We’ll be reading selections from Descartes’ Meditations on First
Philosophy. I’ll provide
you with the entire text, in case you want to read further, but for our
purposes we can skip the Dedication, Preface, the Synopsis. Let’s start with Meditation I and we’ll work through the bits that are important for our purposes
together.
(By the way, reading Descartes can be challenging, but challenges can
feel good and engaging, like working on a puzzle or - so I hear - engaging in
an athletic event. If you find yourself getting unpleasantly frustrated and
feeling generally bad rather than engrossed or energized, it might help
to take a look at my advice on reading philosophy.)
Meditations on First Philosophy
by René Descartes
Meditation I – Of the Things of Which
We May Doubt
Meditation II – Of the Nature of the
Human Mind
Meditation III – Of God: That He
Exists
Meditation IV – Of Truth and Error
Meditation V – Of the Essence of
Material Things
Meditation VI – Of the Existence of
Material Things