Descartes and the Block of Wax Example

             Explain the 'block of wax' example (Med II, pp. 20-21). Why does Descartes bring it up? What is it supposed to show? Use this example to develop a valid argument for what it is supposed to show. Does it show what Descartes thinks it does? Why or why not?
             To give context to the 'block of wax example,' René Descartes begins in First Meditation by acknowledging that his senses deceive him, and thus he doesn't have justification to trust his basic beliefs. He wants to find a 'certain and indubitable' (p 14) foundation from which to acquire knowledge and hang his belief systems. He finds first (and infamously) that he thinks, therefore he exists, and from that he concludes that the mind is better known than the body. We can be appeared to wax-ly, squarely, or spiral-ly for that matter, but because our senses have a history of deception, there is a veil of perception. Upon re-reading, please note that the rhyme scheme was unintentional.
             The wax example serves at least two purposes in Descartes' argument and exploration. The first is a final devastating blow to any lingering trust of the senses after the first two meditations. Due to the highly malleable and mutable properties of wax, it can begin with five sensible properties but end with five completely different properties. Wax can be molded into anything from a smelly candle to a replication of a celebrity's features if one should desire. Both the primary and secondary qualities of the wax can change, so how is it that we can the wax? This is the space that Descartes fills in with his assertion of our innate knowledge of things, or "pure mental scrutiny (p 21)." We have a concept of 'waxness' or the essence of the wax in our mind.
             After reading further into the meditations, our apparently innate grasp of the "ousia" of the wax serves to strengthen Descartes' argu...

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Descartes and the Block of Wax Example. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 11:11, March 29, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/92602.html