Descartes Wax Argument Essay - 1442 Words

The purpose of the wax argument is designed to provide a clear and distinct knowledge of â€Å"I†, which is the mind, while corporeal things, â€Å"whose images are framed by thought, and which the senses themselves imagine are much more distinctly known than this mysterious ‘I’ which does not fall within the imagination† (66). Through the wax argument, Descartes’ demonstrates that corporeal things are perceived neither through our senses nor imagination, but through our intellect alone. In this argument, you will see that there is cause to doubt Descartes’ analysis of the wax and his method of philosophical reasoning. Descartes makes a careful examination of what is involved in the recognition of a specific physical object, like a piece of†¦show more content†¦Despite this problem, we believe it is the same piece of wax we see, touch, or imagine. But it is not our feelings or imagination that gives us the idea. If we had evaluated these abilities, and if the wax is distorted, we would not be able to agree that it is the same wax. This study enables us to recognize that the imagination, just like sensation, does not convey the true nature of wax; rather, this difficulty indicates that only understanding, exercising its powers of conception and judgment, performs the unifying function that constitutes the self-identity of the piece of wax: â€Å"our perception of the wax is neither a seeing, nor a touching, nor an imagining†¦ but the mind alone† (68). Although the changing characteristics of the body has been transported through our senses and imagination, the identity of the matter is provided by the understanding of the wax itself. This analysis confirms Descartes’ view that â€Å"what we thought we had seen with our eyes, we actually grasped solely with the faculty of judgment, which is in our mind† (68). Therefore, any sense of the body is actually an introspection of our mind, not an external inspection. In his defense, Descartes argues that our knowledge of the wax depends only on the ideas we conceive in our mind. This creates the difficulty of reaching an agreement on the identity of the wax, and that understanding the body can vary for each individual perception. As it is evident that the substantiality ofShow MoreRelatedDescartes Meditations On First Philosophy1079 Words   |  5 PagesThroughout Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes argues for the ideas and philosophical beliefs behind skepticism. In his writings, he describes the fallibility and importance of the body of man and through extension the senses with which we observe the world. This paper will first show that within Descartes’ writings the body is an extension of the mind. Secondly, this paper will prove that the senses are a false form of understanding which leads to the deception of the mind. 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