Dream Argument Descartes

In this essay, I will be presenting and evaluating two separate arguments that were written by a philosopher named Descartes. These arguments were written, with his “beliefs set aside” (Descartes, p. 333), in order to justify the skeptic’s point of view. Descartes was not a skeptic himself and by proposing these two arguments and challenging them, he is able to better show that knowledge must exist. While studying this topic in my philosophy class, I learned the way philosophers define knowledge and it is made up of three components. That is, we can only know something if it is true, if we believe it, and if there is evidence to prove it. This is important because for a skeptic, we cannot know about anything because there is no real justification

The dream argument is presented by Descartes in his book, Meditations on First Philosophy, and is basically raising the question that “what if our life just all a dream? How do we truly distinguish what is real from what is a dream?” (Descartes, p. 334). It is interesting to think about this because if you think from a skeptical point of view, like Descartes is doing while writing these arguments, it is possible that you could put some beliefs into doubt that you normally would not. He writes about “how vivid dreams can sometimes be and how it is possible for us to not be able to distinguish whether an action that you remember was from reality or a dream state” (Descartes, p. 334). This skeptic point of view is challenging knowledge in its entirety. If all of our life is a dream, then we cannot truly know anything. Just because we feel a pinch on our arm or feel anxiety before taking a big test, “we cannot know for sure that we are not dreaming because we can recall that in what we already perceive to be a dream, such perceptions seem real too” (Descartes, p. 333). The dream argument can question knowledge that we find to be no-brainers. It questions even the basic “mathematics and colors. How do we know that 6+6=12?” (Descartes, p. 333). Is it because we just know that it does? I believe that Descartes really is trying to stress the point that just because we are sure of something to be

Nonetheless they did get me to thinking. While studying these arguments, I tried to do as Descartes did and put all of my beliefs aside and dissect the argument. I can why a skeptic would say that an evil demon could have the goal to deceive me at all times, therefore making everything that I seem to think to know unreliable, but I do not agree with it. To me, this argument is does not justify that we have no knowledge because, as Descartes’ concluded, “we must exist in order to think that we could be being deceived” (Descartes, p. 337-338). Therefore, I do know something. As far as the dream argument, it does not appeal to me. I understand why Descartes wrote this argument, but it leads back to the same conclusion as the evil deceiver argument, I am pondering this dream argument and this proves to me that I can think and obtain knowledge. Therefore, I must exist and this life that I live is not a dream