Descartes' Meditations

By: René Descartes

Narrated by: Ray Childs

Length: 3 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

Rene Descartes is often described as the first modern philosopher, but much of the content of his Meditations on First Philosophy can be found in the medieval period that had already existed for more than a thousand years.

Does God exist? If so, what is his nature? Is the human soul immortal? How does it differ from the body? What role do sense experience and pure reason play in knowing?

Descartes stands out from his predecessors because of the method he developed to treat these and other fundamental questions. Drawing on his study of mathematics, he searches for a way to establish absolutely certain conclusions based on indubitable premises. His importance in modern philosophy lies in the challenge he offers to every subsequent thinker in philosophy and science.

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a classic

Well into my adulthood, I've spent the last few years. catching up on aspects of the culture of Western civilization and Eastern that I was too busy being a technical professional in my earlier years.

Believe me, now. I know. That such Masterworks are the foundation of today's world. Oh, no, only its best parts, and that really everyone approaching a profession should have familiarity with the grantor Concepts.

This was a very difficult listen. The narrator was perfectly good. , and word by word concept seemed perfectly clear. Oh, but it listening to the bigger picture, This is a challenge.

First and foremost in the third meditation, Descartes makes it clear why God must exist. And why the existing God must be perfect. It is a formal proof, analogous to and congruent with his expertise as a mathematician and geometer.

I had just finished. also spake zarathustra and I decided to follow up with more philosophy, which and I'm going to do more now, but I'm going to have to come back to this. audible book and I'm probably going to have to buy a copy and print to follow it as carefully as it deserves.

Half-assed skepticism

Descartes, while revolutionary in thought and philosophical exercise continually shows inconsistency in the things at which he exercises skepticism. Presupposes God, the soul, and self existence without any sufficient rationality, and builds his ontology on these things.
Descartes is increasingly more irrelevant in modern philosophy where the more recent great minds recognize the baseless assumptions of duality and are willing to only make the bare minimum of assumptions about reality. Descartes is likely a victim of the times, which is sad.