Rene Descartes Research Paper

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The Meditations on First Philosophy by Rene Descartes is a thorough analysis about doubt. Descartes describes his method of doubt to determine whether he can truly know something. One of his major arguments is the proof of the existence of God. In this paper, I will attempt to unravel the flaws in Descartes proof that God exists.

However, the Meditator realizes that he is often convinced when he is dreaming that he is sensing real objects. He feels certain that he is awake and sitting by the fire, but reflects that often he has dreamed this very sort of thing and been thoroughly convinced by it. On further reflection, he realizes that even simple things can be doubted. Omnipotent God could make even our conception of mathematics false. One might argue that God is supremely good and would not lead Descartes to believe falsely all these things. He supposes that not God, but some "evil demon" has committed itself to deceiving him so that everything he thinks he knows is false. By doubting everything, he can at least be sure not to be misled into falsehood by this demon.

As the first “premise” of his proof Descartes makes a very important distinction between the various types of ideas. The first type of idea he discusses is ideas that are images of things. This type of idea, when thought of, is apprehended as an object of my thought, but there is something more embraced in the thought than merely the representation of the object. Now if these ideas are considered only in themselves, and are not referred to any object beyond them, they cannot, properly speaking, be false. This even applies to the will and affections, a second type of idea, for although I may desire objects that are wrong, it is still true that I desire them. The third type of idea is that of judgement. Descartes goal in this classification is to find in his mind which of the ideas are the proper bearers of truth and falsehood. Considered in themselves, ideas are not false nor are desires. The only place where mistakes can be made is in making judgements. As Descartes says, “And the chief and most common mistake which is to be found here consists in my judging that the ideas which are in me resemble, or conform to, things located outside me.” Descartes further classifies his ideas by their origin: those that appear

Descartes attacks the possibility of certainty with regards to the existence of small and universal elements with the possibility of our thoughts being altered by an omnipotent deceiver. In paragraph nine, he states, “How do I know that he did not bring it about that there be no Earth at all, no heavens, no extended thing, no figure, no size, no place, and yet all these things should seem to me to exist precisely as they appear to do now.” His point is that this omnipotent evil deceiver could create in our minds an understanding of mathematics and logic that is at odds with reality, causing us to construe everything wrongly. Thus Descartes ends this final and devastating doubt with the preliminary conclusion that everything he perceives can be called into doubt.

The Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting One's Reason and of Seeking Truth in the Sciences is one of the most influential works in the history of modern philosophy, and important to the evolution of natural sciences. In this work, Descartes tackles the problem of skepticism. Descartes modified it to account for a truth he found to be incontrovertible. Descartes started his line of reasoning by doubting everything, so as to assess the world from a fresh perspective, clear of any preconceived notions. Whereas Francis Bacon’s Scientific Method wanted to replace the deductive reasoning by inductive reasoning. The important concept in this reformed

Descartes’ method of radical doubt focuses upon finding the truth about certain things from a philosophical perspective in order to truly lay down a foundation for ideas that have the slightest notion of doubt attached to them. He believed that there was “no greater task to perform in philosophy, than assiduously to seek out, once and for all, the best of all these arguments and to lay them out so precisely and plainly that henceforth all will take them to be true demonstrations” (Meditations, 36). The two key concepts that Descartes proves using the method of doubt are that the “human soul does not die with the body, and that God exists” as mentioned in his Letter of Dedication, since there are many that don’t believe the mentioned concepts because of the fact that they have not been proven or demonstrated. (Meditations, 35). In order to prove the above, he lays out six Meditations, each focusing on a different theme that leads us “to the knowledge of our mind and of God, so that of all things that can be known by the human mind, these latter are the most certain and the most evident” (Meditations, 40).

Arguably one of the most renowned thinkers in the world, French philosopher, Rene Descartes, in Meditations on the First Philosophy, provides skepticism about knowledge of the external world. Descartes initially discards all uncertain beliefs, and then establishes what can be known for sure. He posits in the Meditation II, titled, Of the Nature of the Human Mind; and that is more easily known than the Body, that, ‘I am, I exist, is necessarily true’. With this he postulates that while other knowledge may be the result of imagination, deception or mistake, the act of doubting our own existence is testament to the reality of our own mind. In this essay I will explain how Descartes arrives at this conclusion.

Descartes was inspired by the famous saying “I think, therefore I am” (Cogito ergo sum). He does not believe that there are any skeptical alternatives for this belief; therefore he believes this statement qualifies as true. However, Descartes knows that he cannot be sure that his mind and body exist in the physical world because, again, an evil demon could be deceiving him. Descartes knows he is capable of thought regardless of whether or not that thought is true or false. He also knows that he can have different perceptions of different things in the world.

Rene Descartes was born on March 31, 1569 in a small French town called La Haye en Touraine. Descartes's mother died when he was at the age of one, and grew up with his father and two older siblings. His father allowed him to get agreat education at a bording school, giving Descartes the foundation needed for his multiple contributions and discovories. As he got older, he joined the army for a short period of time. During this time Descartes met one of his most influential teachers that he would ever have; Isaac Beekman. Growing in age, Descartes became more and more curious. He made an effort to solve certain questions that he had by throwing out all previous conceptions of these certain questions and start fresh. By using this technique,

First of all, Descartes’ cogito ergo sum rests on the method of doubt, and it’s only true because it appears to him as most clear and distinct, and thus cannot be doubted. He said that, “What of thinking? I find here that thought is an attribute that belongs to me; it alone cannot be separated from me” . So what Descartes is saying here seems to mean that thinking is a quality that he possesses, and that he cannot exist without having this quality, which means thinking is what justifies his being at this moment. He adds that, “I am, however, a real thing and really exist; but what thing? I have answered: a thing which thinks”. I take this to mean that the essence Descartes suggests here is him being a thinking thing. He is sure that he is a thinking thing because when he thinks that he is a thinking thing, it is impossible to say that he is not thinking, which is an attribute he claims to be a part of him in the beginning. The idea of this essence is pushed further in his wax

From the various books he’s written to the pension granted from the King of France, renowned philosopher and mathematician René Descartes accomplished many extravagant achievements in his lifetime. Descartes invented analytical geometry and established the foundation of skepticism as part of the scientific method. René Descartes’ contributions to the creation of the scientific method and his various books on metaphysics and reason allow him to stand out, but Descartes’ geometric theorems and theories on existence and truth are what made him one of the most influential and important philosopher and mathematicians in history.

Rene Descartes was a philosopher of the 17th century. He had this keen interest in the search for certainty. For he was unimpressed with the way philosophy is during their time. He mused that nothing certain was coming forth from all the philosophical ideologies. He had considered that the case which philosophy was in was due to the fact that it was not grounded to something certain. He was primarily concerned with intellectual certainty, meaning that something that is certain through the intellect. Thus he was named a rationalist due to this the line of thought that he pursued. But in his work in the meditation, his method of finding this certainty was skeptical in nature; this is ‘the methodic doubt’.

In his work Meditations on First Philosophy, published in 1641, René Descartes sets out to establish a set of indubitable truths for the sciences. He begins by discarding all of his beliefs, then works to rebuild his beliefs based on careful thought. Descartes clearly states this goal, saying in the First Meditation, “I will work my way up… I will accomplish this by putting aside everything that admits of the least doubt” (I, 17). He is able to establish his own existence, but struggles to move beyond his internal thoughts to discuss external objects. Descartes decides that the Christian God is the bridge he needs to escape the confines of his own mind, and argues for the existence of God in the Third Meditation in order to move on to discussing the physical world. In this paper I will argue that Descartes’ rationalistic project would have been improved without an appeal to the Christian God, although I will also argue that Descartes thinks this appeal is necessary.

Descartes first submits that it is not necessary to show all beliefs are false to satisfy the knowledge condition. He adds that if in each belief there is doubt that we can conclude that all things that we believe can be considered false knowledge. He seeks to prove this by setting a precondition that we cannot critique all beliefs, just the ones that govern our life or that serve as a broad component of belief. Descartes then provides context to where beliefs come from and states that beliefs are created from senses or through senses. He then states that senses are false because they are deceptive and shouldn’t be trusted which is the first cause of being able to doubt a belief. This idea in my opinion is the argument of Reality vs. Virtually, which is what we encounter through our experiences vs. what we dream about. The question posed is that we doubt our beliefs because we do not know if what we perceive from our senses is true. The example provided in the Meditations text dealt with imagination and the Dream world concept. If I perceive something in the