The Theory of Ideas in the Third Meditation

Abstract

This article aims to present a Cartesian theory of ideas, in particular, a novelty developed by Descartes in Third Meditation, his new conception of idea as representation. Taking into account the first certainty, the proposition of the cogito “I think, I exist”, it is intended to present the Cartesian arguments that support the originality of this thought. To this end, at first, develop the elementary concept of thinking as part of the essence of the thinking being. Then, develop the arguments that support the nature of the idea in its general form and also the ontological classification of the origin of ideas, highlighting the innate ideas with their representative content containing the objective reality according to the principle of causality. And finally, based on the arguments of the Third Meditation and also of one of its readers, Raul Landim Filho, to develop the idea as a representation, the main focus of this work.