ipl-logo

The Influence Of René Descartes Meditations On First Philosophy

750 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Descartes meditations objections

René Descartes, a rationalist philosopher finds uncertainty in almost everything, including his senses, memory, body and the physical world. Eveything besides the fact he himself is a res cogitans (thinking thing). He puts forth this idea in his second meditation of his most famous works, Meditations On First Philosophy, published in 1641. This analytic style of writing opens by considering any belief that was the slightest bit doubtful, as false. Descartes felt the need for this “hyperbolic doubt” in order to reach an impartial truth. He then takes you through the thought process that led him to the one thing that lies beyond all doubt. He finds certainty in the statement Cogito, ergo sum or “I think, therefore I am.” FOOTNOT The first Meditation in Descartes Meditations On First Philosophy, is based on doubting almost everything he once believed as true. When Descartes found that beliefs he had were false, he realized all of his beliefs could be threatened. He embraced scepticism and refused to accept anything that it is possible to doubt. 'I realized that it was necessary, once in the course of my life, to demolish everything completely and start again right from the foundations if I wanted to establish anything at all in the sciences that was stable ' (17). Descartes thought …show more content…

Senses provide man with many ordinary beliefs and Descartes claimed all if them to be doubtful. He believed the senses to be untrustworthy and incapable of providing us with certainity. 'From time to time I have found that the senses deceive, and it is prudent never to trust completely those who have deceived us even once '. Descartes then states he had dreams that were very similar to walking experiments. He then questions when he is dreaming and when he is not. If he cannot distinguish between his dreams and waking life, all observations and beliefs based on sensation must be doubted.

Show More
Related
1470 Words | 6 Pages

There has to be something that is doing the doubting and Descartes is the one that is doing it. Also, he made his well known statement, “I think therefore I

Read More
1654 Words | 7 Pages

Notre Dame ID: 902008117 In René Descartes ' Mediations on First Philosophy, Descartes abandons all previous notions or things that he holds to be true and attempts to reason through his beliefs to find the things that he can truly know without a doubt. In his first two meditations Descartes comes to the conclusion that all that he can truly know is that he exists, and that he is a thinking being. In his third meditation, Descartes concludes that he came to know his existence, and the fact that he is a thinking being, from his clear and distinct perception of these two facts. Descartes then argues that if his clear and distinct perception would turn out to be false, then his clear and distinct perception that he was a thinking being would not have been enough to make him certain of it (Blanchette).

Read More
780 Words | 4 Pages

He presupposes that there is one type of doubt and that he is capable of doing it. He decides that he will doubt anything that he has come to know or think in order to find the one thing that he can’t doubt. Descartes explains, “I will reject whatever is open to the slightest doubt just as though I have

Read More
726 Words | 3 Pages

We know clear and distinct perceptions independently by God, and his existence provides us with a certainty we might not possess otherwise. However, another possible strategy would be to change Gods role in Descartes philosophy. Instead of seeing God as the validation of clear and distinct perceptions, rather see him as a safeguard against doubt. This strategy, however, is a problem since it re-constructs the Meditations – Philosophical work of Descartes –.This is because it would not be God, who is the ultimate foundation of knowledge, but the clear and distinct

Read More
328 Words | 2 Pages

Consequently, Descartes cannot distinguish whether he is dreaming or not. For example, Descartes admits that he thought he was conscious when in fact he was in a dream state. Descartes inability to distinguish between waking reality and dreams is, in part, due to to the

Read More
862 Words | 4 Pages

In this paper, I will deliver a reconstruction of Descartes’ Cogito Argument and my reasoning to validate it as indubitable. I will do so by justifying my interpretations through valid arguments and claim, by showcasing examples with reasoning. Rene Descartes is a French Philosopher of the 17th century, who formulated the philosophical Cogito argument by the name of ‘cogito ergo sum,’ also known as “I think, therefore, I am.” Rene was a skeptic philosopher amongst many scholastic philosophers of his time. To interpret his cogito argument as indubitable and whether it could serve as a foundational belief, he took a skeptical approach towards the relations between thoughts and existence.

Read More
172 Words | 1 Pages

Descartes, in his Meditations on First Philosophy, used a method of doubt; he doubted everything in order to find something conclusive, which he thought, would be certain knowledge. He found that he could doubt everything, expect that he was thinking, as doubting is a type of thinking. Since thinking requires a thinker, he knew he must exist. According to Descartes if you are able to doubt your existence, then it must mean that you exist, hence his famous statement cogito ergo sum which is translated into ‘I think, therefore I am.’ Descartes said he was able to doubt the existence of his body and all physical things, but he could not doubt that his mind exists.

Read More
1919 Words | 8 Pages

In the sixth meditation, Descartes postulates that there exists a fundamental difference in the natures of both mind and body which necessitates that they be considered as separate and distinct entities, rather than one stemming from the other or vice versa. This essay will endeavour to provide a critical objection to Descartes’ conception of the nature of mind and body and will then further commit to elucidating a suitably Cartesian-esque response to the same objection. (Descartes,1641) In the sixth meditation Descartes approaches this point of dualism between mind and matter, which would become a famous axiom in his body of philosophical work, in numerous ways. To wit Descartes postulates that he has clear and distinct perceptions of both

Read More
884 Words | 4 Pages

In this paper, I will deliver a reconstruction of Descartes’ Cogito Argument and my reasoning to validate it as indubitable. I will do so by justifying my interpretations through valid arguments and claim, by showcasing examples with reasoning. Rene Descartes is a French Philosopher of the 17th century, who formulated the philosophical Cogito argument by the name of ‘cogito ergo sum,’ also known as “I think, therefore, I am.” Rene was a skeptic philosopher amongst many scholastic philosophers at his time. He took a skeptical approach towards the relations between thoughts and existence, to interpret his cogito argument as indubitable and whether it could serve as a foundational belief.

Read More
997 Words | 4 Pages

However, they are not actually happening to the dreaming person in the formal reality. This understanding leads us to believe our senses can deceive us any time and that we can not rely on them to question the reality of something. As for finding an objective truth, that is stable and likely to last, upon which he can base his philosophy (Descartes 144), Descartes must refute all experiences that have a basis in the bodily

Read More
685 Words | 3 Pages

In this he would be correct there are instances and dreams that seem exactly the same as those of being awake, and there are few things that signify the difference until once actually

Read More
508 Words | 3 Pages

Explain Descartes’ method of doubt. What is Descartes purpose in exercising this method? Descartes begins Meditation I by stating that in order for him to establish anything in the sciences that was constant, he would have to start from the foundations of all knowledge. By claiming this, he is adopting skepticism which is not him rejecting his beliefs, but doubting them.

Read More
1000 Words | 4 Pages

However, Descartes accepts that humans can be wrong by relying on their sensory knowledge, though mostly on small objects in life. Because the senses can be incorrect, skepticism states that it isn't what Descartes searches for. Descartes tries to reassure himself, saying that it his sense must have some truth, since he is not a mad person. However, mad people are certain that what they see is real, and Descartes has just proven that his sensory knowledge can be wrong at times, so skepticism states that he can never be sure that he isn't insane. Skepticism also doubts whether people's lives are dreams or not, as people can confuse their dreams as real

Read More
1404 Words | 6 Pages

Descartes Epistemology: Descartes attempts to discover a foundation of knowledge as seen in his book ‘Meditations on First Philosophy’. He is essentially looking for total certainty. In order to do so, Descartes doubted everything, coming to the realization that he can only prove his

Read More
1116 Words | 5 Pages

Descartes Methodological Doubt and Meditations Methodological doubt is an approach in philosophy that employs distrust and doubt to all the truths and beliefs of an individual to determine what beliefs he or she is certain are true. It was popularized by Rene Descartes who made it a characteristic method of philosophy where a philosopher subjects all the knowledge they have with the sole purpose of scrutinizing and differentiating the true claims from the false claims. Methodological doubt establishes certainty by analytically and tentatively doubting all the knowledge that one knows to set aside dubitable knowledge from the indubitable knowledge that an individual possesses. According to Descartes, who was a rationalist, his first meditation

Read More

More about The Influence Of René Descartes Meditations On First Philosophy

Related Topics

Open Document