Descartes's Arguments: Faulty Justification for Our Ideas of Bodies? - Essay Sample

Descartes's Arguments That Our Ideas of Bodies Are Caused by External Objects That Resemble Our Ideas Are Without Good Justification

In the Third Meditation concerning Descartes's theory of ideas and perceptions, Descartes shows a keen interest in judgments, claiming that there are things that people could be wrong, and he attempts to investigate the source of doubt. As the ideas exhibit objects to the mind, Descartes resolves that thoughts could be innate, invented, and adventitious. In Descartes's view that there is no reason to believe that adventitious ideas of bodies are as a result of external objects resembling our ideas of them, Descartes based his arguments on the knowledge that he is in existence. Descartes argues that his understanding of cogito and the sum res cogitans should deliver distinct perceptions, concluding that all adventitious ideas resembling different perceptions should be absolute. Although the reasoning might seem confusing, Descartes perceives that ideas of bodies should be distinctive and precise since they are means through which the cogito certainty can be realized.

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In his arguments, as seen in the Third Meditation, this theory of ideas of bodies is a preamble to the attempts of Descartes to show the existence of God. Related to the "Cartesian Circle" conundrum, Descartes claims that ideas of bodies should not be applied as a tool to reduce ideas to only visual representations. According to Descartes, his arguments suggest that an effect about something should not be more significant than its cause, relying on the self-evident principle that things cannot be developed from nothing. Specifically, Descartes argues that, even though an idea about a body may originate from another idea, there cannot be the existence of infinite regress since one must develop a primary idea. The cause of the concept should contain facts in reality or clear perceptions of the idea. This notion implies that the content on the views of bodies could have origin from things outside the mind, is things existing independently of our minds. In his ideology that adventitious ideas of bodies have a background outside the mind, this connects to the existence of God, whereby the innate sense of God can be viewed as a primary since there is a reality in the reality of God's existence.

Similarly, the adventitious idea of a body like a sun can be considered a primary idea as well due to the reality of the existence of the sun. In any case, one has adventitious ideas of a body, there is no valid reason to think that they resemble objects they represent. For example, according to the human sense, thinking, and ideas, the sun appears significantly small; however, astronomical suggestions imply that it is indeed enormous. In similar reasoning, one can have a sense of God, or how to something appears, none of which might be accompanied by an image, qualifying it as an image of something. With Descartes's focus on judgment, in the Third Meditation, Descartes concludes that individuals perceive their ideas of bodies without any level of justification.

Descartes's Change of Position

By the end of the Meditations, as argued by Descartes, he changes his position on the question of whether we have acceptable justification for believing that our ideas of bodies are caused by external things resembling our thoughts. The difference between the Third Meditation and Sixth Meditation account for this change of position as Descartes brings about the idea of innate and adventitious ideas. Within the Sixth Meditation, Descartes concludes on the resemblance of thoughts to things deriving that the objective reality of his perspective of body, relating it to innate ideas, ought to have an origin in reality other than the mind. Its origin could be in an existing corporeal object, similar to the innate idea of the existence of God. When the Third Meditation is considered, Descartes settles majorly on the adventitious ideas attempting to describe how the ideas of bodies should have an origin and show a sense of reality. As the adventitious ideas imply that the ideas of nature are derived from things outside the human mind, Descartes argues that ideas of bodies may not depend on individual thoughts, which means that they do not rely on a person. According to Descartes, the adventitious ideas originate from sensory experiences similar to the concept of the Moon, the Sun, or God. Also, the ideas of sound, color, temperatures, among others, could define adventitious ideas.

Moreover, Descartes's change of position can be attributed to his consideration or application where adventitious and innate ideas are delivered as sharing the feature of having an origin in the idea of objects that exist independently of the mind. For instance, evident in the Sixth Meditation, Descartes argues that when a view of a body in perceived as innate, this does not imply that it has existed before but means that within ourselves, there is a definitive external feature that summons the idea. In this sense, there is a view that sensory impressions as well categorized as adventitious ideas arise through the reasons when innate is considered as a faculty in mind.

The alleged resemblance between adventitious and innate ideas by looking at ideas of bodies signifies Descartes's change of position by showing the role of innate ideas in understanding how external objects resembling ideas could result to out view of bodies. For example, the adventitious notion of a body such as a sun presents the mind with the idea that it is a shaped object. However, the innate sense of the body is present since it creates an external experience in that shape presupposes an extension of the idea.