  thumb|right|the title page of the meditations.  meditations on first philosophy âthe original meditations, translated, in its entirety. (subtitled in which the existence of god and the immortality of the soul are demonstrated) is a philosophical treatise by renÃ© descartes first published in 1641 (in latin). the french translation (by the duke of luynes with the supervision of descartes) was published in 1647 as mÃ©ditations metaphysiques. the original latin title is meditationes de prima philosophia, in qua dei existentia et animÃ¦ immortalitas demonstratur. the book is made up of six meditations, in which descartes first discards all belief in things which are not absolutely certain, and then tries to establish what can be known for sure. the meditations were written as if he was meditating for 6 days: each meditation refers to the last one as "yesterday". (in fact, descartes began work on the meditations in 1639.  ) the meditations consist of the presentation of descartes' metaphysical system in its most detailed level and in the expanding of descartes' philosophical system, which he first introduced in the fourth part of his discourse on method (1637). descartes' metaphysical thought is also found in the principles of philosophy (1644), which the author intended to be a philosophy guidebook. ==letter of dedication and preface== letter of dedication to the most wise and illustrious the dean and doctors of the sacred faculty of theology in paris descartes says that he is asking the protection of the faculty for his work, and to this end he writes the present dedication. his first consideration is that the existence of god has to be demonstrated philosophically, besides the theological reasons for belief, particularly if we consider to make a demonstration for the non-believers. moreover, the believers could be accused of making a circular reasoning, when saying that we must believe in god because of the scriptures, and in the authority of the scriptures because they have been inspired by god. he further indicates how the very scriptures say that the mind of man is sufficient to discover
1641_books Books_on_consciousness Epistemology_literature Metaphysics_literature Works_by_RenA(c)_Descartes