HELSINKI JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES (HJSSH)
TRAUMA AND HEALING IN DESCARTES’ MEDITATIONS ON FIRST PHILOSOPHY: AN ESSAY
E-ISSN: 7764-9221
P-ISSN: 3442-3567
DOI: https://iigdpublishers.com/article/1509
I examine René Descartes’ effort in his Meditations on First Philosophy to emerge from the trauma of realizing that many of his beliefs held since early youth are false, and that, until now, he has had no means of setting out on a path to truth. Through his new method of inquiry, which, in the Replies to the Second Set of Objections, he refers to as ‘analysis’, he sets out in his Meditations to begin the healing process, by establishing a secure foundation for knowledge, through what he refers to as his clear and distinct innate ideas. My paper will highlight the fact that Cartesian healing is not a collaborative process, but a personal effort, with a view to establishing that all clear and distinct ideas must be true, given that Descartes’ existence as a thinking thing and all his clear and distinct ideas are created by a veracious God.
Stanley Tweyman
Amelia, I., Hasanah, D., & Yahya, M. M. (2026). Strategies of Moral Faith Teachers in Integrating SDGs-Based Character Education in Islamic Boarding Schools. Profetika: Jurnal Studi Islam, 27(01), 135-154. https://journals2.ums.ac.id/profetika/article/download/14952/5590
Descartes, R. (1967). The Philosophical Works of Descartes (Vol. 1 & 2). Translated by Elizabeth S. Haldane and G.R.T. Ross. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Descartes, R. (1993). Meditations on First Philosophy in Focus. Edited and with an Introduction by Stanley Tweyman. London and New York: Routledge.
Earlier Version of the Paper Presented at the Twelfth East-West Philosophers' Conference, University of Hawai'i — Mānoa, May 24th to May 31st, 2024. Elesin, A. M. J., & Yahya, M. M. (2018). An Overview of Islamic Guidance and Counselling. KWASU Journal of Religious Studies, 2(2), 41-51.
Maisuna, M. Y., & Aliyu, M. M. (2025). Pros and Cons of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the Light of Islamic Laws‟ Verdicts (Fatawa). Journal of Development and Society, Faculty of Social Science, 7(1). https://uniabujafsos.com.ng/index.php/jdsfoss/article/download/25/19
