What is cogito? Cogito is a part of a well-known phrase. Cogito, ergo sum is translated in to English as I think, therefore I am. What Descartes is trying to do find a way to prove that the he exists, but he couldn’t find a way to test it. So, Descartes came to the conclusion that since that he is able to think, compilate, and have deeper forms of thought then he must exist thus the phrase Cogito, ergo sum (I think, therefore I am). “I know that I exist, and I inquire what I am, I whom I know to exist.(Meditations On First Philosophy pg.9)” What Descartes says about the mind compared to the body is that the body and its senses could be fooled (probably by the Demon that he talked about in the First Meditation).
But when it comes to the Mind Descartes says that is not so easily fooled but still not without the fail that is being human. The mind still can make errors. “Am I so dependent on body and senses that I cannot exist without these? But I was persuaded that there was nothing in all the world…that there were no minds, nor any bodies: was I not then likewise persuaded that I did not exist?”. (Meditations on First Philosophy pg.8)
The next thing that he talks about is the Wax. Descartes begins with describing the wax and its properties. Its size, shape, color, smell, and its noise that it makes when it is hit. Then Descartes proceeds to melt the wax. When it has finished melting, he talks about how it is still wax but how do we know that in fact that it is still wax. Descartes is saying that the body would be fooled but the mind could understand that wax can take on multiple Propeties. “…according to truth what wax is, if I did not think that even this piece that we are considering is capable of receiving more variations in extension than I have ever imagined” (Meditations on First Philosophy pg.11). His argument for the wax fits perfectly with Dualism he is saying that the mind is the thing that is non-physical, and the body is physical.
Princess Elisabeth ask Descartes to explain the problem of since that Descartes is a man in the belief of the Mind philosophy can a soul affect the body (push and pull)? “Given that the soul of a human being is only a thinking substance, how can it affect the bodily spirits, in order to bring about voluntary actions?” (Correspondence between Descartes and Princess Elisabeth pg.1) Descartes answers the Princess’s question by saying that the book was just discussing the differences, not to discuss how they work together. “I have said almost nothing about (2), focusing entirely on making (1) better understood. That is because my principal aim was to show that the soul is distinct from the body, and (1) was helpful in showing this whereas (2) could have been harmful ·clouding the issue, distracting the reader·.” (Correspondence between Descartes and Princess Elisabeth pg.2) He goes on to say that they work together. “only the notion of their union, on which depends the notion of the soul’s power to move the body and the body’s power to act on the soul in causing its sensations and passions.” (Correspondence between Descartes and Princess Elisabeth pg.2) I am fine with his answer.
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