Philosophy and Knowledge Rene Descartes Objection and...

In Descartes Objection and Replies the idea of knowledge, how it is gained and defined, and the idea of true intellect are discussed. Through the use of the wax experiment true intellect is found, defined, and explained. With this being said he wanted to demonstrate how none of the truths we found through basic perceptive tools or senses can be relied upon and that you had to utilize deep though or knowledge to know how something is defined or even if it exists. The reasoning behind the investigation of the wax in the second meditation is that the wax serves as an analogy of our perception on life and what we assume is truth. Descartes believed that many or even most of the truths we know could in fact be an illusion. This means that†¦show more content†¦Through the knowledge of himself he was able to realize the not only the candle is real but the same regardless of it being melted. The way Descartes believes that was can be perceived through intellect alone is that it can define or acknowledge the existence of the wax with out the use of things like senses. He thought that there are many times when our senses or perceptions deceive us (332 AT VI). Even if we believed it was a certain truth it can often be proven against and wrong, thus senses and perception are not reliable (386 AT VI). The way in which this is done is you must think of the wax and realize that regardless or how its physical appearance and smell may have altered it is still in fact wax. With this being said the way that you realize that this is the case is not through senses because they would say it is no longer the same, but knowledge. Through knowledge you realized that it is still in fact wax. The way, in which this was realized is through analyzing the wax it was envision in the mind, thus you saw yourself analyzing the wax. This showed that the wax was real and not a figment or manipulation because you yourself are there. Your presence in the mind is what verifies that this is the truth. The reason being that you know yourself more than anything, thus if you were there in the thought then whatever truth was acquired is in fact real. The reason Descartes believes you know yourself better than anything else (360Show MoreRelatedDescartes Argument For The Discovery Of Scientific Truth Essay1192 Words   |  5 Pagesoffered by Renà © Descartes in Rules for the Discovery of Scientific Truth. In order to accomplish this task, I will discern and explain Descartes’ argument, offer what I consider to be the most significant objection to the argument, and contemplate how Descartes would reply to my objection. For the purposes of explanation, I will temporarily put aside the first sentence of the paragraph in which Descartes’ argument can be found. 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