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Meditations on First Philosophy

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Summary

Context

List of Characters

Overall Analysis and Themes

First Meditation: skeptical doubts

Second Meditation, Part 1: cogito ergo sum and sum res cogitans

Second Meditation, Part 2: the wax argument

Third Meditation, Part 1: clear and distinct perceptions and Descartes' theory of ideas

Third Meditation, Part 2: Descartes' theory of ideas (cont.)

Third Meditation, part 3: the existence of God and the Cartesian Circle

Fourth Meditation, Part 1: God is no deceiver

Fourth Meditation, Part 2: Will, intellect, and the possibility of error

Fifth Meditation: "The essence of material things, and the existence of God considered a second time"

Sixth Meditation, Part 1: Cartesian body

Sixth Meditation, Part 2: Mind-body dualism

Sixth Meditation, Part 3: Primary and secondary qualities

Study Questions

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Meditations on First Philosophy

Rene Descartes

Quiz

Which of the following is NOT accepted as a rational doubt?

(A) The Meditator might be dreaming

(B) The Meditator might be deceived by God

(D) The Meditator might be deceived by an evil demon

Which of the following is a version of the cogito?

(A) I think I walk, therefore I am

(B) I think I walk, therefore I walk

(D) I walk, therefore I walk

Which of the following is the Meditator NOT sure of by the end of the Second Meditation?

(A) He exists

(B) He is a thinking thing

(D) He knows his mind better than he knows his body

Which of the following is not used in an example in the Meditations?

(A) A piece of wax

(B) A painting

(D) A fishing line

What's the most certain kind of perception?

(A) Visual perception

(B) Clear and distinct perception

(D) Imagination

What kind of reality does a rock have?

(A) Finite formal reality

(B) Finite objective reality

(D) Modal formal reality

What kind of reality does the idea of God have?

(A) Modal objective reality

(B) Infinite formal reality

(D) Finite formal reality

What kind of reality does the idea of dogs have?

(A) Infinite objective reality

(B) Modal formal reality

(D) Modal objective reality

Which has the most objective reality?

(A) A turtle

(B) The fear of God

(D) The idea of the idea of God

Which has the most formal reality?

(A) A turtle

(B) The fear of God

(D) Temperature

What kind of thing is the color red?

(A) A primary attribute

(B) A substance

(D) A mode

What kind of thing is duration?

(A) A primary attribute

(B) A substance

(D) A mode

What is the primary attribute of mind?

(A) Thought

(B) Understanding

(D) The will

Which of the following is NOT a substance?

(A) Body

(B) Color

(D) Mind

Which of the following is NOT a mode?

(A) Redness

(B) Imagination

(D) Sweetness

Which of the following is NOT true?

(A) Clear and distinct perceptions are true because God exists

(B) God exists because I clearly and distinctly perceive it

(D) Descartes never made a slip in his reasoning

What faculties combined are responsible for human error?

(A) The imagination and the senses

(B) The will and the understanding

(D) The understanding and the senses

Why do we make mistakes?

(A) God is deceiving us

(B) We pass judgment on things we do not understand

(D) Our will is not free

Which is an essential property of God's?

(A) Existence

(B) Extension

(D) Cookies

Which of the following is a primary quality?

(A) Size

(B) Color

(D) Heat

Which of the following is a secondary quality?

(A) Size

(B) Shape

(D) Width

How does the body contact the mind?

(A) Through the brain

(B) Through the pineal gland

(D) Through the nervous system

What do all bodies have in common?

(A) They have colors

(B) They are perceptible

(D) They are extended

Which of the following is NOT body?

(A) Empty space

(B) Geometrical space

(D) None of the above

What is the purpose of the senses?

(A) To lead us toward the truth

(B) To help us get by in the world

(D) To perceive secondary qualities

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Meditations on First Philosophy

Descartes

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