...Descartes started the meditations on first philosophy by explaining how he believed in many false opinions during his youth, which created doubt on all of his current knowledge. In order to fix that Descartes suggested to start again from the original foundations, meaning wiping out everything he knew and start learning again. This was the philosophical project Descartes initiated, which according to him was an enormous task. “Yet to bring this about I will not need to show that all my opinions are false, which is perhaps something I could never accomplish.” Descartes would only focus on opinions that he wasn’t completely sure about and those that were patently false, only if there some reasons to doubt these opinions would be rejected. Anything he had doubts about he wanted to make sure to learn the right thing, therefore he would go back to the foundations. We dream when we go to sleep. Descartes argued that we have perceptions that are very much similar to what...
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...In the beginning of the Meditations on First Philosophy, by René Descartes, he talks about dreams and how if we can't distinguish reality from illusion then how can we fully trust our senses. Our basic perception of the world and knowledge could be false because if we can’t differentiate our dreams from reality then how do we know that our perception of the world is true. How could we established beyond doubt the possibility of certain knowledge? If we can’t tell if we are awake or dreaming when we are asleep then our perception of the world is misleading. I agree with Descartes because many times I have woken up from a dream thinking that my dream was real. Our dreams can deceive us because the way we are able to sense in our dream and the...
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...Critical Analysis of Meditations on the First Philosophy Gage Berryman Philosophy 101 April 17, 2014 Rene Descartes writes his Meditations on First Philosophy according to God and the soul. Both of these factors are addressed in all six of his meditations. Each meditation has its own theme and main objective that contribute to its explanation. Although Descartes writing was challenging to understand, I have found sources to help clarify and back up the ideas that have been stated. I will analysis the ideas Descartes has mentioned in the first three of his meditations. The first meditation: “Of the things which may be brought within the sphere of the doubtful” In this section, Descartes states that he does not trust his senses because they are deceptive. He questions the sciences and the deceptiveness that they have within them. The only science that he believes to be truthful is arithmetic and geometry. They are based on simple objects. The other sciences are untrustworthy because they come from composite ideas. Descartes states “there is nothing in all that I formerly believed to be true” God also plays a large part in the discussion of this meditation. He believes that God is not deceptive and only speaks the truth. The journal Substance and Action in Descartes and Newton states “from Descartes's point of view, we cannot think of God as extended because God lacks geometric properties, unlike ordinary material bodies, which have shapes, and whose parts have various...
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...Philosophy 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...
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...MODULE 5 – G2 – ESSAY DEGREE PROGRAM THEOLOGY/TURABIAN PRESENTED TO PROFESSOR DR. GREG SCHNEEBERGER FOR PHIL 201 – D09 BY REV. JOSEPH T. WHITAKER, III LU23755920 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY LYNCHBURG, VA SEPTEMBER 10, 2015 2 Question One Compare and contrast The Matrix with the readings from Plato and Descartes. What are some similarities and differences? The Matrix describes a fictitious possibility of a virtual existence of the world and especially the world’s human population, unbeknownst by the majority of people involved in the virtual reality known as the Matrix. Certain players in the Matrix scenario are awakened to the proposition that perhaps their life experience is an orchestrated delusion, set into motion by certain governing powers, in an attempt to obtain and maintain absolute control upon the masses. An important character in the Matrix named, Morpheus, brings the deceptive virtual reality to the attention of other participants in the Matrix, in an effort to help awaken them to the real truth of their existence. It is discovered that rather than the daily life experience and existence of the population of the world, the people are actually unconscious of the absolute reality that they are all in a clinical state of suspended animation. This virtual reality of the...
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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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...Rene Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy Rene Descartes’ third meditation from his book Meditations on First Philosophy, examines Descartes’ arguments for the existence of God. The purpose of this essay will be to explore Descartes’ reasoning and proofs of God’s existence. In the third meditation, Descartes states two arguments attempting to prove God’s existence, the Trademark argument and the traditional Cosmological argument. Although his arguments are strong and relatively truthful, they do no prove the existence of God. At the start of the meditation, Descartes begins by rejecting all his beliefs, so that he would not be deceived by any misconceptions from reaching the truth. Descartes acknowledges himself as, “a thing that thinks: that is, a thing that doubts, affirms, denies, understands a few things, is ignorant of many things” He is certain that that he thinks and exists because his knowledge and ideas are both ‘clear and distinct’. Descartes proposes a general rule, “that whatever one perceives very clearly and very distinctly is true” Descartes discovers, “that he can doubt what he clearly and distinctly perceives is true led to the realization that his first immediate priority should be to remove the doubt” because, “no organized body of knowledge is possible unless the doubt is removed” The best probable way to remove the doubt is prove that God exists, that he is not a deceiver and “will always guarantee that any clear and distinct ideas that Descartes...
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...Paper #1: Descartes and Artificial Intelligence Blade Runner, a film based in the future, precisely 2019 shows the world with genetically engineered robots called replicants. Replicants look just like other adult beings that are substitutes for humans that live for only four years. Living for such a short period of time allows no opportunity for development or emotional growth. The name of the film Blade Runner, are those who hunt for “replicants” that are banned from earth for defying their position in society. Descartes provides us with principles that he considers is the nature of the human mind and its evaluating process, in which the replicants would not be considered human. In Descartes Sixth Meditation we see the distinguishing factors between the mind and body. “From this we are prompted to acknowledge that the natures of mind and body not only are different from one another, but even, in a manner of speaking, are contraries of one another”. Mind is different than the body. When both are working in equilibrium we are functioning well. Compared to replicants who have no thoughts or feelings, just the ability to continuously work and complete the task assigned to them. This is a result of the body performing physical labor while having no thought or interferences of the mind. To be considered a human you need to have these important things working in accordance, according to Descartes. “I am therefore precisely nothing but a thinking thing; that is, a mind, or...
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...Emerson’s Unifying Philosophy Throughout human existence, scholars have earnestly pursued knowledge and the attainment of truth. Historical figures such as Plato, Descartes, and Emerson sought answers to daunting questions of: ‘What is truth?’; ‘What is reality?’; ‘How is wisdom acquired?’ Many scholars believe these philosophers presented conflicting viewpoints: Plato encouraging skepticism among all previous historical, cultural, and personal perspectives; Descartes questioning definitions of reality and his very existence; Emerson encouraging self-trust and confidence in one’s ideals, opinions, and convictions. Surprisingly, reconciliation can be reached from these three differing hypotheses. Emerson’s thesis merely expounds from Descartes and Plato’s philosophies. He builds from Descartes’ search for self-identity and reconciles Plato’s skepticism with his views of self-trust and unconformity among scholars. Throughout “Mediations I and II”, Descartes disputes definitions of reality and identity, establishing a precursor to Emerson’s philosophy. Initially, Descartes questions all notions of being. In “Mediation I”, Descartes begins his argument explaining the senses which perceive reality can be deceptive and “it is wiser not to trust entirely to any thing by which we have once been deceived” (Descartes 59). But, he then continues to reason; “opinions [are] in some measure doubtful…and at the same time highly probable, so that there is much more reason to believe in...
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...Rene Descartes is known as “The father of modern philosophy”, and published “Discourse on the Method.” Before Descartes invented his philosophy, in Europe, Scholasticism was prevalent. It says, “God lights up the truth, and people who don’t know cannot get the truth” ( ). He denied this idea and indicated that, with reason, we can find a certain spot where everyone can receive common truth. This idea was groundbreaking at the time. Human being can speculate the world with reason and can grasp its comprehends picture. Unless we misuse reason, we can achieve the same goal. In other words, there is world universality. However, the problem is where we should put the start point of speculation, where to put principle. If each person has each start point, of course goal should be different from on another. Before Descartes, Scholarcism, which tell grasping the truth with strong belief, was prevalent. However, Descartes denied this completely. Overcoming the difference of religions and cultures, and finding the common understanding with reason was the goal of Descartes. Descartes said, “To use reason correctly, we have to follow the “method”. So let’s check out each method. First, the purpose of study is to lead people’s mind to the solid truth. Descartes said, “ Seeking the universality is not to get Schlorsicm knowledge, but to make our life better.” Second, study the thing we can absolutely understand with reason. He said this because, if we work on the...
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...Does God Exist? Descartes’ Arguments and Proofs Rene Descartes considers what he can be sure to be true in his Meditations on First Philosophy. His meditations cover a vast variety of areas: the nature of the mind and body, the senses, the essence and existence of material things; but of all of these topics, one of his most thought-provoking and fascinating meditations is that on the existence of God. His argument is fairly well stated, but it is not flawless in its reasoning and logic. Through explanation and analysis of his position, this paper will set out his belief on the existence of God, the importance of this argument to his overall position, and to discuss several of the problems in his reasoning. The first proof at which Descartes considers God is the in the third meditation. By this point, Descartes has already concluded that the only thing thus far that he can be sure of is that he exists as some sort of thinking thing. He has considered the existence of a malevolent spirit that has set out specifically to deceive him at every turn, which has the effect of rendering any other belief spurious at best. In the face of the possibility that something is deliberately setting out to deceive him, he is left only with the knowledge that he is a thinking thing. From there, we get into the third meditation, wherein Descartes considers the possibility of the existence of God, and what precisely that would entail. (Beyssade) Descartes starts by pointing out that in order...
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...Rene Descartes’ theory of dualism was one of most advanced forms of philosophical dualism, it is commonly related to the correspondence between Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia and Descartes. In this essay, I will explain the problem that Elisabeth had with Descartes new found ideas and elaborate on his replies. In doing so I will create a deeper understanding of Cartesian Dualism and analyze the possibility of it still being an accurate claim after many centuries. Descartes’ felt the only thing in his life that could not be a deception from the Great Demon was his mind. He believed his body and surroundings could all be an illusion, but of the one thing he was sure of, because he had complete control over was his mind, his philosophy was “I think, therefore I am.” Because of this, he proposed that the mind and the body were two separate entities. This proposal went against the common theories of the time, leading Princess Elisabeth to write to Descartes asking for further explanation on what exactly he meant by the mind and body being “separate”. She asked how it could be possible for the mind and body to be separate entities yet still work in perfect unity. Descartes suggests that because of Elisabeth’s metaphysical beliefs, she is not capable of comprehending the mind and body as individual, separate entities. (Tollesfen, 1999) However, Princess Elisabeth did not only write to Descartes to have Philosophical conversation, but for assurance on the morality of Descartes theory...
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...2nd, 2015 The Delusion Dilemma Rene Descartes once proposed a tedious accusation about dreaming, and how our senses that we use to perceive what is considered reality should not be trusted fully. In the Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes attempts to convey the fascinating illusion of always being in a dream without a certain ability to distinguish what is actually reality or what is a dream, or at bare minimum prove that there are no certain marks to prove otherwise. He states, “…as I think about this more carefully, I see plainly that there are never any sure signs by means of which being awake can be distinguished from being asleep. The result is that I begin to feel dazed, and this very feeling only reinforces the notion that I may be asleep” (First Meditation). In my attempts to contrast what Descartes argument was comprised of and what certain illusions made him feel this way about our perception of physical existence. I turned my attention to his famous dream argument originally brought forth in his Mediation on First Philosophy, and will be using different ideologies between a John Locke and Thomas Hobbes, two famous English philosophers who have attempted to refute Rene Descartes’s dream argument by providing useful and insightful situations to further explain against the idea, as well as provide my own insight in concluding that we are not dreaming right now. It should be noted that within the context of Meditations, which is atypical from traditional philosophical...
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...René Descartes was a famous French mathematician, scientist, and philosopher. He was arguably known as the "Father of Modern Philosophy." Descartes published many works of mathematics and philosophy throughout his life. In one of his most important works, Meditations on First Philosophy, he added a number of arguments for and against skepticism. Skepticism is the doubt about the truth of something and that absolute knowledge is not possible. Like past famous philosophers before him, Plato and Parmenides, Descartes believed that "evidence from the senses was inadequate to prove the kind of justification required for a claim of knowledge." In the first of Rene Descartes Meditations, he provided arguments for the skeptical position. He realized that, based off his senses, he had accepted many false opinions as true and that everything he afterwards built upon his opinions could only be doubtful and uncertain. In his project, a quest for knowledge, he decided to disregard and discard all beliefs that were based on any evidence which could be doubted and proven as less than certain. He wanted to create a new, firm foundation. He decided to go about this project because he, like other famous philosophers, believed that much of what is believed is based on ones senses. Descartes noticed that his senses had often deceived him and it was prudent to trust completely in what has deceived a person even once. Aside from deceiving senses, Descartes was also reminded that everyone has dreamed...
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...being’s Influence on Thought “Cogito ergo sum” uttered by the man who is referred to as the “Father of Modern Philosophy” translates to “I think, therefore I am.” Rene Descartes authored Discourse on the Method as well as Meditations on First Philosophy, a narrative that explores the concepts of the ideas he employs. Descartes regards the power of reasoning and concrete sensations as more rational than that of gathering knowledge based on faith. After meditating upon this philosophical notion, Descartes’ argument has the power to provide hypothetical evidence towards the existence of a higher being, a.k.a. God. By observing the patterns of Descartes’ arguments regarding the method of gathering knowledge, one...
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