Foundations of Thought: Exploring Descartes' Meditations through Blackburn's Think

Animal life has been on this planet for at least six hundred million years, yet all of us animals have something we do in common—think. Thinking is like a survival instinct for almost every single living organism; it allows it to stay alive, reproduce, and eventually evolve. Simon Walter Blackburn, a contemporary philosopher born in the United Kingdom in 1944, is well known for his contributions to the philosophical study of ethics, truth, and language. Blackburn has also taught at Oxford, Cambridge, and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. In 1999, he published one of his most well-known works, Think., This book introduces philosophy in terms of knowledge, reason, truth, mind, freedom, destiny, identity, God, goodness, and justice. He establishes his own belief that "These are not the hidden preserve of specialists. They are things that men and women wonder about naturally” (Blackburn, 1). Blackburn goes through each of the topics in separate chapters of his book, but the chapter I find the most intriguing is the one on knowledge. In this section of the book, he discusses each of Descartes' six Meditations carefully, one at a time.

In this chapter, Blackburn uses the works of seventeenth-century philosopher, René Descartes. Descartes is just as influential today as he was in his own time. Most people remember him for saying: “cogito, ergo sum.” This Latin phrase translates to “I think, therefore I am.”But in truth, he wrote the famous phrase in French “Je pense, donc je suis”, before translating it into Latin to ensure his work had a wider audience. Over Descartes’s lifetime, he collected his work in a book called Meditations, published in 1641. Before going into detail about the six Meditations, Blackburn warns us of the danger of paraphrasing a philosopher, especially when they are as terse as Descartes. In the First Meditation, Descartes talks about methodical doubt and questions the reliability of his beliefs and sensory experiences. He considers the possibility that something evil could be deceiving him, giving him misperceptions and false knowledge. By casting doubt on everything, Descartes aims to find a definite foundation for knowledge. This skeptical approach lays the groundwork for his second and most well-known Meditation.

In the Second Meditation which is known for the famous phrase “Cogito, Ergo Sum,” Descartes embarks on a quest for certainty by building on the foundation of doubt established in the First Meditation. He reaches the famous conclusion, “I think; therefore I am.” Descartes argues that even if living beings do doubt themselves, the fact that they are about to doubt and to think for themselves explains how they can be sure they are real. While everything else to Descartes may be uncertain, the existence of the thinking self is undeniable. This foundational point of view allows Descartes to rebuild his system of knowledge, aiming to establish truths that are beyond doubt and grounded in the certainty of one’s existence as a thinking being.

In the Third Meditation, Descartes focuses on the existence of God as a necessary component for securing the reliability of clear and distinct ideas. He argues to his reader that the idea of God is innate and that God, as a supreme being, would not deceive. Hence, he concludes that God must be the source of clear and distinct ideas. Descartes also uses the adequacy principle, which suggests that the cause of an idea must have at least as much reality as the idea itself. With this, he reinforces his argument that since he, an imperfect being, has the idea of God, a supremely perfect being, the cause of that idea must be God. This meditation is important because he later uses the existence of God to establish more principles of whose existence he can be certain.

In the Fourth Meditation, Descartes talks about the things he considers to be true or false, he argues that, since God is benevolent and non-deceptive, then clear and distinct ideas are guaranteed to be true. According to Descartes, clear and distinct ideas are beyond doubt. He introduces the concept that suggests our judgments are flawed when we misapply our free will. Descartes emphasizes the importance of properly using our judgment and aligning it with distinct ideas to avoid errors. The Fourth Meditation reinforces the idea that truth is intimately tied to the reliability of clear and distinct ideas, with God serving as the guarantor of their truthfulness.

In the Fifth Meditation, Descartes talks about the essence of material things and reconsiders God for a second time. He argues that the essence of material objects lies in the fact that they are fundamentally spatial. Descartes reaffirms the existence of God as the guarantor of knowledge, asserting that God's existence ensures the reliability of clear and distinct ideas about both material and non-material realities. This meditation reinforces the connection between God's existence, clear and distinct ideas, and the foundational certainty of knowledge. Descartes aims to establish a secure foundation, where God serves as the ultimate source of truth and guarantees our understanding of the material world.

In the Sixth Meditation, Descartes talks about the real distinction between the mind and the body. He argues that the difference between the two is that the mind and body are fundamentally different entities. Descartes explores the nature of the mind-body relationship, suggesting that they interact through the pineal gland. This meditation further emphasizes the dualism inherent in Descartes' philosophy, separating mental and physical substances. While the mind is inseparable and lacks extension, the body is divisible and possesses extension. Descartes maintains that this dualistic perspective aligns, serving as a crucial aspect of his overall philosophical framework.

Blackburn provides a clear, accessible analysis of some of the most intricate ideas in philosophy, using Descartes' Meditations as a lens to explore questions about knowledge, existence, and truth. Through each meditation, Descartes challenges us to question the foundations of our beliefs, moving from radical doubt to the assertion of self-existence, the assurance of God's role in understanding, and the mind-body distinction. Blackburn highlights that these are not abstract notions but core inquiries that continue to shape our understanding of ourselves and the world. By breaking down these ideas, Blackburn shows how philosophers like Descartes contribute to the enduring human quest for certainty and meaning, inspiring readers to think critically about what they know and how they know it. Descartes’ meditations, as analyzed by Blackburn, serve as an invitation to deeper reflection on the nature of thought, existence, and the pursuit of truth—topics that are timeless and universally relevant.