Rene Descartes Meditations On First Philosophy

In Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy, the wax passage is a very simple piece of writing and train of thought to follow. The idea of the passage is that Descartes believes, and is trying to convince the reader that the “clear and distinct” thoughts that one might have of outside things to one’s body are not seen through the senses, but are through the intellect. As we examine a piece of wax, one has certain ideas, ideas which are initially believed to have come from the senses. However, all can be established from the senses can be proven to be false. “Let us take, for instance, this piece of wax….Its colour, shape, and size are manifest. It is hard and cold; it is easy to touch….I am bringing it close to the fire… Its size is increasing, it is becoming liquid and hot; you can hardly touch it….Does the same wax remain?”(Descartes:21) Obviously the same wax remains, and the clear and distinct ideas of the wax remain as well.

Descartes asks then “so what was there in the wax that was so distinctly grasped?…the senses of taste, smell, sight, touch or hearing has now changed; and yet the wax remains” (Descartes:21) In answer to this, he suggests that perhaps the wax is not merely the sum of its sensory attributes. Descartes argues that if all attributes are stripped away, what is left is the “essence” of the wax. This essence can manifest itself to him in an infinite number of ways. The wax can assume any shape, size, or smell, and since Descartes assumes that he himself is incapable of imagining the wax in infinite ways, the insight he has gained into the wax was not brought about by his faculty of imagination. With the elimination of the senses, and then the elimination of the imagination, what is left must be the