The purpose of Decartes meditations was to find a foundation upon which knowledge could be based, he tried to do this by plunging himself into scepticism and doubting everything that he thought he knew in order to find something that he could not possibly doubt. read more
Wrong. The point is defined in space—a space that it cannot possibly be—a space that creates the point by its own apparent absence of existence. Descartes is able to think because he is, but he only is because of what he is not. read more
While Descartes didn’t single-handedly create the modern mind, he went a long way towards defining its contours. Descartes had set himself a very particular puzzle to solve. He wanted to find a stable point of view from which to look on the world without relying on God-decreed wisdoms; a place from which he could discern the permanent structures beneath the changeable phenomena of nature. read more
But the problem is that these bodies are linked to the minds that are free. Got to staple it somewhere. So Descartes picks a minor part of the body whose function was unclear at the time. In part, he does so because he's compelled by a question from the Swedish princess. read more