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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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