Descartes’ Philosophy: Key Concepts and Definitions
**Alma (Soul)**
A finite spiritual substance has no beginning. It is also simple, with no breaks, and is therefore immortal. It is a substance independent of the body and does not require the body in order to exist. It is a principle of consciousness, i.e., that by which I am aware. According to Descartes, the soul is easier to learn than the body.
**Truth**
An act of the spirit that recognizes with clarity and distinction the truth. Confidence and conviction are subject to the truth. It is collateral and the basis of the evidence. Descartes believes that evidence provides the certainty of truth, since false certainty could also be given: if the subject is secure and convinced of something that is really wrong.
**Clarity and Distinction**
They belong to the first rule of the Cartesian method and are characteristic of the evidence. It is clear that which is evident, manifest, clear, and visible to the right. Distinct: it is the differentiated, so precise, unique, and unmistakable. Just give clear and distinct ideas, so that it is evident to reason.
**Body**
An extensive substance. It is the material substance, this figure bounded and occupies a space, one can think and measure. Its operation is similar to a machine, since it is composed of material parts and hence moves across the extended body is limited, finite, and mortal.
**God**
An infinite substance. He is the infinite being who has been my idea of infinity. His presence in my mind is evident. He has all the perfections and will not be missing there. Besides being perfect, omnipotent, and good, His primary attribute is the truth. God does not deceive me; He is the source and guarantee of truth.
**Doubt**
The departure of Cartesian knowledge. An attitude of prevention of the mind from the unknown. The question is theoretical, not practical, methodical, and is not skeptical; it is the Cartesian strategy to reach the truth. It is universal, embraces the senses, dreams, evil genius, and the very right to do wrong, but does not apply to the truths of faith.
**Extension**
All of the material, that which is sensitive or body: width, height, and depth. It is the essential attribute of the world. The extended does not think, and what thinks is not widespread. This extensive substance is mathematicizable, can be calculated, measured, and fitted into the space through the Cartesian coordinates. Being composed of material parts, it is limited, decays, and dies.
**Man**
A union of two substances accidentally separate but connected through the pineal gland (dualism). The man is like a thinking machine. He is free and must dominate the passions of his soul.
**Idea**
The form of a thought by the immediate perception of which I am aware of that thought. In any object of thought. There are three kinds of ideas:
- Adventitious: Transient, coming and going.
- Factitious: Come to my mind, my imagination.
- Innate: Present in my reason, has always been independent of sense experience.
**Method**
A set of ordered, certain, and safe rules to avoid error and arrive at true knowledge. It is the way forward to reach the truth and a useful tool to invent and discover new truths. The rules allow me to proceed in a systematic and rational manner. They are four: evidence, analysis, synthesis, and enumeration.
**World**
The world is an extended substance; it is a material reality, unthinking and finite. This extension is mathematicizable, corporeal, and geometric. It resembles a great machine composed of machines (universal mechanism: the union of movement and extension). The created world is God; He really exists, is truthful, and not misleading. The vast world is another innate idea, clear and distinct.
**Thinking**
Every act of consciousness, everything from what we know: understanding, love, doubt, imagine, affirm, deny, feel. Thinking is typical of the thinking substance (soul). To think, I need to be. I think; therefore, I am a thinking being. There is nothing in thinking that does not come from thought. Thought does not make qualitatively in a being superior to matter that does not think.
**Reason**
The ability to try and distinguish the true from the false is paramount in humans using either his wit, his natural light. This ability is the basis of rationalism; knowledge begins and is based on reason. All men are right, but not all use it the same way. Confidence in reason is coupled with the distrust of the senses.
**Substance**
That which does not need anything else to exist. A kind of base or support that occurs in the properties and qualities of things. Three classes are distinguished:
- Thinking Substance: I
- Infinite Substance: God
- External Substance: World
**Truth**
The objective of the method and Cartesian philosophy. It is defined as certain (security) and as evidence of self (clear and distinct). In the trial involving the understanding of truth and will, by discovering the first truth, Descartes rejects skepticism. The ultimate guarantee of truth is in being truthful.
**Me**
The first innate idea, found clear and distinct by Descartes. This evidence is the subject of my thoughts: I think; therefore, I am, the discovery of the thinking self. The text of the speech is written in the first person, from subjectivity, always giving prominence to the ego: I think, I hesitated, I was, I rang my reason, my senses.