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Meditatio Secunda: De natura mentis humanae: quod ipsa sit notior quam corpus

Second Meditation: The nature of the human mind, and how it is better known than the body

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2013

Edited by
John Cottingham
John Cottingham
Affiliation:
University of Reading
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Summary

In tantas dubitationes hesterna meditatione conjectus sum, ut nequeam amplius earum oblivisci, nec videam tamen qua ratione solvendae sint; sed, tanquam in profundum gurgitem ex improviso delapsus, ita turbatus sum, ut nec possim in imo pedem figere, nec enatare ad summum. Enitar tamen et tentabo rursus eandem viam quam heri fueram ingressus, removendo scilicet illud omne quod vel minimum dubitationis admittit, nihilo secius quam si omnino falsum esse comperissem; pergamque porro donec aliquid certi, vel, si nihil aliud, saltem hoc ipsum pro certo, nihil esse certi, cognoscam. Nihil nisi punctum petebat Archimedes, quod esset firmum et immobile, ut integram terram loco dimoveret; magna quoque speranda sunt, si vel minimum quid invenero quod certum sit et inconcussum.

Suppono igitur omnia quae video falsa esse; credo nihil unquam extitisse eorum quae mendax memoria repraesentat; nullos plane habeo sensus; corpus, figura, extensio, motus, locusque sunt chimerae. Quid igitur erit verum? Fortassis hoc unum, nihil esse certi.

Type
Chapter
Information
René Descartes: Meditations on First Philosophy
With Selections from the Objections and Replies
 , pp. 32 - 47
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2013

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