Descartes Meditations

In class this week we discussed Descartes’ meditations. First we talked about how Descartes describes the matter and mind He states that matter can be thought of as an extension in space while the mind is thought. Then we discussed Descartes’ use of methodological doubt. He uses this method to doubt the testimony of senses. Descartes has six meditations but in Fridays class we only focuses on the first two. Descartes first meditation calls the senses into doubt. He states the senses deceive humans through perspective, madness and dreams. For example, perspective deceives humans by making things look different from far away and up close. Descartes states that we could all be living a dream and just not be aware of it. He also says that the idea that God is being brings back the idea of existence. Descartes’ Second meditation is the idea that the only “I” that exists is the human soul, and not the body. He says that the soul is the only thing that is doubted. After analyzing Descartes thoughts I came to the conclusion that our ability to doubt is the only true proof that we legitimately exist.