...essay #3: Descartes’ Meditations 996922415 The debate as to whether or not God exists is a crucial question in philosophy. René Descartes formulates the idea of the all good being, God, in Meditation Three of his essay entitled, Meditations on First Philosophy. The philosopher begins his essay doubting everything that is around him, his senses, his thoughts, and even basic arithmetic. The reason he wrote the essay was to find truth to his existence. It seems logical that Descartes introduced the evil demon, one that tries to instill doubt into the simplest of things, but the introduction of God being an all perfect being that does not let him be deceived, is not logically adequate. Descartes begins criticizing everything around him, essentially being a skeptic, but he ends up introducing an explanation, God, in order to answer the questions of doubt. I strongly disagree with Descartes’ introduction of God in Meditation Three because he is not being consistent with the methods of the first two meditations therefore not achieving his goal of solving questions of doubt. In Meditation One, Descartes begins to doubt everything he has experienced to date. He asks himself whether he exists, whether has past experiences actually happened and whether his senses are true to him. He finds senses to be deceptive sometimes and therefore believes that he cannot completely trust them. He even states the most obvious truths, such as arithmetic and geometry, could be false. Descartes supposes...
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...named Rene Descartes. Descartes was born in 1596 in France and died later in Sweden in 1650. Descartes was known as the father of modern philosophy and he gave many notable contributions to modern philosophy that we still use today. “I think, therefore I am”, might seem like a very simple quote but if you take a deeper look into it, it has a lot more meaning than you think. To begin to understand this quote, you must first have a firm grasp of the term skepticism. This is the idea that all ideas and beliefs can be doubted. Having a method of doubt or skepticism is something that a lot of people have trouble wrapping their minds around. For example, I have a body and I have a pair of hands, so why would I doubt these things? Descartes finds skepticism very puzzling and it intrigues him to find out why someone would think this way. In an effort to understand why some people thought like this, Descartes tries to break everything down into its bare bones. He thinks that you cannot build a body of knowledge unless you have firm foundation first. This makes sense because if you’re trying to build theory’s and ideas of things without knowing where these ideas came from, or even if those ideas are truthful or not, then you are just fooling yourself and wasting your own time. Your superstructure of knowledge must have some sort of structural integrity to it. You can’t build your knowledge upwards or expand your structure without sure support beams to follow it up. Descartes then goes...
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...TOPIC 1: Do you really know anything? With reference to Descartes’ first meditation justify your answer in full and respond to possible objections. A belief is any opinion or any view whether you are committed to the view or not. Thus, if you know something, you are entitled to believe in it. The subjective nature of knowledge partly is based on the idea that beliefs are things that individuals have and those beliefs are either justified or not justified (Pardi, 2011). However, Descartes notices that over the course of his life, he has from time to time accepted false beliefs and the falsity of these beliefs have influenced other beliefs. Thus, Descartes aim in his first meditation is to find out if what we know is truly correct (Blackburn, 1999:15). Once we have figured out what beliefs are beyond any possible doubt, it is suggested that we can use reason to deduce the rest of what is knowable (Pardi, 2011). There are three conditions when one can say they know something is true (Pardi, 2011). Firstly, you believe in something, secondly, it is in fact true and lastly you are justified in believing a statement is true. Of course it is possible that there are no complete unshakeable truths, it is also possible that we might discover that our prejudices cannot be detached or that the beliefs we think are our grounds for all our other beliefs are not really ultimate at all. For this reason, it is why rationalist say that knowledge comes from within, the only beliefs we can...
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...Hello Class, This week I will be answering question number one. The question asks to give at least three reasons why Descartes believed that the senses are not able to provide certain knowledge. Descartes ultimately attempted to prove that the true source of scientific knowledge was in the mind and not due to the senses. In the Meditations, Descartes began to doubt beliefs that originated from the senses. His goal was not to prove that it is impossible to know that things exists, but to demonstrate that knowledge of these things through the senses is subject to doubt. Essentially, if knowledge originates through the senses, how could one be sure that anything external exists? Since it is apparent that external objects do exist, this knowledge cannot originate from the senses, but from the mind....
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...Name Tutor Course Date Descartes Premise for Distinguishing Body and Mind In the Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes discusses the nature of the body and mind. By drawing from three lines of thought, Descartes launches a powerful premise that the body is something distinct from the mind. He conceptualizes his argument by using the uncertainty of knowledge argument, appealing to God’s omnipotence, and describing the indivisibility of the body and mind. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to discuss and analyze Descartes’s premise for distinguishing the body and mind. In the first Meditation, Descartes begins by discussing a topic that seems far removed from the subject, yet instrumental to his argument. He questions the certainty of reality or truth of worldly opinions. In meditations 1.5, he notes that his opinions about the world are based on senses and argues that he cannot be certain that his senses deceive him. He argues that he cannot be sure that what he thinks of as his perceptions of the world are not dreams (Cress 36). Because there is no mechanism for distinguishing sleep from wake, Descartes says that he is also uncertain about the existence of the body. In addition, he argues that an evil demon may be deceiving him about the existence of the sky, air, colors, sounds, and bodies yet such things are illusions of dreams (Cress 41). By reflecting on the scenario of the evil demon and dreaming, Descartes doubts whether external things such as the body...
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...Philosophy Essay (Descartes vs. Locke) Socrates once said, “As for me, all I know is that I know nothing.” Several philosophers contradicted Socrates’ outlook and believed that true knowledge was in fact attainable. This epistemological view however had several stances to it, as philosophers held different beliefs in regards to the derivation of true knowledge. Rationalists believed that the mind was the source of true knowledge, while in Empiricism, true knowledge derived from the senses. Rene Descartes, a rationalist, and John Locke, an empiricist, were prime examples of epistemologists who were seen to differentiate greatly within each of their philosophies. However, although Descartes and Locke’s ideas did contrast in that sense, they both shared common concepts that helped mould the basis of their ideas. Descartes and Locke both agreed that there were things in life that exist that we can be certain of. For Descartes, human experiences did not provide sufficient proof of existence. He indicated that through his Dream Conjecture and his Evil-Demon Theory (Paquette 205). Descartes stated that we cannot be certain if reality is a dream or not, thus questioning our existence (Paquette 205). In his Evil-Demon Theory, Descartes claimed that for all he knew, an evil demon could be putting thoughts into his head, making him think that reality was true when it was in fact false (Paquette 205). Ultimately, all this thinking resulted in Descartes coming to the conclusion that...
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...2014 Rene Descartes: Mediations on First Philosophy Rene Descartes, known as one of the most influential philosophers of his time, is famously quoted to have been proven the existence of himself with the infamous statement, Cogito ergo sum or (in English) I think, therefore I am. Rene Descartes has claimed to have proven his own existence in this world by claiming that he is in fact a thinking thing, and that therefore he must be something that exists. This raises the question, how can Descartes truly prove to us that in fact he thinks, and how can he prove that since he thinks he therefore can say that he exists? In this essay I will be explaining the reasoning’s of proof as to why Descartes says that he thinks and that therefore he exists, and I will give sufficient support as to why Rene Descartes is in fact correct about his claims that he has stated in his Philosophy of Mediations. The evidence that I will be providing in support for Descartes statement I think, therefore I am include, Descartes doubtfulness of all things he once believed to be true (which he says has been false lies to have been told to him all of his life) (A. w. Bailey, First Philosphy, Second Edition 26-28), secondly his three proofs for his skepticism mentioned in the first piece of evidence listed previously (Descartes asking if he is dreaming or if he is really awake, his painters argument of how dream like/ images arise from real things, and an evil like demon trying to trick Rene Descartes into thinking...
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...First Meditation Descartes is widely regarded as the father of modern philosophy. In the First Meditation, he begins with his method of doubt, calling into doubt everything which can be called into question. In the beginning of the First Meditation, Descartes tries to call all his empirical beliefs into doubt with a single stroke: “I have occasionally caught the senses deceiving me,” he writes, “and it’s prudent never completely to trust who have cheated us even once”. The reason why Descartes began by bringing into doubt all the beliefs that come to us from the senses is to show that science rested on firm foundations and that these foundations lay in the mind and not the senses. He is not aimed to prove that nothing exists or that it is impossible for us to know if anything exists, but to show that all our knowledge of these things through the senses is open to doubt. We could not even be sure that anything outside of us existed, if our scientific knowledge came to us through the senses. Since sense experience is sometimes deceiving, it is obvious to Descartes that a posteriori claim cannot be the basis for claims of knowledge. We do not know that what we experience through our senses is true; at least, we are not certain of it. And we cannot tell when our senses are correctly reporting the way things really are and when they are not. So the best thing to do is to doubt whether any knowledge can be based on our sense experiences. Then Descartes goes on looking for...
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...Descartes introduced his evil genius doubt in his first meditations. His hypothesis consists of the belief that a supreme being, labeled the “evil genius” or “evil demon” could be maliciously controlling and creating in our minds an illusion of the world as we know it. A complete fabrication that would negate the simplest truths as well as our sense data. His initial goal is to find a way to question the unquestionable; what we view as absolute truths like a simple addition or substraction, what seems to be true and tested could be false because of this powerful and cunning genius. Descartes uses his evil demon argument on his quest to find truths that are unshakably true; that is, that have absolutely no doubt to them. His conclusion is that the only statement that can be unshakably and undeniably true is “I am, I exist”. Which is to say that if we are capable of having thoughts about our existence then we must exist in some way. Even if an evil genius is maliciously pumping information and illusions about the physical world that we live in, if I can think about my existence then I must exist in some way, wether it be in this world or in the evil genius’s world. I believe that Descartes’s evil genius argument is successful at its goal is to isolate what is absolutely and undoubtedly true. Descartes felt that during his lifetime many things he thought to be true turned out false over the years. Therefore he felt that he needed to use every...
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...Descartes and Rationalism René Descartes, 1596-1650 (Latin Renatus Cartesius, hence the term Cartesian) Descartes’ Project Descartes was a contemporary of Galileo and Kepler. He was born about 50 years after the publication of Copernicus’ De Revolutionibus. Thus he lived right at the beginning of the scientific revolution, as the medieval world view was beginning to collapse. Descartes was a mathematician and physicist, as well as a philosopher. He was the first to offer a system of mechanics that applied both to terrestrial and heavenly bodies. His system was based on a set of laws governing the motions of particles, including various types of collisions. These laws, though unsuccessful, were a precursor of Newton’s laws of motion, and Huygens’ solution to the collision problem. Descartes had the disturbing experience of finding out that everything he learned at school was wrong. From 1604-1612 he was educated at a Jesuit school, where he learned the standard medieval, scholastic, Aristotelian philosophy. In 1619 he had some disturbing dreams, and embarked on his life’s work of rebuilding the whole universe, since the Aristotelian universe was doomed. (Descartes didn’t suffer from lack of ambition!) The problem for Descartes was that he couldn’t merely tinker with the medieval picture, fixing it up here and there, because it was fundamentally wrong. It was rotten to its very foundations. The only way to proceed was to tear it down completely, and start building again from scratch...
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...imputed to the brain from the computer by a computer network administrator. For example, information telling the brain, “You are running in Italy, and you smell pizza.” The brain perceives this information as reality. The movie The Matrix is based on the Brain in the Vat. The Matrix, Rene Descartes, Meditation I Of The Things Of Which We May Doubt and Plato’s, “The Allegory of the Cave,” all hold similarities to the Brain in the Vat; therefore they hold similarities to each other. Although they hold similarities to each other there are also some differences between these three reasons. The similarities between the movie The Matrix, Plato’s cave analogy and Descartes’ Meditation I are that they questioned what they knew to be their world—whether it was reality or a dream; they each wanted to leave what they knew to be their world or reality to discover what they individually sensed to be a true reality. They are equivalent in that their perception of the real world started during each ones childhood. In The Matrix, Neo is controlled by a simulated computer system. In Plato’s cave the prisoners are controlled by mankind. Descartes is controlled by his false perceptions of evil demons. In The Matrix, the movie ends with Neo declaring his determination to share with the people the truth about The Matrix and them living in a true world on their own apart from control. Plato deliberates on the effect the cave leaves on one of the prisoner’s after he escapes...
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...DESCARTES: Information: Born in France in 1596 Got an education at the hands of the Jesuits, which included maths and philosophy. He took his law degree at the university of Pioters, in his hometown. He became obsessed by the question whether there was anything we could be sure of, anything we could know for certain. Key Works: Discourse on method – published in 1634 Meditations – published in 1641 Key Terms: “I think therefore I am” “Common sense is the best distributed commodity in the world, for every man is conceived he is well supplied with it” Important arguments: The argument for universal doubt: All doubt comes from our senses. Everything is open to doubt. * We do not know that external objects exist. * Senses put us with mental images of external objects so perception cant bring us any certainty The dream argument: * Often we have perceptions, which are similar to ones that are in our dreams. * There are no definite signs to distinguish dream experiences from an actual one. * It is possible that we are dreaming now and all our perceptions are false. The deceiving God argument: * God has it in his powers to deceive us about our knowledge. * We think we have a high knowledge of maths that helps us understand the world. * It is possible that we are deceived even in our mathematical knowledge of the basic structure of the world. The evil demon argument: * Instead of assuming that...
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...believing, knowing, and having certainty about something. To believe is to accept an idea in our mind that could be innate, adventitious and self-produced. To know is to make judgement on what we believe based on experience, while to have certainty is to know without a doubt that an idea or knowledge is a definite truth. At the end of his Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes comes up with a conclusion that an external world does indeed exist regardless of his perception. He begins his meditations by doubting everything he sense and experience, supposing that everything he knows about the external world is just a dream. In this state of absolute doubt, he withdraws the mind from the sense and tries to perceive the nature of reality through a purely intellectual perspective. The first thing Descartes realizes he can be certain of is his own existence for he would have to exist to be able to think and have ideas about many things (p. 64). In finding reality about the existence of an external world, Descartes considers the only four possible source of his ideas of external world: (i) oneself, (ii) God, (iii) an evil demon, and (iv) the external things themselves. (i) cannot be true for oneself cannot create and diminish ideas of the external world according to his will. (ii) also...
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...writer Rene Descartes wrote during the rise of modern-day, since his main idea is to establish a safe foundation. He didn’t believe scientists had a pursuit of knowledge, and so his challenge was to offer an unsteady point, which was an “Archimedean Fulcrum”, he would say. To obtain this idea he introduces “The Method of Doubt,” that allows him to automatically doubt structures of his knowledge. “The Method of Doubt” is to allow Descartes to think about one thing that cannot be called into datable questions. This idea becomes the “first item of knowledge.” Doubting something that can be believed to be truthful is not a good practice to challenge the thought pattern. Descartes had an unsure feeling that gave us a great amount of knowledge....
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...Descartes starts his first meditation by taking note of that there are numerous things which he assumes to be real but later he learned that they were not. This theory drives him to the stress that which of his different convention may be false. So he set out to tear down all his beliefs and to reconstruct them to scratch. For this, he needs significant agreements which basically cannot doubt. He needs the basic conventions for the foundation so that he could start building a new structure. For those meetings, he began questioning everything he can. However, it does not mean that everything he doubts was false. His technique was just to ensure conventions he chooses were correct without any doubt. This technique of challenging everything is...
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