In the Second Meditation of Rene Descartes "Meditations on First Philosophy", the Meditator is concerned with knowing something certain, or at least knowing that nothing is certain. In order to continue in his attempt to know something certain, he will “put aside everything that admits of the least doubt, as if I had discovered it to be completely false” (17). By doing so, he will allow himself only to focus on those things that can not be doubted any longer, which would mean that they are certain. He supposes that everything he sees is false, and that he no longer has senses.
The Meditator has become certain of the fact that he is a thinking thing, and because of this he begins to question why he can not identify what the “I” that does the thinking is. He uses the example of a piece of wax to help him identify what this “I” is. First he examines the wax with his senses by looking at its color, shape and size. He realizes that it makes a noise when it raps his knuckles, and it smells like fresh honey. He then places the piece of wax by a fire where it begins to melt. The Meditator notices that the previous solid piece of wax was changing shape and smell, and no longer makes a noise when raps his knuckle. This is when he realizes that all of the sensible properties of the wax have changed, however he still knows that it was the same piece of wax. He then asks “so what was there in the wax that was so distinctly grasped? Certainly none of the aspects that I reached by means of the senses. For whatever came under the senses of taste, smell, sight, touch or hearing has now changed; and yet the wax remains” (21). This allows him to realize that he did not come to know wax through his senses, or his imagination, but instead through intellect alone. He concludes that, contrary to his initial ideas, the mind is a far better knower than the body.
I agree with the Meditator that the senses can be deceiving, but I think that it is a combination of the senses and the mind that allow us to learn and come to know things, not just intellect alone. For example, if some one were to ask you if you smelled something burning when in fact you did not, it may be possible that their senses were deceiving them, although in order to know what something burning smells like, you must also have experienced a burning smell before. Some one who was uses senses alone with out the help of the intellect would not be able to tell if something was burning because although he may smell the actual fire, he would not be able to identify what the smell is. With his intellect alone he would not smell the fire, but only be able to categorize it as a fire. With the combining the mind and the senses, not only can you smell the fire but you can realize that it is dangerous and you should get out. In this situation, the separation of the mind and the senses are much less usefull. Together they allow you to become aware of the fires existence, and know how to react in this situation.
