(NOTE: *'s before an item indicate relative degrees of importance.)
**Note the beneficiaries of Descartes' Dedication. In his time (1595-1650 a.Descartes), a person might literally stake one's life on what one wrote; and Descartes was not inclined toward martyrdom. In your reading of the Meditations, note the way he handles religious issues; then try to determine (1) how religious he is and (2) how important religion is to his philosophy.
*Descartes begins the Dedication with his reason for presenting the work. What is it?
*Descartes compares philosophy (that is, what he is doing) with geometry. How are they alike and how are they different? Why did he compare them?
*Descartes admits his own fallibility and ignorance (last paragraph). Does this mean that he is unsure about the certainty of the arguments that he will present? Explain. (You may want to remind yourself of this issue as your reading continues.) What is he hope regarding the questions of God and the soul, at the end of the Dedication?
*Note the title of the Meditation.
**What is the purpose of Descartes's Meditations (first paragraph)?
*What sort of mood does Descartes think most advantageous for philosophizing? Would you agree? Explain.
**In very general terms, what does Descartes propose to reject (p. 28, top left)?
**To what extent can we rely upon the senses, according to Descartes? (Hint: Consider the question in four steps, corresponding to the four paragraphs beginning with the first full paragraph on p. 28.)
**What does Descartes include under the term "corporeal nature" (that is, material nature), in the last full paragraph, p.28?
Would you agree that "it is a mark of prudence never to trust wholly in those things which have once deceived us"? Explain.
*What distinction does Descartes make between mathematical sciences and physical or biological sciences (p. 29)?
**How does Descartes propose to prevent "long-standing opinions" from exerting an undue influence upon his philosophical inquiry (second last paragraph)? Try to determine how well he adheres to his own stated prevention-technique, as you read along.
**If God is a deceiver, what consequences follow, according to Descartes (last paragraph)?
**How much does Descartes think he can doubt, according to what he says in this Meditation.
*Note the title of the Meditation.
What method (procedural technique) does Descartes employ in Meditation II? Is it different from that in Meditation I?
**What does Descartes begin to doubt in this particular Meditation? How does he conclude that he must accept his own existence (p. 30)?
**Having assured himself of his own existence, Descartes tries to establish his essence, that is, his nature. How does he proceed and what does he conclude (pp. 30-31)?
*Why does knowledge of his own existence not depend upon imagination?
*What does Descartes include under the term "thinking" (short paragraph, p. 31)? Should imagination and sensing be included, according to Descartes? Why or why not?
**How does Descartes deal with the fact that "it still seems that I cannot hold back from believing that bodily things―whose images are formed by thought, and which the senses themselves examine―are much more distinctly known than this unknown aspect of myself which does not come under the imagination" (p. 32)? (Hint: follow carefully his discussion of the piece of wax.) How does his discussion of this problem relate to the title of Meditation II?
*Note the title of this Meditation.
**In the 2nd paragraph of Meditation III, Descartes states a criterion to establish truth. What is it? How did he arrive at it? Would you accept it? Explain.
*Why can Descartes doubt the existence of the earth, sky, and stars in terms of his truth criterion?
*Note that Descartes claims that he must always regard 2 + 3 to equal 5, even if some God were deceiving him. Why?
**Descartes now proposes to consider whether or not God exists and whether or not God can be a deceiver. First, however, he thinks it necessary to classify his thoughts to find out which are susceptible to error (or truth) - p. 35, left column. The passage that follows is difficult, but important. His primary distinction deals with ideas, emotions or volitions, and judgments. Describe each. Of these, which is more subject to error? Explain.
**Descartes next lists three possible origins for ideas. What are they? Then he proposes to consider the evidence obliging him to think that some ideas come from objects outside of him. What is the evidence and does he accept it ?
**What distinction does Descartes make between what is "taught by nature" and what he knows by "the light of nature" (p. 35, right column)? Why is the distinction important?
**Descartes now considers "still another way" (p. 36, left column) that might show that he possesses ideas of objects existing outside himself. He then makes a new tri-partite distinction of ideas based upon their degree of "objective reality". What is the distinction? Next, Descartes introduces a new truth known through the "light of nature" and its immediate consequence. What is the new truth and its consequence? Once he has explained the application of the new truth, he will be ready to consider the problem of God's existence. Follow his explanation carefully and then ask yourself how his consideration of "still another path" has led to a conclusion relevant to settling the question of God's existence.
**What distinction does Descartes make between "actual or formal reality" and "objective reality"?
**What conclusion does Descartes arrive at in the paragraph (p. 37) beginning with "And the longer and more attentively . . ."? Descartes then applies this conclusion to various possible ideas―God, angels, corporeal and animate things, corporeal and inanimate things, men, extension, shape, location, movement, substance, duration, number, light, colors, sounds, heat, etc.―to discover whether any of these ideas have an origin outside himself (pp. 37-38). What conclusion does he come to? Why?
**Descartes considers possible objections to his conclusion concerning God's existence. What are the objections and how does Descartes deal with them (p. 39, last paragraph, p. 40)?
**How did he receive the idea of God, according to Descartes? Read the passage on p. 40, right column, beginning with "The whole force of the argument . . ." Descartes summarizes the key point of argument for God's existence and derives a conclusion concerning whether or not God can be a deceiver. What does he say?
*Note the title of the Meditation.
**The first three paragraphs summarize very briefly what Descartes has shown thus far. How does he state here his elimination of the possibility that God is a great deceiver? If God cannot be a great deceiver what can we conclude about his initial speculation based upon the assumption that God is, or might be, a great deceiver?
**Once Descartes determines that God is not a great deceiver however, he then must explain how it happens that he sometimes makes errors. Why? Descartes's attempt to solve this problem proceeds in three stages--consideration of his participation in "non-being" (p. 41), consideration of his knowledge of God (pp. 41-42), and, most importantly, an extended analysis of "understanding" and "will" (pp. 421-45). Trace the argument through.
*What conclusion does Descartes come to regarding reference to a "thing's purpose," that is, its final cause or end (p. 42, first full paragraph)?
**Describe the faculty of will, according to Descartes
*What does Descartes mean when he says, "Nor indeed does divine grace or natural knowledge ever diminish one's freedom; rather, they increase and strengthen it" (p. 43, left column)?
*According to Descartes, "But I cannot therefore deny that it might be, so to speak, a greater perfection in the universe as a whole that some of its parts are not immune to error, while others are, than if they were all alike" (p. 44, right column). How does he come to this conclusion? Would you agree with him? Why or why not?
**What do you understand by Descartes's claim that God is the author of what we understand clearly and distinctly?
**At the end of Meditation IV, Descartes says, "Nor today have I learned only what I must avoid so as not to be deceived; I have also simultaneously learned what I must do to search for the truth." Explain in more detail what he has learned about avoiding error and arriving at knowledge of the truth.
*Note the title of the Meditation.
*What is the stated task of the fifth Meditation (first paragraph)?
**What distinct ideas of material things does Descartes claim to have (3rd paragraph)? Would you make up a similar list? Explain.
*Note that, at this point, Descartes does not assert the external existence of the content of these ideas. How does he try to make the point clear by considering the example of a triangle? How does he try to show that the properties of a triangle are neither the sole invention of his own mind nor the product of the senses? How does Descartes get to a discussion of God from his discussion of mathematical objects?
**How does Descartes answer the question whether or not "existence" can be separated from the "essence," that is, the nature, of God? (Hint: consider the example of mountain, p. 46.)
*How many things can we conceive whose essence necessarily involves existence?
**Descartes says, "Even if I no longer attend further to the reasons why I judged it to be true, provided that I remember that I did clearly and distinctly observe it, no contrary reason can be brought to bear which might force me to doubt it; rather, I have a true and certain knowledge of this matter" (2nd last paragraph). How does he come to this conclusion? Would you agree with him? Explain. How does this point of view then lead to a solution to the problem of whether he is awake or dreaming?
*What can we know "certainly and fully" (final paragraph), according to Descartes? What kind of knowledge, if any, seems to be excluded?
*Note the title of the Meditation.
**What is the relation between imagination and acceptance of the existence of material objects, according to Descartes? How does he distinguish "imagination" from "pure intellection (2nd paragraph)? (Note his use of the chiliagon as an example.) Is imagination necessary to his nature? Does Descartes think that imagination can establish, with certainty, the existence of material objects? Explain.
*What is the difference between "corporeal nature which is the object of pure mathematics" and "colors, sounds, tastes, pains, and so on" (p. 49, 1st full paragraph)?
*Descartes now proposes to investigate the nature of "sense" or "sensation." Why?
**Descartes sets forth a three stage program to investigate the senses. Summarize his position for each of these stages. Stage 1 - p. 49+; Stage 2 - p. 50, left column; Stage 3 (with some side trips) the rest of the Meditation.
**What conclusion does Descartes come to regarding his body (p. 50, 2nd full paragraph)? Why? Would you agree with him? Why or why not?
**Descartes concludes that corporeal objects exist (p. 51, left column). Why? What qualification does he make? Why? How of what we grasp by the senses can be conceived clearly and distinctly, according to Descartes?
*Descartes begins a discussion of what "nature teaches" (p. 51). Make up a list. Are any statements in the list known with certainty, according to Descartes? Explain. Is there a difference between what "nature teaches" and what is known by "the light of nature"?
*At the end of the right column paragraph (top, p. 53), Descartes states the final major task of his inquiry. What is the problem and how does he resolve it?
**Make up a list of the differences between the mind and the body, as laid out on pp. 53-54.
*What conclusion does Descartes come to regarding the reliability of what is gained through the senses, in the final paragraph of Meditation VI?
**How does Descartes finally resolve the question whether he is awake or dreaming?
**Explain the significance of "clearness and distinctness" in the Meditations.
*If we err because our wills surpass out understanding in range and it is wrong to err knowingly, would Descartes be justified in doubting anything that he did not understand clearly and distinctly? In particular, could he walk through a doorway before he had understood clearly and distinctly everything present before him and had understood clearly and distinctly the consequences of walking through the doorway? Explain your answer.
**If you could prove that one of Descartes's claimed truths was really false, would he have to admit that the other claimed truths are subject to error, too? Explain your answer.
If the mind is "altogether different" from the body, as Descartes claims, how can the mind affect the body or vice versa? How do you think that Descartes answers this question? What would you say about the relation of the mind to the body?
**Summarize and evaluate (giving justification) Descartes's treatment of the following problems: (1) What can human beings know about the nature and existence of God? (2) In general terms, what can human beings know? (3) What is the relation between the mind and the body? (4) Are human actions determined or do human beings have free will?
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Last updated 1/12/04