ABSTRACT
Rene Descartes, the author of Meditations on First Philosophy, grew up in a small town in central France. His father, Joachim Descartes, had served in the army and worked as a lawyer and magistrate. As Descartes's philosophy took him further afield, he became worried about censorship. Scientific advances were beginning to challenge traditional beliefs. In Descartes's day, modern science was beginning to find answers that upended much established thinking. Descartes began this project by creating what he calls the "method of doubt". Philosophers continue to debate Descartes's mind-body dualism to this day. It is a controversial idea because, if the mind and body are indeed separate substances, it is difficult to understand how the mind can influence the body, as well as the other way around. In Meditations, Descartes's narrator leads the reader on a methodical journey through his thought processes. Descartes wanted to avoid that kind of controversy.
