Here is the synopsis of our sample research paper on Descartes' Second Meditation
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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This 3 page paper examines concepts in this meditation. The soul and mind are evaluated. Bibliography lists 3 sources.
Page Count:
3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: RT13_SA717Des.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
goes on to address some of the most interesting and difficult concepts to evaluate. A student asks, what does Descartes find to pertain to the "I" which is either the
mind or the soul. A student wants to know, based on this meditation, what is the passion of the soul? What belongs to the mind? What belongs to the soul?
In the second meditation, Descartes addresses the accuracy of human interpretation. People think things. They perceive things in their minds. But this does not mean that the perception is accurate.
Now, the student asks about the passion of the soul. What belongs to the mind and what belongs to the soul? Later in the mediation, Descartes writes: "But I had
the persuasion that there was absolutely nothing in the world, that there was no sky and no earth, neither minds nor bodies; was I not, therefore, at the same time,
persuaded that I did not exist? Far from it; I assuredly existed, since I was persuaded." Here, many questions crop up. Can a disembodied mind be aligned with personhood? Can
someone who has lost their mind such as someone with Alzheimers still be considered a person? Certainly, people are human beings no matter what state they are in. Here, Descartes
distinguishes the mind from the soul. He writes: "It further occurred to me that I was nourished, that I walked, perceived, and thought, and all those actions I referred to
the soul" (Descartes). Whether mind and body are separate is something that has plagued philosophers for some time. Contemporary thinker Eckhart Tolle talks about the watcher, suggesting that there is
body, mind and some other dimension. In some way, this is what Descartes does in his second meditation. If one can witness his or her own thoughts, who is doing
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