Meditations on First Philosophy
Decide its fate
The record
Time
An eveningA season120 pages, about 2 hours: half the length of a typical book on the shelf.
Getting in
Walk right inSteep climbMeditation One opens with Descartes by the fire, doubting his senses and then whether he might be dreaming.
What it gives
Plot and actionIdeas to live byIn 11 reviews from critics and book blogs, none credit the plot and 11 credit the ideas or a change in how they live.
One of a kind
Others do thisNothing else doesCritics and reviewers describe it as the starting point of modern Western philosophy.
The case for it
on the real-time structure
“Meditations is written as if he is going through a process in real time”
Nigel Warburton · Five Books, 2021 on Meditation Four
“I found this meditation unexpectedly practical, almost moral in tone.”
a book blog on the reasoning
“Some of the reasoning is very strong and is still taught today.”
a Substack review on the meditation format
“called meditations because they were meant to be things that people would think through themselves”
Tim Crane · Five Books, 2014
The case against
on rebuilding the world
“brilliantly in tearing the world down, then fails miserably in building the world back up”
Daniel Podgorski · The Gemsbok, 2022 on the proofs of God
“the early doubts he raised will probably impress you more than the proofs”
a Substack review on mind-body dualism
“mind-body dualism, Descartes seems to be working backwards from conclusions he needs to be true.”
a Substack review on the dreaming argument
“the split between dreaming and reality. However, I did not understand this meditation at all.”
a book blog
