Starting this review by saying that I'd like to think René Descartes was a genius. As much as I love his philosophy, there are times I didn't fully agree with him. At one point he starts talking about animals and souls. He seems to think animals don't have souls like humans, I disagree, but I understand where he is coming from and why he said such things. Having said that, I think he was a good teacher.

Descartes was a thinker. He believed we were all "thinking things." This book will help you think better about thinking, I think. Hence the name Meditations. If you're like me and you mind is all a clutter, than this book might help you sort some thing out. It won't help you find yourself, this ain't no self help book, but this might help you find out what it means to be a human. To be a human means you think about thinking.

This book is very metaphysics too. At times Descartes ideas seem complex or a little absurd, but if you think about them, you can try them. He asks for you to remove all your senses by imagining you have no sight, hearing, smell, touch or stuff like that. What you see could all be a lie. What appears to be your friend on the street is in fact someone else once you get closer. What sounds like a dog barking is just someone watching TV next door. Okay, he never talked about TV and pretty sure he wouldn't like it, but you get the point.

I liked Descartes relationship with Princess Elizabeth. At first I thought they were talking about Queen Elizabeth I, but then I realized this was Elisabeth of the Palatinate. Those two seemed to get along well. They had philosophical arguments, but they were both very polite with each other. As I said before, it seemed Descartes was a good teacher. I also picked up he liked getting questions from others. Not sue what he was like as a real person, but after reading this I wouldn't mind having a conversation or two with him.

One should note that Descartes was a religious man. This is one part that kind of gets confusing. He is a big advocate to skepticism, but he is also a lover of God. Descartes seems to question more what God is rather than if God is real or not. It's kind of obvious that Descartes believes God is a real man...or whatever. I'm not atheist myself. I call myself a Protestant, but I'm still not fully sure what I'd label myself as, maybe agnostic. I know Descartes was Catholic, but sometimes I read him more as agnostic, but that my opinion.

Anyway, I think I said as much as I could write in this review. There SO much to talk about when it comes to Descartes. This is probably one of the many reasons I like him and why he's my favorite philosopher. Because of the comic book Action Philosophers, been trying to find which philosophers I actually like and which ones I just think are good reads. I use to says my favorite was an existentialist, but I don't know, I'm starting to think that's not really the case with me. I think it's all good to read and all incredibly interesting, but at the same time, not everyone is going to have the same tastes as you do, especially with philosophy. I already know Descartes isn't for everyone and that's perfectly fine. ( )

Seminal philosophical text, personally dont agree with a single word of it but that is neither here nor there. Descartes begins by dismantling the universe and denying the existance of everything except his own self, A nice philosophy if for nothing else than 'i think therefore i am' ( )

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