Bertrand Russell, the author of The Problems of Philosophy, and Rene Descartes, an immensely influential French philosopher, scientist, mathematician, and author of Meditations on First Philosophy, have conflicting views concerning the nature of matter. Russell contends that the true nature of matter, a constituent of the universe which consists of mass and occupies "real" space, if matter of course exists, must be inferred from what Russell calls "sense-data," what one perceives to be the immediate physical characteristics of an object of matter (Russell, 7-31). However, Descartes argues that the existence of this supposed matter is not derived from what we directly perceive as a result of our senses but is rather acquired unequivocally through the "intellect;" from his experience, material bodies are tricky in that they are able to morph from one supposed literal substance to another (Descartes, 19-23). Hence, although Russell and Descartes are bound together by alike discussion upon the same matter, they differ in their reasoning where Russell argues that the true nature of matter, assuming it exists, must be inferred by "sense-data" and Descartes argues that the nature of matter arises from "purely mental scrutiny" (Descartes, 21).
Both philosophers take on different approaches in an effort to prove their point. In an attempt to validate his argument, Descartes constructs a simple experiment where he melts beeswax over a flame. As he does this, he takes note of the features of the wax before it is put against the flame and after such has been committed. Before the wax is "by the fire," Descartes describes it as having "the taste of honey" and is "hard, cold and can be handled without difficulty." But, once the beeswax has been under the scorchi ...