Before revision: He devised it to analyse 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.Graziano, Richard G. "Descartes’ wax argument for the sum res cogitans".Newman, Lex, "Descartes' Epistemology", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2010 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.)
After revision: 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.Graziano, Richard G. "Descartes’ wax argument for the sum res cogitans".Newman, Lex, "Descartes' Epistemology", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2010 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.)