Reading Notes by Christopher Lay
Los Angeles Pierce College
Department of History, Philosophy, and
Sociology
Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy
From the John Veitch translation, found in
the "Trilingual HTML Edition" of Descartes' Meditations, edited by D. B. Manley and C. S. Taylor, at
http://www.wright.edu/cola/descartes/
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Rene Descartes |
Meditations on First
Philosophy |
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First Mediation |
"Of
the Things of Which We May Doubt" |
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Foundations |
Seeks
after a firm foundation for his knowledge Questioning
of knowledge that has been previously received |
"Several
years have now elapsed since I first became aware
that I had accepted, even from my youth, many false opinions for true, and
that consequently what I afterward based on such principles was highly
doubtful; and from that time I was convinced of the
necessity of undertaking once in my life to rid myself of all the opinions I
had adopted, and of commencing anew the work of building from the foundation,
if I desired to establish a firm and abiding superstructure in the sciences." |
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Doubt |
Reject
all false knowledge Withholding
belief from what can be doubted |
"my reason convinces me that I ought not the less
carefully to withhold belief from what is not entirely certain and
indubitable, than from what is manifestly false, it will be sufficient to
justify the rejection of the whole if I shall find in each some ground for
doubt." |
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Starts
with beliefs that other beliefs rest upon |
"as the removal from below of the foundation
necessarily involves the downfall of the whole edifice, I will at once
approach the criticism of the principles on which all my former beliefs
rested." |
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Senses |
The
senses provide much of what we believe Senses
can deceive Ought
not trust what has deceived in the past Senses
do not provide certain beliefs |
"All that I have, up to this moment, accepted as
possessed of the highest truth and certainty, I received either from or
through the senses. I observed, however, that these sometimes misled us; and
it is the part of prudence not to place absolute confidence in that by which
we have even once been deceived." |
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Dreams |
Can
Descartes be sure of his belief that he is clothed? Such
a belief could be the result of a dream When
dreaming, you sometimes cannot tell you are dreaming |
"How often have I dreamt that I was in these
familiar circumstances, that I was dressed, and occupied this place by the
fire, when I was lying undressed in bed? At the present moment, however, I
certainly look upon this paper with eyes wide awake; the head which I now
move is not asleep; I extend this hand consciously and with express purpose,
and I perceive it; the occurrences in sleep are not so distinct as all this.
But I cannot forget that, at other times I have been deceived in sleep by
similar illusions; and, attentively considering those cases, I perceive so
clearly that there exist no certain marks by which the state of waking can
ever be distinguished from sleep, that I feel greatly astonished; and in
amazement I almost persuade myself that I am now dreaming." |
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Dreamt Objects |
But
objects dreamt about must come from some source in reality |
"Nevertheless it must be
admitted at least that the objects which appear to us in sleep are, as it
were, painted representations which could not have been formed unless in the
likeness of realities; and, therefore, that those general objects, at all
events, namely, eyes, a head, hands, and an entire body, are not simply
imaginary, but really existent." |
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Unicorns |
Imagists
of fictional unicorns get their representations of unicorns by combining real
things (like extended patches of color) |
"For, in truth, painters themselves, even when they
study to represent sirens and satyrs by forms the most fantastic and
extraordinary, cannot bestow upon them natures absolutely new, but can only
make a certain medley of the members of different animals; or if they chance
to imagine something so novel that nothing at all similar has ever been seen
before, and such as is, therefore, purely fictitious and absolutely false, it
is at least certain that the colors of which this is composed are real." |
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So
perhaps beliefs about things like extension, or quantity have some reality to
them |
"To this class of objects seem to belong corporeal
nature in general and its extension; the figure of extended things, their
quantity or magnitude, and their number, as also the place in, and the time
during, which they exist, and other things of the same sort." |
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"We will not, therefore, perhaps reason
illegitimately if we conclude from this that Physics, Astronomy, Medicine,
and all the other sciences that have for their end the consideration of
composite objects, are indeed of a doubtful character; but that Arithmetic,
Geometry, and the other sciences of the same class, which regard merely the
simplest and most general objects, and scarcely inquire whether or not these
are really existent, contain somewhat that is certain and indubitable:" |
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Mathematics in Dreams |
How
can I doubt that 2+2=4 if it is true when I am awake or asleep? |
"for whether I am awake or dreaming, it remains true
that two and three make five, and that a square has but four sides; nor does
it seem possible that truths so apparent can ever fall under a suspicion of
falsity [or incertitude]." |
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Doubting Mathematical Truths? |
But
the belief that 2+2=4 could be the product in my mind of an evil genie |
"Nevertheless, the belief that there is a God who is
all powerful, and who created me, such as I am, has, for a long time,
obtained steady possession of my mind. How, then, do I know that he has not
arranged that there should be neither earth, nor sky, nor any extended thing,
nor figure, nor magnitude, nor place, providing at the same time, however,
for [the rise in me of the perceptions of all these objects, and] the
persuasion that these do not exist otherwise than as I perceive them? And
further, as I sometimes think that others are in error respecting matters of
which they believe themselves to possess a perfect knowledge, how do I know
that I am not also deceived each time I add together two and three, or number
the sides of a square, or form some judgment still more simple, if more simple indeed can be imagined? But perhaps Deity has
not been willing that I should be thus deceived, for he is said to be
supremely good. If, however, it were repugnant to
the goodness of Deity to have created me subject to constant deception, it
would seem likewise to be contrary to his goodness to allow me to be
occasionally deceived; and yet it is clear that this is permitted." |
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"Some, indeed, might perhaps be found who would be
disposed rather to deny the existence of a Being so powerful than to believe
that there is nothing certain. But let us for the present refrain from
opposing this opinion, and grant that all which is here said of a Deity is fabulous:" |
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"nevertheless, in whatever way it be supposed that I
reach the state in which I exist, whether by fate, or chance, or by an
endless series of antecedents and consequents, or by any other means, it is
clear (since to be deceived and to err is a certain defect
) that the probability of my being so imperfect as to be the constant
victim of deception, will be increased exactly in proportion as the power
possessed by the cause, to which they assign my origin, is lessened. To these
reasonings I have assuredly nothing to reply, but am constrained at last to
avow that there is nothing of all that I formerly believed to be true of
which it is impossible to doubt, and that not through thoughtlessness or
levity, but from cogent and maturely considered reasons; so that
henceforward, if I desire to discover anything certain, I ought not the less
carefully to refrain from assenting to those same opinions than to what might
be shown to be manifestly false." |
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Any Object of Thought |
Indeed,
any object of thought could be the product of some evil genie I
cannot have certain knowledge, then, of any object of thought |
"I will suppose, then, not that Deity, who is
sovereignly good and the fountain of truth, but that some malignant demon,
who is at once exceedingly potent and deceitful, has employed all his
artifice to deceive me; I will suppose that the sky, the air, the earth,
colors, figures, sounds, and all external things, are nothing better than the
illusions of dreams, by means of which this being has laid snares for my
credulity; I will consider myself as without hands, eyes, flesh, blood, or
any of the senses, and as falsely believing that I am possessed of these;" |
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"just as the captive, who, perchance, was enjoying
in his dreams an imaginary liberty, when he begins to suspect that it is but
a vision, dreads awakening, and conspires with the agreeable illusions that
the deception may be prolonged; so I, of my own accord, fall back into the
train of my former beliefs, and fear to arouse myself from my slumber, lest
the time of laborious wakefulness that would succeed this quiet rest, in
place of bringing any light of day, should prove inadequate to dispel the
darkness that will arise from the difficulties that have now been raised." |
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