Meditations on First Philosophy

by

René Descartes

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The Wax Symbol Analysis

The Wax Symbol Icon

In a famous thought experiment from the Second Meditation, the Meditator uses a piece of wax to represent why the senses cannot truly perceive the essence of things—and why pure reason can. He imagines the wax’s sensible qualities—like its color, shape, and texture—but then imagines putting it by the fire so that it softens. Now, instead of being solid and cold, the wax is soft, warm, and easy to mold. It could be manipulated into infinite different shapes. Eventually, after enough heating, it even turns into a liquid. But the whole time, it’s always the same wax. This proves that the wax’s qualities that humans can perceive with their senses do not accurately capture the wax’s true nature. Instead, the senses only give us an “imperfect and confused” perception of the wax’s reality, and truly knowing the wax’s fundamental essence requires understanding it with the intellect. The wax’s real nature is to be “a certain extended thing which is flexible and movable.”

This thought experiment brings the Meditator to the principle at the core of Descartes’s epistemology, or theory of knowledge: true knowledge comes from rational understanding, and the senses only give us imperfect information. In fact, this is similar to how modern scientists might say that an object’s true nature depends on its chemical composition, and not on the way it looks in any given state. Of course, this makes sense, since Descartes’s rationalist method—in which he argues that all true knowledge begins with rational insight—is the foundation for most science today.

The Wax Quotes in Meditations on First Philosophy

The Meditations on First Philosophy quotes below all refer to the symbol of The Wax. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Knowledge, Doubt, and Science Theme Icon
).
Second Meditation Quotes

[The wax] has not yet quite lost the taste of the honey; […] its colour, shape and size are plain to see; it is hard, cold and can be handled without difficulty; if you rap it with your knuckle it makes a sound. In short, it has everything which appears necessary to enable a body to be known as distinctly as possible. But even as I speak, I put the wax by the fire, and look: the residual taste is eliminated, the smell goes away, the colour changes, the shape is lost, the size increases; it becomes liquid and hot; you can hardly touch it, and if you strike it, it no longer makes a sound.

[…]

What exactly is it that I am now imagining? Let us concentrate, take away everything which does not belong to the wax, and see what is left: merely something extended, flexible and changeable.

Related Characters: The Meditator (speaker), René Descartes
Related Symbols: The Wax
Page Number: 25
Explanation and Analysis:
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The Wax Symbol Timeline in Meditations on First Philosophy

The timeline below shows where the symbol The Wax appears in Meditations on First Philosophy. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Second Meditation
Knowledge, Doubt, and Science Theme Icon
Mind and Body Theme Icon
The Meditator considers a piece of beeswax : it appears to have a shape, smell, color, and size, but when put next... (full context)
Knowledge, Doubt, and Science Theme Icon
Mind and Body Theme Icon
Moreover, nobody could imagine or perceive all the specific shapes the wax could take or ways it could change. Rather, it’s only possible to fully understand its... (full context)
Knowledge, Doubt, and Science Theme Icon
Mind and Body Theme Icon
Intellectual Discipline Theme Icon
...a more perfect way than the senses do. And when the Meditator understands something like the wax , he knows that it’s him doing the understanding, so he once again proves that... (full context)