FREE ESSAY ON REVIEW OF THE MEDITATIONS

REVIEW OF THE MEDITATIONS

The Meditations of Rene Descartes
In 1916 Rene Descartes wrote What I wish to finish is . . . an absolutely new science
enabling one to resolve all questions proposed on any order of continuos or discontinuous
quantities. (p8 Methods & Meditations). He made this ambitious statement at the young age
of twenty-three. Rene's ambition would take him far but it kept him from becoming the
Aristotle of the modern age. The Meditations were an attempt to solve the many questions
about life, existence, and God. At the time of their publishing many philosophers did not
quit accept his writings. Today however the Meditations are widely read and reviewed
throughout the world.
In the First Meditation Rene begins by stating that he know doubts his previous views and
is forced to take a serious look at what he considers to be true. Rene will go as far to
doubt God and whether he is truly good. His First Meditation will end with Descartes
seemingly troubled over the nature of God. The meditations continue with his questioning
of almost everything important to existence. Rene seemed unable to admit anything as
truthful. The mind is something of great weakness and error, Descartes would say. He
would continue and urge us not to trust what we see because there is no way of being
certain about anything. Methodological doubt was his basis on life claiming that
everything is to be doubted. Rene Descartes first begins to come to some kind of belief
by the Third Meditation. Rene states . . . I am certain that I am a thinking being; but
do I not therefore likewise know what is required to make me certain of something? (p113
Methods & Meditations). He goes on to say that God could not possibly be deceitful, it
would not be his divine nature. This is when things start to come together for Rene.
After acknowledging that a divine God could not possibly be evil Rene goes even further
to say that he (God) must exist. This equation sounds strange but to this point Rene
never really considered if God even existed or if he was simply a part of his
imagination. 
Rene's motto, De omnibus dubitandumest (everything is to be doubted), lead him back to
basic proofs. His theory of analytical geometry was the first major contribution to the
field of science. This theory helped to offset some of his doubts and in many ways gave
him the realization that some qualities in life can be proven. For Descartes rule of
everything to be doubted was only part of his philosophical life. While taking this rule
very serious he did not recommend it as a way of life. Descartes was only interested in
the study of wisdom. He knew that the wisdom learned would be a sort of stepping stone
for later generations. Going even further he states, My wish is that prosperity may
witness the happy outcome of it, etc. (p187 Methods and Meditations).
The Meditations of Rene Descartes in many ways are a very valuable piece of philosophy.
He did what many people did not in taking a close look at seemingly everything imaginable
and studying its part in this world. He realized that his doubt alone made him an
imperfect being. For a perfect being would know all and have nothing to doubt, Descartes
would claim. At the time his teachings were not excepted but this did not discourage him
too much. The mathematical theories were what made him famous so to speak. They are
probably the single most important contribution that he made early on in his life. The
idea of a posteriori led him in the study all things he could not prove in his
mathematical theories. At first the Meditations seemed random and confusing but after
reading them more closely they made sense and even made me think about what we really
believe to be true. 
Bibliography
Discours on Method and the Meditations. Rene Descartes