Descartes Study Questions

Meditation 1

  1. How does Descartes begin the Meditations? What does he hope to achieve in this work, and what method does he adopt to pursue this goal?
  2. What are the three forms or stages of doubt through which Descartes passes?
  3. What is the most serious form of doubt, such that one could doubt even the most obvious of beliefs, such as 2+3=5?

Meditation 2

  1. What is the first piece of certain knowledge that Descartes claims to acquire and how does he acquire it?
  2. How does he reach the conclusion that his nature is that of a "thinking thing" or "thinking substance"? Why doesn't he conclude that he also has a body?
  3. What is the significance of the "piece of wax" passage? What do we learn about the true nature of the wax?

Meditation 3

  1. At the beginning of Meditation 3, what does Descartes accept as the mark of certain knowledge?
  2. What type of doubt continues to trouble him at this point?
  3. What are the different types of ideas that Descartes distinguishes? How does Descartes account of innate a priori knowledge compare to Plato’s theory of knowledge as recollection in the Meno?
  4. What is the difference between the "natural light" (or "light of nature") and "what nature teaches me"?
  5. What are the main parts of Descartes argumentation for God's existence offered in Meditation 3? How does he justify this existence and what consequences does this account have for him?

Meditation 4

  1. Why is Descartes certain that God is not a deceiver? If God is not a deceiver, how do human beings err? Why do our errors not threaten God's goodness?

Meditation 5

  1. How does Descartes’ now formulate the ontological argument for God’s existence? How do the arguments for God’s existence in Meditation three and five compare?
  2. By the end of Meditation 5, why is Descartes convinced that we can be confident of the certainty of our knowledge, so long as we rely solely on clear and distinct perceptions?
  3. How does this conclusion relate to the doubts raised in Meditation 1? Could an atheist have absolutely certain knowledge for Descartes?

Meditation 6

  1. What is the difference for Descartes between the imagination and the intellect?
  2. What does Descartes mean when he says that there is a "real distinction" between the soul and the body?
  3. How does Descartes claim to prove the existence of external bodies?
  4. What is our evidence that there is one body to which the soul is joined in an especially intimate way?What does Descartes mean when he says the soul is not in the body "like a pilot in a ship"? How, according to Descartes, do the soul and body communicate?
  5. At the end of Meditation 6, what is Descartes' response to the dreaming doubt raised in Meditation 1?