Argument of the Wax Analysis PDF

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Professor: Dr. Ray
Mandatory assignment, must understand the Wax Analysis (youtube was the easiest way to learn the theory)...

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Samantha Longfield PP111 Professor Nicholas Ray Tuesday October 3rd, 2017 The Wax Argument Analysis Rene Descartes was a French philosopher who is known as the father of modern western philosophy. He wrote a book called Meditations on First Philosophy which includes his famous theory called “The Wax Argument”. Descartes was a rationalist, so he believed everything through knowledge and reason. With the Wax Argument, think of a piece of wax fresh from a hive. With our senses, we know it is sweet, has an odour of the flowers, it has colour, it has size and shape, it is held easily, and if you press the wax it will make a sound. These are everything that seems to be needed to identify its body. Then Descartes wants one to hold it near a fire, the wax will begin to lose its odour, shape, colour and the size increases. The wax becomes liquid and hot, it does not make a sound when you touch it anymore. It is obviously still the same wax but our senses do not say the same. To identify the wax with just our senses is not enough for it to be considered the same wax. So how do people define wax? In Descartes' theory he explains, 1. The wax loses all its sensory qualities once put next to the hot fire. 2. The wax does not cease to be what it is after it goes through significant change in all its sensory qualities. 3. We still know it is the same wax even if our senses say otherwise. 4. Wax is extendable, flexible and changeable. This is impossible to know through the imagination.

5. The wax remains to be extendable, flexible and changeable after being placed beside near hot fire. 6. Senses and the imagination are unreliable guides. 7. Bodies are not perceived by senses, but by intellect alone. 8. All perceptions come from intellect alone and not from senses and imagination. Descartes thinks our sense experience and imagination are not reliable sources because bodies require mental judgement beyond sensory experience. Descartes claims we know bodies through our intellect. For example, a person gives an ice cube to their dog to eat as a treat on a hot summer day. Then the dog places the ice cube on the ground and starts eating parts the it and notices that it is beginning to disappear. The owner begins to laugh at their dog because they know that the ice cube is the same ice cube, but just in liquid state. The dog represents our senses and the owner of the dog represents our intellect. Without intellect humans would have a lot of a harder time defining bodies. In conclusion, I personally agree and disagree with Descartes’ theory. Reason being, I believe humans are born without knowing what wax is. We need our senses and sensory experience to learn what wax is as we grow and develop our brains. Our senses train our intellect to understand what wax really is. Without our senses, we would not know what wax is, which also goes the same for our intellect. I also agree with Descartes’ theory because in the example I gave about the dog and the ice cube, it is true that we cannot just define bodies with only our senses and imagination. Wax is still wax even when its physical form changes. We know that the wax does not cease

from what it is after undergoing change strictly because of our intellect. It still continues to be extendable, flexible and changeable and these cannot be found with our imagination. This conclusion about only needing our intellect alone is because we developed our intellect with our senses....