Descartes, Meditations II

 

A first truth: I exist

Even if I am deceived about everything else, nevertheless I must exist in order to be deceived.

 

An objection

Russell: Descartes is entitled only to conclude that there is a moment of awareness, that "there is a thought," and not that there is an underlying thing that has all of Descartes' thoughts.

It's not clear whether Descartes is making this mistake.

 

But what am I?

An inventory of what I used to think I was….

A body… a subtle fluid…

That is nourished, that walked, that perceived, that thought

Given the doubt, I can not say the first three things about myself, since all presuppose the body, which may not exist.

What am I allowed to say? Only that I am a thinking thing.

 

What is thinking?

Awareness, consciousness in the broadest sense

Quote 122

 

Descartes' fallacious argument in the Discourse on Method

See p. 63 and p. 104-5

 

The wax example

    1. Even the wax is best known by pure intellectual activity that relies neither on the senses nor on imagination.

      Imagination = imaging (The point about an infinity of possible shapes that cannot be encompassed by the imagination.)
    2. The mind is better known than the body. (Every bit of evidence for the existence of a body is yet better evidence for the existence of the mind.)

 

Perception and judgment

"There might be machines under those hats."

 

An indubitable truth yields an indubitable source of knowledge. Clear and distinct perception of truth.