Descartes: Meditations on First Philosophy: With Selections from the Objections and Replies

172 Pages·1996·8.33 MB·English

by  René Descartes

Copyrighted material
CAMBRIDGE TEXTS IN THE
HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY
RENt DESCARTES
Meditations on First Philosophy
CAMBRIDGE TEXTS IN THE
HISTORY OF PHILOSOPH Y
tditon
Ser~.
KARL AM ERIKS
P",ft..a, of Philosophy a/ /lu U,,;vrr.;ty of Da_
NOIr~
DESMOND M. CLARKE
170ft"'" of Philosophy a/ UII;W:N;ry Cork
Q,J1~g~
"The mai~ obitniv. nI Camhridg. T.~fS in .he: HiSlory of Philosophy i• •n
a.
upo r>d II>< rang., va ~ a r>d q .... liry nf '.xlS in II. . hiOl...,. of ph ilooopb y which
art availablt in English. The::Itt;" i""lud.. '<x1S by filmitiar na ...... (<uch
Onean. . and KIn.] Ir>d al.., by Its. wt!l-known .u.n.,. ... WIt<:rn"<'T po«iblt,
lu" art ""blioh...! in rompl. .. and unabtidg...! form, and It.nsl ••; .",. IU
.pecially commis,ion...! for ,h. :Itt;". Ea<:h volume ro",.in• • critical
in'nod..ro.,., fO§<"tMr wilt. • guide to further ....d ins and any ..-...011'
n..
g\o!sa.;.. and mctual al'P"ralU>. volu ...... Irt designed for OI000n. usc a.
undcrgraduII< and poo'g.ldual. '""'01 Ind will be of in, ...." "'" only .0
.tudents of phil<>«ophy, ho. also to a wida .i>di-cna: <>f ",ada. in tl>< hiOfOry of
ocicncr, the hi. .. ..,. of throlosy, and .It<: hist<><y <>f ideas.
•
RENE DES CARTES
Meditations on
First Philosophy
with Selections from the Objections and Replies
TRANSLATED AND EDITED BY
JOHN COTTINGHAM
U,.;wrsiry of R.~"di"g
with an introductory essay by
BERNARD WILLIAMS
and a new introduction for this fililion by
JOHN COTTINGHAM
REVISED EDITION
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••
Contents
•
'I' ate
Our ,mJ disti"d ,,"d rb. 'Omu ;"" arch'
~oo..
On Mrdjwjon Sjx
Tb. Mll du/;"(/io,, M/WU" mjlld ""d b.ody .07
I ....
" 7
Introductory essay
Bernard Williams
'I w""ld not u~ anyonelo read Ihi, book exceptthOK who . re able and
","""sty
willing 10 meditale wilh me', O¢Karl" says '0 his .ude. . in <he
,,",face (1'. 11, below), and lie makes il dU'lha, he mean. the M~d;""io1I.
10 be a "eati.." a mere exposition of philosophical ",aSOnS and.;on
no{
elusions, but nlthe. an uetdse in .hinking, pr...,nted as an encourage
mall .nd aguide 10 rude. . who wil1think p!.ilo<ophically .hemsel~. Its
thoughts, cotrl:lpondingly, are pr...,nled a5 Ihey mighl be conducted by
iu .uthor _ ot ro,h ••, as though .hey we.e being conducted at tile very
moment at which you rud them. Indttd, th. 'I" who i. haYing Ih...,
thoUghll may lie yourself. Although we Ue conscious, in reading <h.
MN;l4rio~., Ihat they were w.inen by a parti""lar person, R ....
DcianCl, and al a particular time, about "~o, the 'I" thaI appean
throughout them from Ihe finl ",n,en« on docs not lpecifically rep.esenl
<hat person: il ,ep• . ..,nll anyon< who will lUI' inlO Ihe position it mark ...
the position of the Ihinke. who i. prepared 10 U'COn,idc. and .«ast hn 0.
lie, belief., as Descartes .upposed w. mighl, from Ihe ground up.
Thn T il diffiormt, tllen, from <h. 'I· lhat o«un in the R.4'Ii4 10 IIIe
Objutio7lS. (E>rtracu from boIh of Ihne also appea' in 1M volurroe; how
tMy came 10 he wrinm i, explaint(\ by the tra",lator in his NoI:. on the
IOXf, p. "Iiv.) In ,he R.4'I~., Des.i::anes speaks STraightforwardly for
himself, and the 'I' •• p.esents lhe author of Ih. Mdi'<ltiofu. The 'I' in the
M~d;l4tio ... themselvCl repramlS their namlO. or prot;lgonnt. WMm ""'"
may call 'the thinker', Of cou,,", the author has 10 !<Ike tCSpoIUibiliry for
the thinker's reflections, He takes responsibiliry boIh fo, ,lie condUCI of
them and for the-i. outcome, where <h., includes the beliefs 10 which we:
.baLI have bem led if .... are persuaded by lhe ."umenu, and also the
improved SUlCI of mind lhat the author hpects US to ",,,h by following
hn work. Bul the author i. not answerable for <:very notion entertained by
dI(" thinktr and for evuy tum <hal the ",flection takes on the way, The
."
.. iii
""ries Qf though .. ha. an upshOl or culmination, ruched in lhot Sixth
MNiwion, and ..,"'" Qf lhot ,hink .... '. earli. . tooughu ha .. e btf:n
""ercomc and left behind in ,he process of reachi"ll that final poinl.
Some Qf those woo .ubminN the Ob~mo ... found it hard 10 follow lhot
working OUt of Ihis idea, and 10 sec how far lhe thinker had got at YJriou.
poin .. in .h. Pf""'" 01 fe/kaion. It i• •t ill hafd today, and rommen·
tators' discussions of Ihe often take Ihe form of asking how
Mtdit~lio~.
much at a gi ... n stag< Onea"n .ake. him""lf 10 hue such
"lablish~. ln
di<cussion., i. i. and hi. in •• n.ion •• hat ro...., into quntion;.he
lH.cart~.
modern obiectors addr. .. themsdvn. if 1. .. direaly than the obj«lOrs
whO$<" Ie,,", Ip!"".r in thi ...o lume, to the author. It wu, .ftor all,
IX5Can .. woo goove.hot thinker II... di •• ctions he follows. Th.re i. a sug·
genion implicit in 'he beginning of the work thO! the thinker <k>n not
know how it will all turn out: but that is.
~ction.
To say that it is a fiction is not necessarily 10 $;Iy that in lermS of the
wOfk itself it is untrue. This miglu 1..0", bun a work in whim th. think. .• •
fictional ignonnce 01 how hi. r.Hection. would .urn OUt was ron"i",.
ingly .unainN. To some ."tenl ;t il so, and to tha ••" tent, one 01 'M gifts
offered to the reader by Ihi. extraordinary work i. a Irttdom.o write it
difkremly, to .... our wi.h the thinker and end up in a differen. pia",. The
r.writinll 01 Dr<.<an ••· ..o ry in that w.y It .. i,utN • good de.1 of
<"Of1 ..
modern philosophy.
How. ...., if would be wrong 10 .ugse. . that th. offen no
Medil4lio~.
mol" than an inviution to philosophical ..f l«tion, hy ..k ing ..,fM
q ....t ion. and ohowingone way in which they might be anlwered. W. a ..
rather. to sense the autoor', guiding hand .hroughout. Modern
expea~,
r. .d en may ,ake .hi, for .00 ••, ily, bccau$O Il>oy undern.im.at.
g.an'~
Dr<.<an ..' intention to eng.g. the re.der in 1M argumen,. They m.y think
of th. ... just a device that IX"""". . chose: to g<t aero. . ,h.
M.d;latio~
opinion.th• • we nOW find ..< fibed to him in histotiH of philosophy. It i.,
cenainly, a devicc fc:it convincing u., but;, i. more than (hot, becau$O il
aim. 10 con .. ince u. by making u. conduct the argUfMn. our$Olv ...
The fim 0/ tit. Mtdit;>cio'l' may Itave the author's guiding
f ..d e~ ~It
pre$On", for a different rea,.,n, that they w.re consciouo of a kind of
writing that it ... .,mbl.d. It wa., and ..m ains, a v.ry unu.ual wo.k, and
there had n"er b«n a work of philosophy in ouch a form
pruen'~
before. But .here did ."in, familiarly, work. of rdigiou. medita.ion, .nd
Dr<.<aneo' book ..I f-ron. .i o.,,ly ....m blc:. them. like many of them, it i,
oot.nsibly di .. ided between day. of contemplation and, again lik.tMm, it
en.courall" and h.lp< the reader 10 Overro"", and gel rid of mislc:ading
and seductive $Iar .. 01.1>0 $Qui,,., to arrive at an undentanding 0/ hi.
0$
or htr own nature and of a created being'. rela.ion. wilh God.
,.