Meditations On First Philosophy

Meditations of First Philosophy

Meditations on First Philosophy

"Descartes' interpretation of being and truth first creates the precondition for the possibility of a theory of knowledge or metaphysics of knowledge. Only through Descartes realism is enabled to prove the reality of the external world and to save that which exists in itself." Heidegger, The Time of the World Image A modern translation of Descartes' famous work "Meditations on First Philosophy". This edition contains a timeline of Descartes' life and works, a glossary of Cartesian terminology, and Afterword by the translator that explains the significance of Descartes' contributions to modern philosophy and science, particularly his method of skepticism and rationalism. This scholarly apparatus nests this work into Descartes' larger body of work and the place of his philosophy into the broader history of western ideology. Descartes' focus on clear, logical reasoning is a hallmark of his philosophy, and his influence on fields such as mathematics and physics is profound, with his work laying the foundation for later scientific advances. René Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy (1641) is one of the most influential works in Western philosophy. In this text, Descartes seeks to establish a foundation for knowledge that is free from doubt, beginning with the method of radical skepticism. His goal is to discover what can be known with absolute certainty. The Meditations consist of six parts, each building on the previous one, and they explore questions of existence, knowledge, and the nature of reality. Moreover, the Meditations addressed fundamental questions about the nature of existence, the mind-body problem, and the existence of God, many of which continue to be relevant in philosophical debates today. Descartes’ work marked a shift away from reliance on tradition and authority towards an emphasis on individual reasoning, critical inquiry, and the scientific method. In the first meditation, Descartes applies radical doubt, questioning the reliability of sensory experience, mathematical truths, and even the existence of the physical world, leaving open the possibility of a powerful deceiver (the "evil demon"). In the second meditation, he arrives at the indubitable truth that while everything else can be doubted, the fact that he is thinking cannot, leading to his famous conclusion: "Cogito, ergo sum" (I think, therefore I am). He then distinguishes the mind as a thinking, non-material substance from the body, an extended, material one, introducing the mind-body dualism. In the third meditation, Descartes formulates his argument for the existence of God, positing that the idea of a perfect, infinite being must have originated from such a being (God), since he, a finite and imperfect being, could not have conceived it on his own. The fourth meditation explores why humans make errors, attributing it to the misuse of free will, where judgments are made without sufficient understanding, rather than any flaw in God. In the fifth meditation, Descartes presents another argument for God’s existence, the ontological argument, asserting that the very idea of a perfect being necessarily includes existence. Finally, in the sixth meditation, he concludes that the external world exists, affirming the reality of material objects and the body, since a non-deceptive God would not allow his clear and distinct perceptions to be false, although sensory experience can still be occasionally misleading. This systematic method of doubt and reasoning establishes a secure foundation for scientific and philosophical knowledge.

Rene Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy in Focus

This volume presents the excellent and popular translation by Haldane and Ross of Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy, an introduction by Stanley Tweyman which explores the relevance of Descartes' Regulae and his method of analysis in the Meditations, and six articles which indicate the diversity of scholarly opinion on the topic of method in Descartes' philosopy.