Question Home

Position:Home>Philosophy> Descartes meditation six?


Question: Descartes meditation six!?
Can someone please explain Descartes' argument in Meditation Six for the existence of an external world!?Www@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
Descartes talks about THE EXISTENCE OF MATERIAL THINGS, AND OF THE REAL DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE MIND AND BODY OF MAN!.

What does he says!?
"I find in myself diverse faculties of thinking that have each their special mode: for example, I find I possess the faculties of imagining and perceiving, without which I can indeed clearly and distinctly conceive myself as entire, but I cannot reciprocally conceive them without conceiving myself, that is to say, without an intelligent substance in which they reside, for [in the notion we have of them, or to use the terms of the schools] in their formal concept, they comprise some sort of intellection; whence I perceive that they are distinct from myself as modes are from things!.
But there is nothing which that nature teaches me more expressly [ or more sensibly ] than that I have a body which is ill affected when I feel pain, and stands in need of food and drink when I experience the sensations of hunger and thirst, etc!. And therefore I ought not to doubt but that there is some truth in these informations!.
And, in truth, if some one, when I am awake, appeared to me all of a sudden and as suddenly disappeared, as do the images I see in sleep, so that I could not observe either whence he came or whither he went, I should not without reason esteem it either a specter or phantom formed in my brain, rather than a real man!. But when I perceive objects with regard to which I can distinctly determine both the place whence they come, and that in which they are, and the time at which they appear to me, and when, without interruption, I can connect the perception I have of them with the whole of the other parts of my life, I am perfectly sure that what I thus perceive occurs while I am awake and not during sleep!. And I ought not in the least degree to doubt of the truth of these presentations, if, after having called together all my senses, my memory, and my understanding for the purpose of examining them, no deliverance is given by any one of these faculties which is repugnant to that of any other: for since God is no deceiver, it necessarily follows that I am not herein deceived!. But because the necessities of action frequently oblige us to come to a determination before we have had leisure for so careful an examination, it must be confessed that the life of man is frequently obnoxious to error with respect to individual objects; and we must, in conclusion, ac!. knowledge the weakness of our nature!."
So, you cannot live without the interference of the enviroment!.
You are not alone in this world, you must try to know yourself, the best
you can, to achieve your goals!.
Let's see some Descartes quotes:
"An optimist may see a light where there is none, but why must the pessimist always run to blow it out!?

Common sense is the most fairly distributed thing in the world, for each one thinks he is so well-endowed with it that even those who are hardest to satisfy in all other matters are not in the habit of desiring more of it than they already have!.

I am accustomed to sleep and in my dreams to imagine the same things that lunatics imagine when awake

It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well!.

When it is not in our power to follow what is true, we ought to follow what is most probable!.

I think; therefore I am!.
This is Descartes!.A man and his mind, accepting his mistakes!.
Too much to learn!.
Please, enter:
http://www!.wright!.edu/cola/descartes/med!.!.!.
And read the whole Meditation Six!.
Complex!? Yes, but magnificent!

LIGHT BRIGHT!
Www@QuestionHome@Com