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René Descartes Meditations On First Philosophy

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According to René Descartes we are limited to only conceive what is delivered to us from our senses. What is facilitated through what we hear, see, touch, taste, and smell thusly frames our understood truths and realities. However, even these primitive faculties are susceptible to doubt. As Descartes outlines in his Meditations on First Philosophy, these senses can deceive us. We are prone to being cheated by man, ourselves, and even our most widely accepted beliefs. Due to this, Descartes argues that the only thing that is truly immune to doubt is the existence of oneself. Though this argument is appealing, this idea of doubt and what is true requires a more in depth analysis. Before addressing any objections to his central claim, it must …show more content…

We can observe this in perhaps his most famous quote, “I think, therefore I am.” He claims that his existence is certain, perhaps the only certain thing. Still, based on the text thus far, he offers little explanation as to why we should accept even that as certain. His reasoning is plentiful when it comes to diffusing the legitimacy of the senses and what was previously thought to be truth, but this reasoning merely supports his argument that the senses are deceiving and doesn’t address his conclusion that his existence cannot be doubted. There are implicit claims being made as well, if he can only certainly believe his own consciousness, then that means the consciousness of others is a debatable subject as well. However, this implicit claim seems to be contradicted in an earlier statement. If we refer to the earlier excerpt, “It would be prudent for me never completely to trust those who have cheated me even once,” Descartes implies he puts trust in other individuals (Descartes 158). If Descartes sincerely believes that he can only truly accept his existence as true, why would he place such a coveted virtue in a perpetually deceiving body? Of course, this might be taking his argument too literally. Descartes himself even admits that a strict adherence to the principles he believes as true leads to an profuse amount of doubt and claims he, “Won’t overindulge in skepticism,” (Descartes

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However, Descartes is indeed certain of the fact that he is a thinking being, and that he exists. As a result of this argument, Descartes makes a conclusion that the things he perceives clearly and distinctly cannot be false, and are therefore true (Blanchette). This clear and distinct perception is an important component to the argument that Descartes makes in his fifth meditation for the existence of God. This paper explains Descartes ' proof of God 's existence from Descartes ' fifth meditation, Pierre Gassendi 's objection to this proof, and then offers the paper 's author 's opinion on both the proof and objection.

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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

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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.

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In Meditation on First Philosophy, Descartes states that the realities he believed to be certain during his young years have been false. Which therefore causes him to embark on the journey to destroy all the opinions he had believed as the truth, and accept only those claims that are certain, firm, and permanent in the sciences. Deconstructing these pre-conceptions requires a process of methodological doubt where he withdraws from the senses; that “all that up to the present time [he has] accepted as most true and certain I have learned either from the senses or through the senses; but it has sometimes proved that these senses are deceptive” (Descartes, 1-7). Descartes believes that at any moment, he could be dreaming, or his sense deceived by God or an evil demon. He ascertains his own existence through a clear and distinct perception guaranteed by God.

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Descartes’ doubt is methodical in that he questions the foundations of his beliefs and uses this doubt in order to discover knowledge that is entirely certain through perceptions that simply cannot be doubted. He devises the Method of Doubt in which he proposes a belief, negates it, and evaluates the possibility of the negation. In the book, Descartes focuses on the reliability of the senses, putting forth the belief that the senses are reliable, proposing the negation that the senses are unreliable, then evaluating the possibility of this negation. If the negation is impossible, then the belief is certain, and if the negation is possible, then the belief is suspended. Since medieval science is rooted in the reliability of the senses, and the argument that the senses are reliable does not

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Through our understanding we can come to learn that the existence of conscious self is not enough to support the claim of a thinking thing, and that he solely exists on the basis of thinking and being a thing being. And so the mediators claim that “ I exist as a thinking thing,” is correct as it can be supported with evidence throughout our

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Justified, true belief knowledge is only real if there is no conceivable doubt, but nothing can truly be inconceivable fact. In “Mediation I: What can be Called into Doubt”, Descartes tries to find solutions to this, but he only raises more questions about the world. Skepticism arises to challenge the idea of a perfect knowledge and to question the human mind and the world. Descartes reflects on the countless falsehoods he believed that became his knowledge about the world and wipes everything out of his mind to begin anew. Descartes starts with the foundations of knowledge, deciding only to accept opinions as truths when there isn't any conceivable doubt in his mind.

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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.” In this essay I will explain Descartes’ thinking and reasoning that leads him to this statement, covering his first and second meditation. The first Meditation in Descartes Meditations On First Philosophy, is based on doubting almost everything he once believed as true.

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