Preface to the Reader

Descartes reminds the reader that the Discourse on the Method (1637) had included a brief sketch of the arguments about God and the soul, and that he had invited criticism. Two objections came back that were worth addressing. He now deals with them before the meditations themselves begin, so they do not distract the reader when the arguments appear.

The first objection: even if, when the mind reflects on itself, it perceives itself as nothing but a thinking thing, this does not prove that its nature consists only in being a thinking thing — the word "only" might be excluding too much, the objector says. Descartes replies that the word is not meant in an absolute metaphysical sense at this stage of the argument, only in a methodological one: the meditation establishes what the mind clearly and distinctly perceives of itself, which does not yet settle what its complete nature is. That question is handled in the Sixth Meditation. The second objection: even if I have the idea of something more perfect than I am, it does not follow that the idea itself is more perfect than I am, nor that its object actually exists. Descartes replies by distinguishing the formal reality of an idea (its existence as a mental act) from the objective reality of an idea (the degree of being it represents) — a distinction that will be crucial in Meditation 3.

Descartes closes with a reading warning: these meditations require sustained attention over several days; they should not be skimmed or read in isolation; and the reader should not form a final judgment on any single one before having read the whole. This is unusual advice for a philosophical text and reflects his awareness that the demolition of the First Meditation will seem disorienting unless the reader knows the recovery is coming.