675
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School