Abstract

Descartes' procedure in "Meditation II" must be brought into line with his claim that "we must never ask about the existence of anything until we first understand its essence." And Descartes' "Meditation III" claim that he is aware of his mind's power to cause ideas must be grounded in a prior discovery of this power. Both demands are met by reading "Meditation II" as a progressive clarification of the nature of mind, with the investigation of the wax providing the discovery of the mind's generative power. This process of discovery also provides the meanings of "thinking" and "existing" -- as "causing ideas" and "exercising causal power", respectively. Thus the discovery of the mind's nature also grounds the cogito. I provide a close reading of the wax investigation which supports this view