Rene Descartes, Meditation 2 | The Piece of Wax Example | Philosophy Core Concepts

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This is a video in my new Core Concepts series -- designed to provide students and lifelong learners a brief discussion focused on one main concept from a classic philosophical text and thinker.
This Core Concept video focuses on Rene Descartes' work, The Meditations, specifically on meditation 2 and his famous "bit of wax" (moreceau de cire) example, which he uses to illustrate the nature of extended substance, and the ways in which we perceive that substance, either through the senses, or through the intellect.
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#Descartes #Metaphysics #Meditation

[@SolSilence]

'The piece of wax example' sounds like a good band name.

[@GregoryBSadler]

Possibly so

[@Karenhypnotic]

Thank you for this! I am taking online courses in Philosophy and it's all text without lectures which makes this type of material very challenging to understand so I'm very grateful that I can come onto this platform and watch a lecture!

[@GregoryBSadler]

You’re very welcome. I’m sad to read that there are still crappy online courses out there being sold to students.

[@felixhacking3694]

Great video, really helped me out this confused me too much originally before watching this.

[@madi2404]

Great video! I’m studying philosophy at AS and this was a big help. New subscriber

[@GregoryBSadler]

Glad you found it useful

[@nihiladmirari7534]

When I was a baby I did not even have a concept of Wax. Then I was a child and I had a concept for Wax but it was only on a perceptual (lower) level. Then I learned biology, chemistry, physics, I saw the utility of Wax in different contexts so I knew more about Wax, i.e. I had more connections between Wax and other perceptions and ideas. With philosophy I am able to get an even broader perception of Wax. So my concept of Wax has enriched with thoughts and emotions connecting Wax to other hundreds of other concepts. Wax is the relation: Human mind (a particular single mind) to 'that thing called Wax whose nature the mind is trying to grasp'. 'Wax' can not exist without the mind, the mind cannot know a little bit more about itself without the Wax. It is as though every man has his own inner taste of Wax, his own inner experience of Wax that is a sum of everything he collected regarding Wax. A person with a higher (purer) intellect might perceive more of the objective nature of the Wax. Wax is an ever-growing concept whose growth depends on the growth of the human minds who 'care' for it.

[@nihiladmirari7534]

Wax is a qualia in my mind. (qualia = inner taste of ) If a piece of Wax before my eyes were suddenly to become a House I would not think it is Wax anymore, because the qualia of House in my mind is very different from the qualia of Wax in my mind, there is a big difference. But if I were to read in a poem that: "A piece of Wax is a House for an insect" (for example); then the qualia of Wax receives some small portion of the qualia of House in my mind and I begin to connect them.

[@janheartnazarenelayoso408]

I'm a new subscriber, thank you so much for your content!

[@GregoryBSadler]

You’ve very welcome!

[@alexmavlios8264]

Great videos thank you

[@GregoryBSadler]

You’re very welcome!

[@ace9924]

Just got done with the second meditation and what confused me were the three categories but I believe I understand them now. The sensible qualities are the things that are changing but the constant that is the material is not reduced to sensible qualities and therefore the nexus but the intellect. Can't wait to read the 3rd meditation. And thanks for this explanation.

[@GregoryBSadler]

You're welcome!

[@rburrisVET]

How does Descarte's explanation of the use of the intellect differ from Aristotle's (or Aquinas's) explanation of abstraction from sense data? Or are they the same?

[@GregoryBSadler]

You'll want to read more than the Meditations to answer that for yourself.

[@ChristineSabella]

I am in the process of writing the essay but i am struggling to understand Descartes view on the senses. I kept on researching to get a satisfactory answer but i can’t seem to resolve my questions, does he believe that the senses play a role with the help of intellect/reason in gaining knowledge and truth or does he completely want to abandon them and rely on pure intellect only? I am not sure if he is contradicting himself or if i understand him wrong. Is he saying that we should rely on our intellect which is completely withdrawn from the senses. Or is sensory perception part of the intellect. Because how can one come to reason alone without the use of the senses? Is sensory perception the same as the senses according to him? Is it also part of the mind?

[@GregoryBSadler]

"does he believe that the senses play a role with the help of intellect/reason in gaining knowledge and truth or does he completely want to abandon them and rely on pure intellect only?" Depends on the matter being studied.

[@carliejung8408]

I think descartes kept on saying that we can't purely rely on our senses because sometimes it can "deceive" us. For him, the mind is seperate from our senses which is the sight, smell, hearing, feeling, and the sense of taste. The thoughts and imagination can exist without this senses.

[@solarwind3656]

I'm confused, is he saying our understanding of the wax comes from some form of platonic wax independent of the physical wax?

[@GregoryBSadler]

No, and for Plato there wouldn't be any form of wax