Small discussion on the wax argument
             In Descartes¡¯ second meditation, when considering the corporeal things in the external world he takes the wax as an example to examine whether it is our sense that gives us the understanding of these things. First, when the wax has just been taken out from the comb, what we get by our senses like smell, shape, sight, touch and other sensory element. will all change after it is put by the fire. However he says that the wax remains. So these first-handed materials are proved to be useless in our grasping of the wax. Then he approaches some more essential characteristics of the wax. He says when taken away everything that does not belong to it the wax may be ¡°merely something extended, flexible and changeable.¡± And here he examines whether it¡¯s his imagination that helps him understand the wax. Since the infinite changing shape and size can impossibly be pictured in the imagination, he draws the conclusion that it¡¯s the mind other than the imagination that gets the essence of the wax. Later in his sixth meditation£¬Descartes has a more particular statement on distinction between imagination and understanding. There he clearly asserts that imagination is an unnecessary constituent of the mind and that we can get the knowledge only by mind without this imagination as we can understand the pentagon only with our mind though we can imagine it out.
             Therefore what he finally gets from his wax argument is that the physical things are known by us only by an understanding, an intuition of the mind.
            
             That¡¯s my own understanding of this argument. In this argument, Descartes gradually inquires further and further into the problem, and cautiously take away everything with no contribution to our real understanding of the wax and finally get to the point. Mainly, it¡¯s a pretty good argument. However, I still have found something confusing in it. I will try to explain these un...