Classifying the Meditations

1. A Confessional Document

Stages of Meditation:
Detachment
Despair
Reflection
Recognition
Ascension
Reconstruction of self and world

First we detach ourselves from worldly cares,
     And reflect on our situation
Then we come back to everyday experience, refreshed by contemplation.
We move full circle.

This is like religious meditation, where often people momentarily separate themselves from worldly life, in preparation for a return to the world.

2. A self-examination
  A form of autobiography

3. The Foundations for a new physics
  Replacing the Aristotelian views of St. Thomas
  Reconciling the new science with Catholic theology

4. Fiction

In a novel (or movie) very often you identify with some central character, the hero
     Normally this is someone who may be very unlike you
Here you are the hero.
     The Meditations is about you
You are the central figure as you perform the meditations.

5. And, what we focus on, a philosophical exercise

Descartes offers arguments
     What is the self?
     How do we know?
     God exists
     The self is closely linked to the body
     The nature of thought
     How we represent the world in our minds