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/lit/ - Literature

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2962754 No.2962754[DELETED]  [Reply] [Original]

So, I read an excerpt from Descartes' "Meditations on the First Philosophy" for class, specifically about his view of reality. It was unbelievably dense and I didn't really get a thing out of it. What was Descartes' view of reality?

On that same subject, what exactly is the Cartesian mind? I was never clear on that

>> No.2962782

Any concept we have was first given to us by some other higher being (God). He uses an example of a piece of wax: When solid it has a certain color, texture, taste, firmness, etc..When you melt it, all of that changes but we still know it to be wax. Same goes for concepts such as "perfection." There exists nothing that is truly perfect if you go by the definition so how do we understand the concept of it? Higher being put it in our minds.

Sorry if that isn't too clear/not completely correct. If anyone can come and make this clearer that would be great, it's been a while since I studied up on Descartes.

>> No.2962795

"Give her the dick."

>> No.2962803

>>2962754 He is awesome. One of the best philosophers ever.

>> No.2962839

Is it bad I keep mistaking Descartes for Gilles Des Rais sometimes?

>> No.2962857

>>2962839

You never see them both in the same room together.

I'm not saying anything, I'm just saying...

>> No.2962891

>>2962795
This, it's about the dick.

>> No.2963031

>>2962803

could you please defend this claim. i read meditations last year. i must have missed something, because it seemed to me to be amongst the worst philosophy i have ever read. all of descartes assertions seem to be completely wrong: the radical separation of the mind from the body, understanding the human as pure thought (cogito), belief in the cognition of clear and distinct ideas along with constructing a philosophical system on such ideas. the only aspect of descartes' thought that i found appealing was radical doubt, but socrates pulls that off a hundred times better, without appealing to a benevolent god to arrest such doubt. any thoughts?