Descartes wants to prove that sensory information can’t enable the mind to fix distinctness to a transformed object, so senses are not the only tools humans use to understand the world around them. If an object transforms into another state and loses all prior physical traits, re-identifying it with only bodily senses or imagination is insufficient. Humans, however, still recognize its distinctness—our brain knows it was the object. The wax example will explain this inconsistency by revealing the mind’s power beyond our senses.
A solid wax melts. Assume person B only perceives by processing only physical information. B cannot see or feel that the wax is extended because the melting wax provides new sensory information that contradicts all criteria of the previous solid wax. To B, it looks, feels, and smells different. B will decide that the melted wax has no similarity to its original form. But any human knows the melted wax is the solid wax. Therefore, when the human mind applies distinctness to an object, physical properties are not the deciding factors; humans can do without senses. We think with more than just our sensory input.
The senses aren’t what humans use to apply distinctness to things. Descartes digs deeper and tests the hypothesis that the human brain re-identifies the new wax by imagination. Pure imagination uses past sensory information and is stripped of new sensory input. But it’s still an inadequate tool for applying distinctness. If B attempts to instantly identify the wax with imagination, B’s brain must generate a collection of re-imagined images or sensory predictions based on the original wax to confirm the original wax is the new wax through mapping the new wax to B’s imaginary predictions. The wax can change into infinite shapes depending on infinite physical conditions. The brain cannot perform this task. It’s inefficient and impossible for humans to conceive and mentally carry infinite states of an object, which are an expression of infinity. To imagine something’s infinite states is to conceive a form of infinity. Thus, human bodies are not physically infinite. This prevents the brain’s processing power from comprehending infinity and generating infinite predictions of transformations of objects just for the simple sake to identify what they were before transformations like those of the solid wax. Despite the inadequacy of sensory information, humans instinctively know the new wax is the old wax. This phenomenon, again, proves that humans think with more than senses.
The demon doubt doesn’t weaken Descartes’ wax argument. It only strengthens it by allowing a scenario where all sensory predictions are invalid because the Demon has been providing false sensory input possibly based on false physical laws, which bear the bases for making predictions for the physical reality. The Demon forces the man to rely on only his mental faculty, the capacity to judge, recognize, and be aware of being aware.
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