Overview of Rene Descartes Meditation on First Philosophy

Overview of Rene Descartes Meditation on First Philosophy

Rene Descartes was a French philosopher who was highly influential. He was also a writer, mathematician, and scientist. Rene Descartes or Renatus Cartesius was named as the Father of Modern Philosophy.

Descartes more often contrasted his point of view among his predecessors. He always consider his writing unique, a work that nobody has ever written before. However, many of his philosophical elements revealed influences of Augustine and Aristotle which tackles about the 16th century stoicism revisions.

Descartes natural philosophy is different from what is taught in schools on two aspects. First, he rejected the corporeal substance analysis of forms and matters. Second, he rejected any appeal to natural or divine ends which explain natural phenomena. Even in Descartes theology, he insisted on God's absolute freedom regarding creation.

Descartes is commonly regarded as a modern thinker who first provided philosophical frameworks of natural sciences. In his work Meditations on First Philosophy, he attempted to arrive at an original set of ideologies which can be accepted as true by anyone without doubts. He then employed methodological skepticism wherein he doubted any idea that appears to be doubtful just to create a solid foundation for authentic knowledge.

Initially, Rene Descartes had arrived to only one principle that thought exists. It is the main proof of existence because thoughts cannot be entirely separated from a person. In Meditations on First Philosophy, this is called as cogito ergo sum. Therefore, he concluded that he really exists.

He based his conclusions on perceiving his body by using his senses, although in the past studies, these are proven unreliable. So he concludes that the thinking thing in him is the only knowledge which is not doubtful at all. Thus he defined thought as becoming immediately conscious of what is happening in him and he is conscious about it. Thinking is an activity of every person that gets immediate conscious.

He further demonstrated the limitations of his senses through the Wax Argument. Descartes uses wax as an example, his senses has informed him about its specific characteristics including texture, shape, color, smell, and others. When the wax is brought towards the flame, these characteristics completely change. But still, it appears to be the same wax although his senses have already informed him that the characteristics are now different. So, for him to grasp the wax's nature properly, he doesn't use his senses instead he uses his mind. Thus what he thought he had seen with his eyes, he actually grasped it solely with his power of judgment that is in his mind.

In this way, Rene Descartes continues his construction of a knowledge system which discards perceptions as unreliable and admits deductions as a technique. In the middle of Meditation on First Philosophy, he also offered ontological proofs of God's benevolence. He believed that his sensory system and working mind are provided by God. And God never desires in deceiving him. But this became a controversial argument because his benevolent notions about God were also developed from his arguments which are doubting perceptions. In this supposition, he finally established the possibility of obtaining knowledge regarding the world through perception and deduction.

In the system of Descartes, knowledge can take the forms of ideas while philosophical investigation contemplates these ideas.


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An All-Around Yoga Exercise: 12-Step Salute to the Sun

One of the all-around yoga exercises is the 12-step salute to the sun. Do it once or twice when you get up in the morning to help relieve stiffness and invigorate the body. Multiple repetitions at night will help you to relax; insomniacs often find that six to 12 rounds help them fall asleep.

1. Stand with your feet slightly apart, palms together, thumbs against your chest.

2. Inhale deeply while slowly raising your hands over your head, and bend back as far as possible, while tightening your buttocks. Hold for three seconds.

3. Slowly exhale and bend forward, keeping your knees straight, until your fingers touch the floor outside your feet. (If you can't touch the floor, go as close as you can.) Bring your head in toward your knees.

4. Slowly inhale, bend your knees, and if your fingertips aren't outside your feet on the floor, place them there. Slide your right foot back as far as you can go, with the right knee an inch or so off the floor, (a lunge position). Now look up as high as possible, arching your back.

5. Before exhaling again, slide your left foot back until it is beside the right one, and with your weight supported on your palms and toes, straighten both legs so that your body forms a flat plane. Make sure your stomach is pulled in.

6. Slowly exhale, bend both knees to the floor, bend with your hips in the air, lower your chest and forehead to the floor.

7. Now inhale slowly and look up, bending your head back, then raising it, followed by your upper chest, then lower chest.

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Using Meditation Through Music

Clearing your mind through meditation is one of the most peaceful ways you can find to just relieve all the tension you have in your body. Once your mind and body are relaxed you can start to just enjoy some time to yourself. I know that most of us listen to the radio at some point of the day. You may enjoy music ranging from country,to easy listening,to disco,soft rock,classic country,or even blue grass.

Whatever kind of music you enjoy you can find this as a very relaxing way of meditation. For a lot of you that are in good physical shape and like to exercise in a gym at home or even by jogging you want to be able to free your mind of a lot of things that have bothered you through the day.If you are out and about doing your exercises take a Walkman with you and just put it on a station that you really like and let the music just relax all of your tension.

If you are at home exercising or even cooking or cleaning if you have a CD player get one of your favorite Cd's and play it while you are doing the things you need to do.You can also just go get some blank tapes and record your favorite music off the radio for your meditation. One of the things I find relaxing is listening to music while I am working on the computer.

I have found free sites such as lime wire and frost wire and have taken the time to download my all time favorite songs. I transfer the songs I enjoy into my windows media player and play my music everyday when I am on the computer. I just quietly sing along to my favorite music relax and just meditate about my day. I actually use my keyboard a lot and have to do a lot of typing about different subjects

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