The Free Will in Meditations on First Philosophy by Descartes

3757 Words8 Pages

The Free Will in Meditations on First Philosophy by Descartes

I

In Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes takes the reader through a methodological exercise in philosophical enquiry. After stripping the intellect of all doubtful and false beliefs, he re-examines the nature and structure of being in an attempt to secure a universally valid epistemology free from skepticism. Hoping for the successful reconciliation of science and theology, Descartes works to reconstruct a new foundation of absolute and certain truth to act as a catalyst for future scientific research by “showing that a mathematical [rational-objective] physics of the world is attainable by creatures with our intellectual capacities and faculties” (Shand 1994, p. 84).

Descartes’ conception of absolute and limitless “freedom,” which he ascribed to humanity, is every bit as unique and radical as the existential notion of freedom present to the philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre. However, the claim of boundless freedom within the writings of Descartes seems even more remarkable in light of the fact that he proposed the philosophical method within the theological strictures of Catholicism. With Cartesian study primarily focused on the significance of human consciousness and the sum res cogitans, rarely does one find exclusive attention devoted to the paramount importance of the free will in Descartes’ overall project.

This essay investigates the theory of the free will as expressed in the Fourth Meditation and analyzes Descartes’ contention that we are “infinitely” free and ultimately responsible for the choices we make. In arguing that the use of the free will is essential in determining the veracity of all ideas one comes upon, clear and distinct or othe...

... middle of paper ...

...ilosophy is somewhat problematic and

often referred to as the Cartesian Circle. “We cannot, without certainty,” declares

John Shand, “prove God’s existence by means of propositions and arguments whose truth

and validity depend upon assuming God’s existence” (Shand :1994, p 87).

4 Although Descartes states explicitly in the Synopsis of the Six Meditations that he is

not concerned with judging things which pertain to faith or the conduct of life, and

is instead focused exclusively on errors that occur when judging the true and the

false; he is nonetheless doing theodicy. Descartes is asking in essence: “How could

God, who is in possession of all perfection, including omni-benevolence, allow humans

to fall into error (do evil) so readily?” Descartes’ reply: “Error (evil) has nothing

to do with God and everything to do with us.”

Show More
Related

  • Descartes Meditation 1 Analysis

    958 Words  | 2 Pages

    Moving up the tower of certainty, he focuses on those ideas that can be supported by his original foundation. In such a way, Descartes’s goal is to establish all human knowledge on firm foundations. Thus, Descartes gains this knowledge from the natural light by using it to reference his main claims, specifically the existence of God in Meditation III, and provide an explanation to his radical thoughts. In Meditation III “The existence of God,” Descartes builds his foundation of certainty in the natural light through the examination of God’s existence.

    Read More

  • The Question of Free Will: Descartes, Hume, and Nietzsche

    2066 Words  | 5 Pages

    With the “Design Argument” in Meditations on First Philosophy to ignite his proclamation of the topic of free will, Descartes summons free will is given entirely through the creator, God. With his robust belief of God, Descartes concludes free will attributes to God’s creation of a person. Descartes announces, “I make mistakes because the faculty of judging the truth, which I got from God, is not, in my case infinite” (54-55, Meditations). Descartes believes errors of judgment are given to him from God, but in the end the choice is up to no one but himself. He takes full responsibility for his de...

    Read More

  • Rene Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy

    1961 Words  | 4 Pages

    At the start of the meditation, Descartes begins by rejecting all his beliefs, so that he would not be deceived by any misconceptions from reaching the truth. Descartes acknowledges himself as, “a thing that thinks: that is, a thing that doubts, affirms, denies, understands a few things, is ignorant of many things” He is certain that that he thinks and exists because his knowledge and ideas are both ‘clear and distinct’. Descartes proposes a general rule, “that whatever one perceives very clearly and very distinctly is true” Descartes discovers, “that he can doubt what he clearly and distinctly perceives is true led to the realization that his first immediate priority should be to remove the doubt” because, “no organized body of knowledge is possible unless the doubt is removed” The best probable way to remove the doubt is prove that God exists, that he is not a deceiver and “will always guarantee that any clear and distinct ideas that enter our minds will be true.” Descartes must remove the threat of an invisible demon that inserts ideas and doubts into our minds to fool us , in order to rely on his ‘clear and distinct’ rule.

    Read More

  • Meditation on First Philosophy by Rene Descartes

    1212 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Cogito ergo sum - I think therefore I am.” A mathematician, scientific thinker, and metaphysician Rene Descartes used this term in his “Meditation on First Philosophy.” This term has become famous especially in western philosophy. However, this term was not Descartes only legacy. His legacies include the development of the Cartesian coordinates, philosophical books, and theories. Even though the distinction between mind and body can be traced to the Greeks, Descartes account of the mind and body relationship has been considered the first and the most influential. Descartes was born in 1596 in France, from 1628 to 1649 Descartes remained in Holland, during this time he composed multiple works that set the scene for all later philosophical study of mind and body. (René Descartes and the legacy of mind/body dualism) “Meditation on First Philosophy,” is one of Descartes famous treatises. First published in the 17th century, it consists of six meditations. In the first meditation Descartes eliminates all belief in things that are not certain, basically he removes everything from the table. Then one by one he examines each belief and determines whether any of these beliefs can be known for sure. Meditations three and five focus on the existence of God. This ontological argument is both fascinating and poorly understood in the philosophical community. Descartes tries to prove God’s existence by using simple but influential foundations. (Nolan). Descartes innate ideas proof and ontological proof of the existence of God is going to be assessed through the summarization of meditation thee and meditation five, while his work is also going to be compared to Anselm’s ontological argument on the existence of God.

    Read More

  • Hamlet Plot Theory

    805 Words  | 2 Pages

    By using Richard Tyre’s six point plot system in analyzing these two works it can help the reader to read into the characters motives and achievements. Tyre states that Tolkien even says that, “because he was not limited to the dull restrictions of common place realism he could make his version of the universal trip more imaginatively intense and real” (19). These six plot points allow a reader to take a different perspective and look at the works from there. The six plot points also show that seemingly unrelated works and their characters have a lot more in common that what is perceived by simple reading them. Richard Tyre’s essay proves that in most works of fiction that involve a journey “those who hunt for treasure must go alone, at night, and when they find it, they must leave some of their blood behind, and the treasure is never what they expected” (19).

    Read More

  • Why Marijuana Should be Legalized

    2031 Words  | 5 Pages

    Simoni-Wastila, Linda, and Francis B. Palumbo. "Medical Marijuana Legislation: What We Know-- And Don't." Journal Of Health Care Law & Policy 16.1 (2013): 59-75. Academic Search Complete. Web. 20 Apr. 2014.

    Read More

  • Emerson’s Unifying Philosophy

    1130 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout “Mediations I and II”, Descartes disputes definitions of reality and identity, establishing a precursor to Emerson’s philosophy. Initially, Descartes questions all notions of being. In “Mediation I”, Descartes begins his argument explaining the senses which perceive reality can be deceptive and “it is wiser not to trust entirely to any thing by which we have once been deceived” (Descartes 59). But, he then continues to reason; “opinions [are] in some measure doubtful…and at the same time highly probable, so that there is much more reason to believe in than to deny them” (Descartes 62). Descartes maintains trust within his established personal beliefs though he may doubt certain physical senses. Additionally, Descartes seeks to establish his identity in “Meditation II”. Even as he questions his very existence, he begins trustin...

    Read More

  • Legalizing Marijuana Will Decreased Crime

    1426 Words  | 3 Pages

    Marijuana is the cause of much commotion and debating, as the question of legalization becomes more of an issue. Drugs are a major influential force in countries all over the world today. Legalization is an option that has not had a chance, but really should be given one. Although many people feel that legalizing marijuana would increase the amount of drug use, legalization would benefit for the following reasons: 1)reduction of money spent on law enforcement 2)increase in the countries revenue 3)lessen crime 4)useful in treating certain medical conditions.

    Read More

  • Descartes' Wax Passage

    1085 Words  | 3 Pages

    The teaching of Descartes has influenced many minds since his writings. Descartes' belief that clear and distinct perceptions come from the intellect and not the senses was critical to his ultimate goal in Meditations on First Philosophy, for now he has successfully created a foundation of true and certain facts on which to base a sold, scientific belief structure. He has proven himself to exist in some form, to think and therefore feel, and explains how he knows objects or concepts to be real.

    Read More

  • How Did Descartes Conceit The Existence Of His Own Existence?

    577 Words  | 2 Pages

    Through Descartes’s Meditations, he sought to reconstruct his life and the beliefs he had. He wanted to end up with beliefs that were completely justified and conclusively proven. In order to obtain his goal, Descartes had to doubt all of his foundational beliefs so that he could start over. This left Descartes doubting the reality of the world around him and even his own existence. In order to build up to new conclusively proven and justified true beliefs, Descartes needed a fixed and undeniable starting point. This starting point was his cogito, “I think, therefore I am.” In this paper I will argue that Descartes’s argument that he is definite of his own existence, is unsound.

    Read More

  • Legalization of marijuana

    731 Words  | 2 Pages

    First of all, legalization marijuana has enormous tax revenue. This will save us taxpayers millions also if marijuana is decriminalized by reducing the amount of money we pay to maintain prisoners incarcerated for marijuana related afflictions. Research Miron reports “that marijuana legalization would reduce government expenditures by roughly $8 billion annually. Approximately $5.5 billion of this would come from decreased state and local expenditures and approximately $2.5 billion from decreased federal expenditures. At the state and local levels, the reduced expenditures would consist of $1.8 billion less spent on police, $3.2 less on prosecutions, and $0.5 billion less on incarceration.” (At the federal level, a detailed breakdown is not readily available.”) (Miron, 2006).

    Read More

  • Jean-Paul Sartre’s Philosophy: Radical Freedom and Responsibility

    1238 Words  | 3 Pages

    “We are left alone, without excuse. This is what I mean when I say that man is condemned to be free” (Sartre 32). Radical freedom and responsibility is the central notion of Jean-Paul Sartre’s philosophy. However, Sartre himself raises objections about his philosophy, but he overcomes these obvious objections. In this paper I will argue that man creates their own essence through their choices and that our values and choices are important because they allow man to be free and create their own existence. I will first do this by explaining Jean-Paul Sartre’s quote, then by thoroughly stating Sartre’s theory, and then by opposing objections raised against Sartre’s theory.

    Read More

  • Descartes' First Meditation

    1330 Words  | 3 Pages

    Rene Descartes decision to shatter the molds of traditional thinking is still talked about today. He is regarded as an influential abstract thinker; and some of his main ideas are still talked about by philosophers all over the world. While he wrote the "Meditations", he secluded himself from the outside world for a length of time, basically tore up his conventional thinking; and tried to come to some conclusion as to what was actually true and existing. In order to show that the sciences rest on firm foundations and that these foundations lay in the mind and not the senses, Descartes must begin by bringing into doubt all the beliefs that come to him by the senses. This is done in the first of six different steps that he named "Meditations" because of the state of mind he was in while he was contemplating all these different ideas. His six meditations are "One:Concerning those things that can be called into doubt", "Two:Concerning the Nature of the Human mind: that it is better known than the Body", "Three: Concerning God, that he exists", "Four: Concerning the True and the False", "Five: Concerning the Essence of Material things, and again concerning God, that he exists" and finally "Six: Concerning the Existence of Material things, and the real distinction between Mind and Body". Although all of these meditations are relevant and necessary to understand the complete work as a whole, the focus of this paper will be the first meditation.

    Read More

  • Legalisation of Marijuana

    889 Words  | 2 Pages

    "Legalization of Marijuana." Student Resource Center. Detroit: Gale, 2012. Discovering Collection. Gale. MINITEX. 20 Mar. 2014

    Read More

  • Rene Descartes and the Source of Knowledge

    2129 Words  | 5 Pages

    In the second meditation he has found one true fact, "I think, therefore I am". Descartes then attempts to discover what this "I" is and how it perceives reality. The "I" is a body, a soul, and a thinking thing. It gains perception and recognition through the senses, the imagination, and the mind. He runs into two major problems in these meditations. The first was the existence of reality. The second is the connection between body and mind as he defines them.

    Read More

More about The Free Will in Meditations on First Philosophy by Descartes

Open Document