Meditations on First Philosophy

Meditations on First Philosophy, in which the existence of God and the immortality of the soul are demonstrated (Meditationes de Prima Philosophia, in qua Dei existentia et animæ immortalitas demonstratur) is a philosophical treatise by René Descartes first published in Latin in 1641. The French translation (by the Duke of Luynes with Descartes' supervision) was published in 1647 as Méditations Métaphysiques. The title may contain a misreading by the printer, mistaking animae immortalitas for animae immaterialitas, as suspected by A. Baillet.Adrien Baillet: La Vie de Mr. Descartes Paris 1692 p. 176. Cf. Theodor Ebert, Immortalitas oder Immaterialitas? Zum Untertitel von Descartes' Meditationen in: Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 74 (1992) 180–202. The book is made up of six meditations, in which Descartes first discards all belief in things that are not absolutely certain, and then tries to establish what can be known for sure. He wrote the meditations as if he had meditated for six days: each meditation refers to the last one as "yesterday". (In fact, Descartes began work on the Meditations in 1639.) One of the most influential philosophical texts ever written, it is widely read to this day. The book consists of the presentation of Descartes' metaphysical system at its most detailed level and in the expanding of his philosophical system, first introduced in the fourth part of his Discourse on Method (1637). Descartes' metaphysical thought is also found in the Principles of Philosophy (1644), which the author intended to be a philosophical guidebook. To the most wise and illustrious the Dean and Doctors of the Sacred Faculty of Theology in Paris Descartes says that he is asking the protection of the Faculty for his work, and to this end he writes the present dedication. His first consideration is that the existence of God has to be demonstrated philosophically, besides the theological reasons for belief, particularly if we consider to make a demonstration for the non-believers.

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