8/11/2019 Lecture Notes - Philo Report 6th Meditations

1/3

Slide 1Descartes addresses the potential existence of material outside of the self and God. First, he

asserts that such objects canexist simply because God is able to make them.

PROOF OF THE REALITY OF EXTERNAL MATERIAL THINGS

1. I have a "strong inclination" to believe in the reality of external material things due to my

senses.

- everything is subject to doubt

-6thmed opened with the Meditator considering the existence of material things.

-accepts the strong possibility that material objects exist

- subject-matter of pure mathematics

- perceives clearly and distinctly.

Knowing that the existence of such objects is possible, Descartes then turns to the prevalence ofmental images as proof. To do this, he draws a distinction between imagination and

understanding;

imagination - non-linguistic "faculty of knowledge to the body which is immediately

- present to it [...] without intellection or conception"

- mental photograph

- the act or power of forming a mentalimage of something not present to the

senses or never before wholly perceived in reality

- creative ability-

understanding - being something that is not necessarily pictured.

- the knowledge and ability to judge a particular situation or subject

- talked about weakness of imaginationchiliagon

IMAGINATIONMind turns outward toward thebody

PURE UNDERSTANDINGMind turns inward upon itself

Triangle Can imagine

Picturing the triangle in theminds eye

Derive all sorts of itsproperties usingunderstanding alone

Three sides, 3 30 degreesangles.

Chiliagon Difficult to imagine,differentiate

Did you ever see a chiliagon

Can perceive just as easily asthe triangle, use mathematicalrelations

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/imagehttp://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/image

8/11/2019 Lecture Notes - Philo Report 6th Meditations

2/3

before??? Hahaha Polygon with 1000 sides

- said : imagination cannot be an essential property of his mind., since the Meditator could still exist

even if he could not imagine.

- Imagination must rely on something other than the mind for its existence.

- Imaginationconnected with the body; allows mind to picture corporeal objects.

-Meditator admits that this is only a strong assumption, not a definitive proof of the existence of

material objects. ( everything is subject to doubt)

2. God must have created me with this nature.

- God created the human person

- human person capable of doing errors, living in material things, proof is in our senses

-we are living with material things, we are in relation with nature. We as persons are inclined to that.

-- The Meditator perceives that he has a body that exists in the world, and is capable of sensory

perceptions (pleasure, pain, emotion, love, hunger).

-Since sensory perception = passive faculty (let it go), there must be an active cause that creates

these sensory perceptions. (cause must be outside the body)

1. other bodiesobjective reality

2. God that created these perceptions

3. If independent material things do not exist, God is a deceiver.

- if wala nag exist ng building, gi atik ra diay ta ni God.

4. But God is not a deceiver.

-Godgood god. Essence/purpose of Godexistence.

-if a deceiverma forfeit ang perfection.

5. So material things exist and contain the properties essential to them.

- since God is not a deceiver, God would not have misled the Meditator into thinking there are

material objects if there were not.

Therefore, material things exist. Perception of most properties of material objects is confused and

obscure, so his perception of them might not be perfect, but at least he can be certain.

8/11/2019 Lecture Notes - Philo Report 6th Meditations

3/3

OBJECTIONS AND REPLIES

Gassendi 1

There is not a deep difference between understanding and imagination.

- There is nothing to prevent you from extending your imagination

- What you do in the triangle you can make in the chiliagon

- Come within the scope of the understanding and of imagination

Understanding - more effort

Imaginationless effort

-but you do make an effort to get a mental picture of a chiliagon

-You understand that chiliagon = 1000 sides

-but it does not follow that you understand the thousand angles of the figure any better than

you imagine them..

How can they be different if they are one of the same power?

REPLY

- False that your understanding of chiliagon is confused

- Many properties can be very vividly demonstrate it (math)

- We have a clear understanding, but we cant imagine all at once

o Given that human is finite

- Two different kinds of mental operation:

o Understandingmind employs only itselfo Imaginationcontemplates a bodily form (imagine)

HOBBES