Book Review ~~ Meditations on First Philosophy — Second Meditation: The Nature of the Human Mind, and How it is Better Known than the Body ~~

Today I read the second meditation (The Nature of the Human Mind, and How it is Better Known than the Body) from “Meditations on First Philosophy,” by René Descartes. Again, this meditation mirrors one of the puzzles in “The Pig That Wants To Be Eaten,” by Julian Baggini—this time, I think, therefore? which is in fact based off this meditation. The famous saying “I think, therefore I exist” (Cogito ergo sum) comes from René Descartes. Descartes first concludes that he must exist, because he is convinced that he cannot trust his senses, and someone has to have these thoughts, so the person with those thoughts exists. As a result, he—who has those thoughts—exists. He then considers a piece of wax to decide how he can perceive that it exists—does he think it exists because of his senses, which he considers so untrustworthy? He realizes that, since it can change when it is held over a fire, he must perceive it through a process of careful judgement by using his intellect, and that to “see” something, he has to first understand it. I thought that this was a very interesting continuation of the first meditation, and though it did become a bit complex at times, I enjoyed reading it immensely, as it showed me Descartes’ careful reasoning in deciding that he had to exist. Since the first meditation had made me more wary of my senses and less trusting of the environment I perceived, this provided me with more food for thought and allowed me to understand more, since without trusting any senses, very little can be accomplished. While it was a bit more complicated than the first meditation, I recommend this meditation to anyone who is interested in philosophy, liked “The Pig That Wants To Be Eaten” or other philosophical writings of Descartes’, or is simply looking for an interesting book to read and would rate it 9.6/10.

Book Review ~~ Meditations on First Philosophy — First Meditation: On What Can Be Called Into Doubt ~~

Today I read the first meditation (On What Can Be Called Into Doubt) from “Meditations on First Philosophy,” by René Descartes. It was very similar to some puzzles in “The Pig That Wants To Be Eaten”—the philosophical puzzle The Evil Demon in particular—because it questioned whether you can truly know anything. How do you know an evil demon isn’t hypnotizing you to believe something, or that your senses haven’t been stimulated so you believe that you “see”, “hear”, “smell”, “taste”, and “touch”? Once you accept this supposed virtual world as a possibility, you know of almost nothing except your own beliefs, thoughts, feelings, and intents—but even so, you don’t even know of your past feelings, because your memories could be false as well. I thought that the idea was really interesting, and certainly possible, although whether it’s actually true is doubtful. Still, as many ideas show, almost anything is possible if you don’t trust anything and require absolute proof—which is, in almost every case, impossible—that something is true or untrue. This possibility has been brought up in movies, such as The Matrix and Inception, and books, such as “Running out of Time,” by Margaret Peterson Haddix. The main idea of “First Meditation” was to give up all your ideas about the outside world; according to the author, “I realized that if I wanted to establish anything in the sciences that was stable and likely to last, I needed—just once in my life—to demolish everything completely and start again from the foundations”. I highly enjoyed this passage and recommend it to anyone who likes any of the stories or movies I mentioned. I would rate this chapter 9.7/10.