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Wax argument

The wax argument or the sheet of wax example is a thought experiment that René Descartes created in the second of his Meditations on First Philosophy. He devised it to analyze what properties are essential for bodies, show how uncertain our knowledge of the world is compared to our knowledge of our minds, and argue for rationalism.

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The thought experiment

Wax
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Overview

Thought experimentRené DescartesMeditations on First PhilosophyRationalism
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The thought experiment

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Wax argument

Nodes8
Edges7
Triples5
Avg. degree1.75
Density0.25
Components1

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wax properties descartes us remains rené see thought experiment size smell distinctly body piece figure sound sheet example first bodies

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SubjectPredicateObjectConfidenceSrc
its shapeinstance ofThe thought experimentDescartes first considers all the sensible properties of a sheet of wax0.80text
textureinstance ofThe thought experimentDescartes first considers all the sensible properties of a sheet of wax0.80text
sizeinstance ofThe thought experimentDescartes first considers all the sensible properties of a sheet of wax0.80text
colorinstance ofThe thought experimentDescartes first considers all the sensible properties of a sheet of wax0.80text
and smellinstance ofThe thought experimentDescartes first considers all the sensible properties of a sheet of wax0.80text

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