Meditations on First Philosophy is a discussion of metaphysics, or what is real. In t

Another foundation that he tries to confirm is mathematics. But he soon realizes math’s truth isn’t completely reliable because of the ‘Demon Hypothesis’, which acknowledges the possibility of an all powerful, malicious being that is deceiving him about everything, including mathematics. As a result, Descartes ponders the possibility that he has no way of being completely positive about anything, even existence. It is only after some deliberation that he comes to the conclusion that it is impossible to be incorrect about everything because he has doubt, and to posses doubt, there must be a doubter. Hence, he doubts, therefore he exists. With the assurance of his existence, he presents a deeper question of what he actually is. Descartes knows that he is not just a body based on his doubt of the senses. Despite the fact that he feels he is not a body, he does believe he has properties, such as doubt, that make him a substance. From this he concludes that his is an immaterial substance and that his essential property is self-consciousness because you can have no real proof of yourself except through your own thoughts or consciousness. Descartes articulates this belief in the statement, “I’m aware that I’m aware.”

Although he cannot yet be sure of the existence of anything external to or outside of his mind, the certainty of his own thoughts cannot be doubted. This leads us to wonder about the relationship between the immaterial mind and material body, commonly known in philosophy as the mind/body problem. Descartes takes the stance of a strong believer that the mind and the body are not only separate, but also competent of independent existence. Other positions are that of the weak dualist, who feels that while the mind and body are metaphysically distinct, they cannot exist independently of one another, and that of the materialist who deem that only physical things and physical procedures exist, while the mind does not. Beliefs of this nature are brought up in relation to Descartes’ question of what makes a thing particularly itself through time and change. For him, the mind/soul exists through time and change. Hoping to discern the existence of anything else aside from himself, an immaterial substance, Descartes considers a variety of ideas he has within his mind and contemplates whether he could have conceived them himself or not. Mainly he finds that he has the idea of a perfect being and upon further consideration, he feels that he could not have been the cause of this

Some topics in this essay:
Meditations Philosophy, God God, Descartes God, God Descartes, God” Descartes, La Fleche, France Rene’s, Principles Philosophy, Europe Descartes, Rene Descartes, idea perfect, meditations philosophy, absolute certainty, nature reality, true nature reality, essential property, mind body, jesuit college, descartes god, perfect create, physical world,