Descartes
René Descartes:
The Seeker of Indubitable Truths
Kharen Jade Tolentino
Reason & Feeling in Modern Philosophy GL PHIL 2620
Prof B. Logan
Wednesday, October 23, 12 Throughout history René Descartes has affected lives of philosophers and their ideas. Not only was René Descartes a well known philosopher he was well known for his application of algebra to geometry which led to the Cartesian geometry. In his Meditations on First Philosophy he attempted to provide philosophical evidence for the church and non-believers the existence of God and the idea that the mind is separate from the body (Descartes 2). By doing this Descartes abandoned everything he once deemed as true to create a new foundation of indubitable truths. However, by doing this he creates a problem amongst the community, he stresses that in order to understand these truths we must reject prejudice ideas and withdraw from the senses (Descartes 7). Before attempting to solve the existence of God Descartes talks about the existence of the mind as “Cogito Ergo Sum” and uses a metaphor called the “Wax Argument”. In this essay I will be discussing Descartes most famous works “Cogito Ergo Sum” and the relevance of his “Wax Argument”. During Descartes course of meditation he explains the existence of the soul as he stated, “I am…precisely nothing but a thinking thing”(Descartes 16). This remark was created a day after Descartes concluded his first meditation that led him to doubt everything. He argued that the senses and dreams have the ability to deceive us into believing false truths (Descartes 10). He explains, that in sleep one does not know how to distinguish reality or dream, therefore, the sensations we perceive from external objects could be perceived asleep or awake but it is unknown and doubtful (Descartes 10). For example, the opposite of a lucid dream indicates the dreamer is not aware of dreaming and has no control over what is felt or done in the dream. Therefore, how can the dreamer
The Seeker of Indubitable Truths
Kharen Jade Tolentino
Reason & Feeling in Modern Philosophy GL PHIL 2620
Prof B. Logan
Wednesday, October 23, 12 Throughout history René Descartes has affected lives of philosophers and their ideas. Not only was René Descartes a well known philosopher he was well known for his application of algebra to geometry which led to the Cartesian geometry. In his Meditations on First Philosophy he attempted to provide philosophical evidence for the church and non-believers the existence of God and the idea that the mind is separate from the body (Descartes 2). By doing this Descartes abandoned everything he once deemed as true to create a new foundation of indubitable truths. However, by doing this he creates a problem amongst the community, he stresses that in order to understand these truths we must reject prejudice ideas and withdraw from the senses (Descartes 7). Before attempting to solve the existence of God Descartes talks about the existence of the mind as “Cogito Ergo Sum” and uses a metaphor called the “Wax Argument”. In this essay I will be discussing Descartes most famous works “Cogito Ergo Sum” and the relevance of his “Wax Argument”. During Descartes course of meditation he explains the existence of the soul as he stated, “I am…precisely nothing but a thinking thing”(Descartes 16). This remark was created a day after Descartes concluded his first meditation that led him to doubt everything. He argued that the senses and dreams have the ability to deceive us into believing false truths (Descartes 10). He explains, that in sleep one does not know how to distinguish reality or dream, therefore, the sensations we perceive from external objects could be perceived asleep or awake but it is unknown and doubtful (Descartes 10). For example, the opposite of a lucid dream indicates the dreamer is not aware of dreaming and has no control over what is felt or done in the dream. Therefore, how can the dreamer
Cited: Descartes, René. Meditations, Objections, And Replies. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company Inc, 2006. Print. “Deductive and Inductive Arguments,” by Chase B. Wrenn, The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ISSN 2161 0002, http://www.iep.utm.edu/, October 23rd, 2012