Descartes’s best work is “Meditations on First Philosophy” which is where most of his investigation on the questions of knowing takes place. In meditation I Descartes accepts that he has learned throughout his life with his senses…
5. What is the point of Descartes' doubt about having a body? Why can't a thing that thinks, an "I think" (cogito), be a body? What is a body?…
“Cogito ergo Sum”( ….) . This conditional statement translates to “ I think, therefore, I am” and he presents that his ability to have consciences confirms his existence. After doubting God Descartes proves his existence in his Meditations on First Philosophy, he affirms the existence of God with an ontological view. This view suggests that the ability of one to think…
Descartes talked about the essence of material things and prove that God exists again. Descartes said that it is obvious that whatever is true is something, and he have already demonstrated at some length that all that he know clearly is…
Descartes first clear and indubitable proposition is “I think therefore I am.” He says that this is a clear and indubitable proposition because if you try to doubt the fact that you think, you are in fact thinking. He says, “Doubtless I did exist, if I persuaded myself of something. But there is some deceiver or other who is supremely powerful and supremely sly and who is always deliberately deceiving me. Then too there is no doubt that I exist, if he is deceiving me” (492). Descartes then uses this clear and indubitable proposition to come up with his next clear and indubitable proposition, which is that God exists. To prove this, Descartes first uses the trademark argument. This argument says, I have an idea of God. My idea of God is of a substance that…
The fact that Descartes is even considering the mere question of his own existence just proves that he indeed exists and that is certain. Further, he argues that we are essentially thinking things (res cogitans) that can know our minds clearly and distinctly. Descartes pitches a tent for himself firmly in the rationalist camp, as opposed to the empiricist camp. He constantly emphasizes that the clear and distinct perceptions of the intellect are the only sure means of securing knowledge, and ultimately concludes that the senses are not designed to give us knowledge at all, but are rather meant to help us move through the world in a very practical…
In Meditation 2, Rene Descartes finds his existence in that he thinks, and that his essence is that he is a thinking thing. In only being a thinking thing, Descartes states that his mind is distinct and more real to him than his body (even if he has a body). Unlike the Aristotelian belief in which the mind and body are connected, Descartes now aims to show that it is not through his body, his senses, and his imagination that he knows with most distinctness, but it is his mind alone.…
Next, he organizes his thoughts into classes of ideas, emotions, and judgments, and after questions whether they are true or false. Regarding the ideas - these are images or pictures of we see or imagine, such as a sky, chimera, God, or an angel. Then there are volitions or emotions - when we affirm, deny, or fear something, and finally other thoughts and judgments (71). Next, Descartes questioned which one of these could be false or true. The ideas are not wrong when; "they are considered alone and in their own right, without being referred to something else" (71).…
This is the first thing that Descartes knows to be true. He says, “What about thinking? Here I make my discovery: thought exists; it alone cannot be separated from me. I am; I exist- this is certain” (Descartes, 19). He goes on to say that his senses are deceptive and whatever he may understand from his senses may be false, therefore he cannot rely on them.…
Descartes is trying to find where his thoughts of God are coming from. He knows they couldn’t come from himself because for one he doubts, he has desires and he lacks stuff. Now, he is calling into question whether they are from his parents, but there is a problem with that interpretation too because, then the question of where his parents got it from would be arise and it would be going back like a chain all the way to his ancestors or who knows. Considering the fact that he is a thinking thing, he also argue that the thought of God cannot be…
René Descartes "I think, therefore I am". Reflects his belief for DEDUCTIVE reasoning and dividing existence into MIND and BODY (CARTESIAN DUALISM)…
With this idea in mind, Descartes’s conception of knowledge would not allow him to know anything at all because of the idea that he has been feed false information his entire life. The conclusion that Descartes comes to was…
From the beginning of the third meditation, Descartes seeks to establish the existence of God using his initial concept of self awareness. Descartes argued that because he thought, then he lived. Thinking ability at this time was linked to being alive and thought that there must be a god who puts the thoughts in his mind. In his quest for indubitable truth, Descartes came up with the theory of ideas, which classified those things that he considered distinct and clear to be true. Descartes argued that the idea of god should be coming from within him since he cannot experience god himself directly or find any perfection in himself.…
As he attempted to combine the new with old, Rene Descartes became one of these groundbreaking philosophers who attempted to start philosophy from scratch. The premise of Descartes’ works began with the saying, “I think, therefore I exist”. This motto came from Descartes not accepting anything and trying to doubt everything that exists. Descartes came to this realization after many hours of trying to determine what aspects of his existence were undeniable. He worked from outside to inside, quickly placing doubt on many aspects of the world that, at first glance, seem trustworthy. He went past where people had drawn the line before, and soon he was left with only a mind that necessarily exists because it thinks. Nonetheless, now knowing that the mind exists, it is important to point out that Descartes was a Metaphysical Dualist, which means that the world is separated into thinking things and extended things. The thinking things are the mind, and the extended things are all the physical and material objects in the world. Descartes states that the mind does not…
He explains his opinions on this matter in his second meditation, in which he attempts to clarify what “I” is, this “thing that thinks.” Descartes asserts that he is not only a thinking thing, but he is also capable of imagining and sensing. Descartes continues by questioning how he came to know this “I.” He explains how it cannot be due to our senses through his wax argument, and that it is not due to our imagination either because of the possibility of deception. This knowledge of “I” does not depend on any of the things he stimulates in his imagination because it cannot depend on anything that he doesn’t yet know. He explains that everything belonging to the nature of the body could be nothing more than dreams, so he realizes that nothing he can know by means of imagination involves the knowledge that he has of…