Chapter 4 six meditative summaries

In the first meditation I suggested that as long as we find no grounds in science other than those hitherto, we have reason to doubt everything in general, especially material things.Although the advantage of general doubt is at first insignificant, nevertheless, since it frees us from prejudices of all kinds, it prepares us for a very easy path to follow, gradually accustoming our minds to detachment from the senses, and finally allowing us to We can never have any more doubts about what is later found to be true, so its benefits are still very great. In the second meditation, the mind, at its own liberty, has the slightest doubt about the existence of all things, and assumes that they do not exist, but it must never consider itself non-existent.This is also a very great advantage, especially since the mind can easily distinguish in this way what belongs to it, that is to say, what belongs to the intellect, and what belongs to the corporeal.However, some may wait for me to present here some reasons for the immortality of the soul, so I think it is time to tell them that I am not going to put in this book anything which I have not argued very accurately, Then I see that I have to follow the same sequence as used by geometers:

First put forward all the grounds for the proposition to be proved, and then draw conclusions. The first and main thing required before the knowledge of the immortality of the soul is to have a clear and distinct conception of the soul, completely different from all possible concepts of body1: this has been done here. Arrived.Beyond that, it requires knowing that everything we clearly and distinctly perceive is inherently true as we perceive it.This has not been demonstrated before the fourth meditation.In addition, what is objectivity must have a clear concept. This concept is partly seen in the second meditation, and partly in the fifth and sixth meditation.Finally, one conclusion should be drawn from all this: that whatever is clearly and distinctly apprehended as different substantialities, as mind is apprehended as being different from bodies, actually belongs to different substances, and there is a real relationship between them. Others: This is the conclusion drawn in the sixth meditation.It is also confirmed in this meditation that we understand all bodies as divisible, but the spirit or human soul can only be understood as indivisible, because, in fact, we can never comprehend half souls, but But we can apprehend which is the half of the smallest body, and therefore body and mind are not only different in quality, but even in some cases opposite.But it is not necessary for me to go any further on this matter in this book, partly because it is enough to show quite clearly that the death of the soul does not follow from the decay of the body, and it is also enough to give people a second time after death. The hope of life; but also because the premises from which we can deduce the immortality of the soul depend on the interpretation of the whole of physics.This is in the first place to know that all substances in general, that is to say, everything that could not exist but were created by God, are by their nature indestructible, and that unless this same God wills Destroy them by withdrawing his usual support, and they could never cease to exist.Next, to show that, in the general sense, a body is a substance, and is therefore immortal; but the human body, insofar as it differs from other bodies, is merely composed of members and other like bodies. It is composed of accidents; but the human soul is not like this, it is a simple substance, and it is not composed of accidents.

For even if all its accidents are changed, for example, it perceives something, it desires something else, it feels something, etc., it remains always the same soul; Some parts of it change shape, and it is no longer the same body.From this we can see that the human body is easily perishable, but the spirit or human soul (I think there is no difference between the two) is immortal in its nature. ①The word corps in French can be translated in several different ways according to Chinese habits: body, flesh, object, shape.The same below. ② The same God.The second edition in French is: God Himself.

③French second edition: But the soul can never become something else. ④French second edition: The human body becomes something else. In the third meditation, I feel that I have explained the main arguments for the existence of God in considerable detail.However, I didn’t intend to make comparisons with physical things here, so as to free the reader’s spirit from the senses as much as possible, so there may still be many ambiguities left. I hope that in my This will be fully clarified in my reply to the rebuttals presented to me thus far.How, for example, can the idea of ​​a supremely perfect being in us contain so much objective reality, that is, share so much of existence and perfection from appearances, that it must necessarily come from a supreme The reasons for this are quite difficult to understand.However, in my defense, I used a very delicate machine as a comparison to illustrate that the idea of ​​this machine exists in the mind of a certain craftsman.The idea must have had a cause in objective skill, say, the knowledge of the craftsman, or he had learned the concept from someone else, so in the same way the idea of ​​God in our minds cannot be without its cause, this The reason is God Himself.

In the fourth meditation, it is proved that everything that we understand very clearly and clearly is true; at the same time, it explains where the reasons for error and falsity lie; this must be known, on the one hand for To confirm the truths of the past is also to better understand the truths of the future.But it should be pointed out that I am not here referring to evil, that is to say, errors in the pursuit of good and evil, but only errors in judging and distinguishing between true and false; Here we speak of what is of faith, or of action in life, but only of speculative truths and truths which can be known only by the aid of natural light.

① French Second Edition: "The Nature of Mistakes and Falsehoods". ② "Natural light" refers to reason. In the fifth meditation, in addition to explaining corporeality in general, new reasons are given for the existence of God, and in these reasons certain difficulties are encountered, but these difficulties I will give to my The objections raised are addressed in the defense.Also, it is seen there how it is true that the correctness of the geometrical argument itself depends on the knowledge of God. Finally, in the sixth meditation, I distinguished intellectual and imaginative activities; there I described the signs of this distinction.There I pointed out that the human soul is really different from the body, yet it is closely integrated with the body as if it were one thing.Some of the errors of the senses, and the means of avoiding them, are explained there.Finally, where I point out various reasons for the existence of material things, it is not because I conclude that these reasons are good for what they prove, such as that there is a world, that man has a body, and so on , these are never doubted by any sane person; but because on closer inspection they are seen to be less obvious and less forceful than the reasons which lead to our knowledge of God and our souls, and thus lead us to spiritual The grounds of knowledge of God and our souls are the surest and most obvious grounds.This is all that I plan to demonstrate in these six meditations.I have omitted here many other problems, about which I have also dealt with in due occasions in this book.