The issue here is how we perceive "what the wax is" and "how it is known to be". A toddler could perceive what we perceive by the senses and would not know what the wax is. How do we acknowledge the wax properly by its essential properties? The essential properties of a thing being those it has to have if it is to exist as that thing, whereas its accidental properties are those it may have, but which are not necessary to be defined as the type of thing that it is.

Descartes understands the wax with his mind, and uses his senses to learn of its characteristics even though they change. He accepts this substance as wax even as its characteristics c

In the end, Descartes reasons that he succeeds in understanding what the wax is not with his senses, but rather, with the intellect alone. He thought he understood physical objects so well because he grasped them through his senses, but he shows that he does not grasp physical objects through senses at all. A mind exists in human, while relying on senses for some of its ideas and thoughts, but nevertheless, possesses other information independently. Thither to that, his perception of the wax reveals his own existence even more, for if he understands the wax, then there must be a mind to do the understanding and that he attains knowledge through the scrutiny of objects with the intellect alone.

Some topics in this essay:
MIND BODY, SENSES Descartes, AIM Descartes, TRUE FORM, wax mind, understands wax, characteristics change, understands wax mind, wax exists, wax characteristics, call wax, essential properties, wax mean, physical objects, physical characteristics,