This "guided tour" by Rene Descartes' Meditations is specifically designed for the philosophical novice. It actively engages students with Descartes' work through a variety of tasks that help them develop their critical thinking, reading, and writing skills.Among the many engaging features are: annotation tasks in the margins that invite students to underline key sentences, paraphrase main ideas, or supply original illustrative examples; many of the exercises have been rewritten or revised for this edition; fill-in-the-blank dialogues between the editor and the reader that encourage students to reread and rethink central passages; a section called "Writing About Descartes" that helps students focus on writing assignments related to the Meditations; brief selections from Anselm, Aquinas, and Augustine that highlight their arguments for the existence of God; an expanded introduction that gives students a broad overview of the Renaissance, providing historical and cultural context for Descartes' thought; and new critical thinking exercises throughout the book that help students review and check their comprehension of central concepts of the Meditations. Read Less