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Rene Descartes seeks to prove to himself that he exists, and he begins by determining that he is a thinking thing, focusing on the fact that he is a doubter. As a doubter, he proves his existence every time he doubts his thoughts. He also questions whether or not God is a deceiver, and by doing so he rationalizes that he must exist due to the fact that he can be deceived. For Descartes these facts alone are not enough to make him believe that he exists, so he dwells on the subject more intently. He begins to question his understanding of physical objects, specifically objects that can be touched or seen, in hopes of finding support for his claim of existence as a thinking thing. He chooses a piece of wax as an example, noting all of its perceptual characteristics:
Let us take, for instance, this piece of wax. It has been taken quite recently from the honeycomb; it has not yet lost all the honey flavor. It retains some of the scent of the flowers from which it was collected.......

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Approximate Word Count: 2244
Approximate Pages: 9 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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