Descartes And Locke Research Paper

In terms of both Descartes and Locke, their differences characterize their overall theories of knowledge. Descartes believes that knowledge depends on absolute certainty. He believes that perception is untrustworthy, therefore knowledge cannot come from outside sources via the senses. Descartes believes there are two ways of attaining knowledge. The first is through experience and deduction. However, if knowledge can’t come from outside experience, it must come from within. Unlike the idea of perception, he believes that deduction cannot be done improperly when it is being done by, at the very least, a rational intellectual. Therefore, claiming that deductive knowledge is the only certain knowledge. Descartes does not believe that the knowledge

One of the key examples he uses to back up his claim is the Dream argument. He argues that sometimes he dreams about things that seem real to him, even though he is sleeping. He explains a dream where he is sitting by a fire and it seems like he can actually feel the heat of the fire, the same way he feels the heat of a fire when he is awake. He goes on to say that the fact that he feels the fire doesn’t enable him to distinguish between dreaming and being awake. Because his senses can make him believe he is feeling the warmth of a fire, when in actuality he is not, means that he cannot even believe that fire is real when he feels it when he is awake. Another argument he makes is the Deceiving God and Evil Demon argument. Descartes argues that as far as he knows, he could be under the control of some all-powerful being, whose aim is to trick him. If this were the case, then he doesn’t have a body, but is simply a brain that is given knowledge and lies by this being. Although these are extreme cases, he says all this to show that our senses could be

He believes in highly probable knowledge. They differ specifically in the sense that because Locke doesn’t believe in certain knowledge he doesn’t analyze the notion of perception. Locke also believes that knowledge relies on the senses and observations. He goes so far to say that all ideas come from sensation and reflection. He claims that all knowledge is established on experience. He goes further to say that all our knowledge is developed from ideas. It is best to think of ideas as the building blocks and knowledge as the structure we make from those blocks. Putting these two notions together, Locke concludes that all knowledge can be considered by considering where our ideas come from. Locke believes there are only two ways we get ideas. The first way is through sensation and the second is through reflection. Through sensation we are focusing our senses on the outer world and submissively gaining knowledge through sight, sound, smell, and touch. Through this act we have knowledge like colors, tastes, and sounds. However, through reflection we our focusing on the inner and submissively gaining knowledge such as beliefs, doubt, or thoughts. One of the biggest issues faced when approaching Locke’s theory is understand what role idea’s play in terms of perception. However, most interpret ideas as being the object of perception. For example, an acorn in the outer world generates an idea, and this idea is what is