Descartes College Essays Samples For Students

Descartes’ skepticism and confusions about self-believe, truth and knowledge are expressed in his First Meditation. He is confused by the nature of his sensory beliefs because most of the times they tend to mislead him. His distrust for his senses does not mean that he distrusts all of them. He only happens to distrust some of them when the conditions for trusting such senses are poor. He will trust his senses when the conditions are such that they are favorable and conducive to be trusted.
The other thing that makes Descartes skeptic about life and self-belief is in ...

Descartes First Meditation on skeptical doubts opens with the mediator reflecting on the numerous falsehoods he has always believed all his life. He also reflects on the imperfect knowledge he has come up with, following these falsehood. Therefore, Descartes resolved on sweeping all the things he knew and starting again on the foundations in which he built up his knowledge once again, but this time on certain grounds. Furthermore, this becomes Desecrates overall goal that he sets for himself as far as the Meditator is concerned. The philosopher is seen seated alone by the fire, where he is free ...

1. Descartes famously begins his Meditations on First Philosophy by considering so-called “radical doubt.” What is radical doubt, and what are the three phases in the argument that lead him to it? What does he believe is the idea that is fundamentally resistant even to the deepest of doubts? And why does Descartes begin his epistemology like this, anyway?
Rene Descartes propounded his theory of radical doubt where he insisted on the systematic process of doubting one’s beliefs in a bid to determine or ascertain that which is indeed true. Descartes, in his radical doubt, advocated for doubting ...

Socrates and Descartes are some of the greatest Greek philosophers of their time as they greatly impacted western and modern day thoughts or philosophy. They are known as fathers of philosophy as a result of their philosophical inquiry which forms the basis of modern day thoughts. Socrates was an inscrutable individual and one of the philosophers who demonstrated enigma during his lifetime. He changed the manner in which philosophy is conceived, although he did not write anything. The Socratic teaching method or elenctic is one such thought that survived throughout several years. Descartes, on the other hand, started his inquiry ...

Descartes attempts to find out the source of his beliefs and existence. Initially he believes that thoughts are the illusions of his dreams. He believes that answers to every question originate from logic and science. As such, he seeks the truth by using philosophical and scientific principles. According to Descartes, everything that one can doubt is false. Consequently, he perceived every thought that crosses his mind to be an illusion of his dreams (Sayre, 2011, p. 709).
His turning point is when he begins to doubt the nature of his beliefs in addition to the unpredictability of his ...

Introduction

One’s mind is the subject of a human’s activity. It is the mind that intervenes in every activity and forces a person to either advance in the project he or she was undertaking or change alternatives to pursue a different task with intent to achieve different or similar objectives. Such a situational aspect of indecisiveness is referred to as dilemma. In definition, dilemma is a situation offering two possible solutions but neither of the alternatives offers direct results. Either way one must choose one alternative and be positive about the outcome. If the outcome is negative, the situation may be flexible to ...

Descartes was a philosopher that proposed a dualist solution to the mind-body debate. The following quote, from his Meditations, VI.9, evidences this: "And, firstly, because I know that all which I clearly and distinctly conceive can be produced by God exactly as I conceive it, it is sufficient that I am able clearly and distinctly to conceive one thing apart from another, in order to be certain that the one is different from the other, seeing they may at least be made to exist separately, by the omnipotence of God". As one can see after reading the text that follows the ...

At the start of his research, Descartes considers everything that he can in all probability doubt as fault. He employs the thought of his step method to assist philosophy resolve basic difficulties. He makes it clear that searching for the truth in science would clarify the relationship between science and philosophy. He explains that both science and philosophy rely on each other in order to find solutions to basic questions for philosophy.
Descartes gives evidences of the existence of the soul and God. Considering the nature of dreams and the untrustworthiness of the senses, He happens to be ...

Descartes, Leibniz and Spinoza on Substance

Descartes, Spinoza and Leibniz are the three philosophers that stand out among their contemporaries in the seventeenth century as the greatest rationalists. While constructing their philosophical systems, each of them sought to incorporate philosophical and theological foundations to explain the existence and the essence of substance as regards, mental, physical and moral universe. In discussing their philosophy in relation to substance, the three philosophers are known in their philosophical systems as Leibnizian pluralism, Spinozan monism and Cartesian dualism.

Descartes’ Account on Substance: Cartesian Duality

Descartes’ philosophical system on substance was extremely influential on the subsequent 17 century philosophers who developed their own accounts in reference ...

Descartes by invoking Cogito in the second meditation was able to control metaphysical doubts supervening on his initial conquest that was based on conscious will. However, the Cogito has refuted the mathematical and physical hypothesis of a deceiving God only momentarily in regard of ascertaining of our self-esteem. The understanding of conscious will is a feeling that one is doing things (Cunning, 2010). This feeling occurs in almost everything we do, implying time and time again we consciously cause actions. But the feeling may not be an accurate expression of what is happening in our bodies as our actions are pronounced. ...

Chapter 9: Descartes

1. "I find here that thought is an attribute that belongs to me; it cannot be separated from me. I am, I exist, that is certain" (Descartes qtd. in Soccio 260). What does Descartes mean by this statement and why is it so important?
Descartes claims that there is no ego without a thought (mind) and this ego does not exist in a thoughtless state. That is one of his most important ideas, which led to a well-known statement - “I think therefore I am”.
2. What is meant to be proven by the wax example? How does Descartes go ...

Essay

Materialism is a world view of philosophy, according to which the material is the ontologically initial onset (as the reason, requirement) and ideal – as a secondary (result, consequence). Materialism says that the existence of one single, absolute substantia of being – material, where all the essences were made of material, and the ideal phenomena are the processes of interactions between the material essences. The rules of material world are spread all over the entire human world and its society. The term of materialism was invented by Gottfried Leibniz, with which he characterized his opponents.
Dualism is a world view of philosophy, according ...

Rene Descartes was known as the leading contemporary scientist of Europe. During his lifetime, he was famous for the mathematical and mechanistic accounts that explored the fields of physics, cosmology, optics, physiology and biology. But merely a few decades after he passed away, his scientific systems were completely forgotten. But despite all this, Descartes still remains one of the widely read personalities of his age; the reason being not his scientific legacy but the developments of philosophy by him (Descartes). Yet the most significant works of Descartes include his proves about the existence of God and further study on the ...

Descartes’ central project in Meditations is to provide a foundation for the certainty of knowledge. His project is to show that the real source of knowledge lies in the mind and not in the senses and that is why Meditations is also a critique of empiricism. His aim includes making a clear distinction between mind and body and providing the proof for the existence of God. The objective is to reconcile the church and science by providing each a separate domain to work. He begins his project by doubting everything as he wants to find the indubitable basis of knowledge and then wants ...

Differences between Mind and Body

Our mind and body are the major constants in our lives. Philosophers and scientists have often raised questions on mind and body, the relation between the two. The starting point for any analysis would begin with a question - What is a mind and how does it differ from the body. Sure we all can view our bodies, but our mind remains hidden. Still, we can look at our brains but still not the mind as it is not capable of being inspected, in the same way, as a body is. A great deal of research has been done on the relation ...

Philosophy

Introduction
In many ancient civilizations, it was a firm belief that the sun revolves round the earth and nobody dare to doubt the belief for centuries until Nicolaus Copernicus, an astronomer of the Renaissance period doubted on this age old belief and put forward his revolutionary work stating that it is the earth that revolves round the sun. Lawhead has rightly stated that “Doubt stimulates us to action and seeks its own elimination by means of inquiry, which is a process of finding the way to a new and more adequate belief” (p.495). Actually, people refrain from doubting landmark and well-accepted ...

In the article Where am I, Dennett is described as a person who is recruited by the Pentagon to work for NASA. The Pentagon needs Dennett to retrieve a missile underground. Since the missile is highly radioactive, the Pentagon requires Dennett to leave his brain behind. Dennett is operated on and has his brain removed. His brain is placed in a vat. After waking up, Dennett cannot recognize where he is, which makes him pop the question, “Where am I?” Dennett has radio links connected to his body after the operation. Dennett thinks of this question philosophically, which is a difficult question since ...

Rene Descartes had a philosophical treatise published in 1647 called the meditations on the first philosophy (Statile et al. 2010, pp.548). His book has six different meditations that include meditation of the things called doubt, meditation of the nature of the human mind, meditation of the existence of God, meditation that concerns true and false, meditation that concerns the importance of the material things, and the meditation that concerns the differences between mind and body.

First Meditation: Doubtful Things

This mediation called skeptical doubts starts as the mediator makes a reflection on some of the beliefs during his lifetime that now he attest as falsehoods. ...

Since at least the time of Socrates, Western thinkers have attempted to define identity and selfhood. A number of thinkers' arguments merit consideration for their efforts. However, Sigmund Freud and Rene Descartes (widely-considered to be the Father of Modern Philosophy) posited theories of identity that have withstood the rigors of both experience and analysis. Upon a more closer examination, Freud's theories of selfhood are more epistemologically-sound, and reflect more concern with a scientific description of selfhood, thus making them a more accurate definition of identity and selfhood.
Both Freud and Descartes were scientific thinkers. They were both less concerned about questions ...

In the quest for certainty, Descartes realizes that some of his beliefs he holds are wrong or bad. After realizing the possibility of having bad beliefs, Descartes notes that other beliefs might be bad too. Such a situation arises since the basis of most of the beliefs is based on flawed reasoning or other bad beliefs. Therefore, Descartes wants a belief system devoid of false and uncertain beliefs, whether in themselves or the basis on which they exist. Such a belief system ought to have a basic foundation with basic beliefs that can justify other beliefs while they, do not need to be ...

Descartes Skepticism

The philosophy of Descartes, usually called Cartesianism, is summarized in Discourse, in a more complete form - in the "Reflections" on First Philosophy (Meditationes de prima philosophia in qua Dei existentia et Animae immortalitas demonstratur, 1641, second edition with Objectiones Septimae, 1642, the Paris edition in French, with corrections Descartes in 1647) and from a different point of view in the "first principles of philosophy" (Principia philosophiae, 1644, a French translation in 1647).
Sensory experience is not able to give reliable knowledge, because we are often faced with the illusions and hallucinations. In addition, the reasoning is deducing conclusions from the ...

Descartes’ cogito philosophy suggests that if one convinces oneself of an idea or concept, then it is real. According to Newman (2010), Descartes puts forward a very simple candidate as the “first item of knowledge”. In addition, the philosophy notes that in testing the cogito with doubts, there should be certainty in the results. Nevertheless, the existence of thoughts may offer doubts and uncertainty in the existence of mankind. Descartes’ cogito arguments state that the arguments about experiences cannot be disproved as long as one understands the idea correctly (Garber, 2003). Nevertheless, the cogito arguments face a great deal of objections ...

1. What is Descartes’ argument for the “real distinction” between mind and body? Does his argument succeed? Why or why not?
According to Descartes (“Synopsis,” p. 1), “the mind is thus enabled easily to distinguish what pertains to itself, that is, to the intellectual nature, from what is referred to the body.” This means that Descartes recognized the irreconcilable nature of the mind and the body and that sometimes the body has its own peculiar and natural tendencies. Hence, he concluded that the mind is distinct from the body. There is the crucial battle between the desires of ...

Very few people agree that the body and mind are usually distinct. Nevertheless, Descartes argues that the body and the mind are usually distinct. His position has been authorized by all the scientific discoveries. His discovery does remain to be a modern conceptual apparatus. Chemist and physic advances have shown that human do live in an odorless tasteless and colorless world. They have urged that the properties do come to our picture due to physiology (Cunning, 2010).
Philosophers, thus, have decided to research on the issue. They have been trying to pinpoint what exactly entails the secondary qualities. It ...

The Cogito theory developed by Descartes gave him a foundation to establish his philosophy, which was without any doubt. The times, during which Descartes lived, everything was changing and the people around him had started to defy the beliefs that had once been standing strong. Descartes stepped forward and totally rejected the science of Aristotle that had been accepted widely by the people and gave a mechanical view regarding the world. Descartes rejected metaphysics, put forward epistemology, and changed the question of ‘why’ to ‘how.’ Descartes was one of the very few philosophers who had not had any formal training in ...

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Until his death in 1650, Descartes published philosophical ideologies and concepts with emphasis on the functioning of the universe as one. His second meditation dubbed the “Wax Argument” finds its basis in the perceptions of reality as opposed to those of an illusion. This is due to the fact that as a person, one is not only capable of thinking and has a will but has the ability to imagine and use senses to perceive reality. These senses are in turn connected by one mind that is the center of thought. According to ...

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2. One day you receive the following letter:

I am in the process of putting together a must-read list of great philosophers. Some of the works that have been recommended to me are Plato’s Phaedo, Descartes’ Meditations, Berkeley’s Three Dialogues, Kant’s Prolegomena, and Schlick’s “Positivism and Realism.” I understand that you have recently studied these works in depth, and I would value your opinion. Please choose one of these works and tell me whether you think its philosophical content justifies putting it on my ...

Philosophy is the study that entails the issues related to reality, value, reasons, language and mind (Kleiner, 1). Thus, philosophy seeks to make clear issues that regard beliefs, attitudes and concepts of individuals or groups. Literature contributed by Philosophers like Aristotle, Plato, Aquinas, Jean and Descartes have shaped philosophy to a great extent. Their views concerning matters of the world have formed a basis upon which several decisions have been made. This article compares and contrasts their perspectives in the field of philosophy.
Aristotle existed between the periods 322 to 384 BC. Plato, on the other hand, existed between the ...

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What is "I THINK, THEREFORE I AM"

"I think; therefore I am" was a seventeenth century statement that Rene Descartes, a French philosopher, used and philosophically proved it beyond doubt. Descartes was initially in the process of figuring out his real nature using reasoning as opposed to experience that many philosophers of his time used. He is considered one of the first philosophers to explore human as more than flesh and blood (Weate, 1998, pp. 34-45). He believed that the processes and means through which individuals judged their environments as well as formed their opinions justified their existence (Weissman, 2006, pp. 56-9). ...

The philosophy on the existence of God is highly visionary, but also one of the most controversial. In most cases, philosophers argue that a deity and controls all beings. However, no one establishes specifically where the being resided and the true nature of the being. In his meditations, Rene Descartes tries to prove to the philosophy world that God exists. He laid forward a number of arguments o show that God truly exists and demystified most of the views that God did not exist. This paper analyzes the statements and arguments by Rene Descartes in support of the view that God ...

Rene Descartes on second meditation seeks to find something certain or at least establish that nothing is certain if he could do nothing. He begins by creating doubt “that all the things which I see are false”. He argues that the body, figure, extension, motion, and place are merely fictions of mind, then if so, what is there that can be esteemed truth? Perhaps nothing is absolutely certain. Descartes questions the senses and whether he depended entirely on them for existence, he is persuaded that all things if maturely and carefully considered, then ‘I am, I exist” is necessarily ...

Being versus appearance is no doubt one among the most notable questions of philosophy (Russell 11). Being and appearance takes a center stage because it is a question that, by extension, touches on the two most critical questions of philosophy – the existence of God, and human existence, also referred to as Existentialism (Arendt 34). The question has been tackled by various philosophers, most notably by Plato, Rene Descartes, Aristotle and Immanuel Kant. The question of being versus appearance, also known as appearance versus reality has not found a universally acceptable answer, despite the fact that may philosophers – both ancient and modern have ...

Philosophy

Although the utility of so extensive a doubt is not readily apparent, nevertheless its greatest utility lies in freeing us of all prejudices. The first mediation that Rene Descartes encounters is the mediation on what can be considered and called into doubt. He explains how some years back he had been struck the shocking revelation on how many false things he had believed and were false. He establishes the connection between what the mind believes and their true nature. He explains that we should not completely believe in whatever that comes across our mind or believe on those who deceive ...

Compare and contrast Descartes method with the approach of Locke

Introduction
Philosophical methods and approaches are concerned with describing how to deal with issues such as the role of science in the society, uncertainty in knowledge, cause-effect relationships, judgment in human affairs, and how to describe and measure human values. asserts that the modern philosophy attributes its development to philosophers like Rene Descartes (1596-150) and John Locke among others. These philosophers brought revolution to the world of cognitive psychology by enumerating ways of ascertaining truth from reality and understanding the human cognition. Rene Descartes method grapples with the issue of certainty of anything. Thus, in Descartes method of ...

According to Rene Descartes book Meditations, clearly discuses the six meditation processes in which Descartes discards all the things that are not absolutely certain in view that brings the concept of what can be known for sure to be true and realistic. The meditations contain his metaphysical system in expanding the system.
In one of his meditations, he describes human beings as a thing dose thing. This clearly brings the concept that human beings as other things clearly exist and God poses the power of producing all the things. This is based on the faculty of imagination that a human ...

Introduction

Arguably the most controversial philosopher, Rene Descartes’ thoughts have been a subject of debate and philosophical scrutiny in modern philosophy (Cimakasky and Polansky 354). Descartes’ provisional morality is yet another one of the concepts coined by the philosopher, in his quest to attain the goals of his project – one that sought to introduce certainty to the explanations and thoughts that he intended to publish. While the provisional morality concept has been criticized as being vague and lacking in definition, its role in the project is noteworthy. Based on “three or four” maxims, Descartes’ provisional morality is the reason why many ...

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Surprise ending

At the beginning of the reading, Descartes devotes himself to uncovering the truth about himself using any viable means. In search of his answers, Descartes applies known methods. He applies a widely known philosophical adage that ‘I think, so I exist’ (Descartes, 2010). He also tries to pretend that his thoughts are illusions of his dream about his existence. He later found that to think that his thoughts are dreams or illusions justify the philosophy that he thinks, thus, he must exist. All his known methods of getting a solution to explain his existence prove to be futile. ...

Philosophy and Number

Philosopher Rene Descartes’ reliance on the primacy of reason over faith made him to craft his four basic rules concerning the human person (Obrien, n.d., p. 21). First, he claimed that no statement should be accepted as true without evidence. Second, he demanded the breaking down of a problem into its constituent parts. Third, he required an individual to start from the simple until he progresses to complex ideas. Fourth, he instructed a person to thoroughly and carefully record and analyze data to make certain the acceptance of the truth. On the other hand, Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche argued for a careful examination ...

Philosophy has evolved since time immemorial. Different philosophers at different times come up with arguments and views that according to them, are supposed t form the back bone of human life. Their ideas always support or critic those philosophers who came before them. In the Case of Descartes and John Locke, theirs are views and arguments that came at the right time and shaped to some extent how people lived during and long after their existence (Cahn 16). Some of the views that they came up with are clearly and elaborately argued out in this essay.
Descartes in ...

In "Appearance and Reality," Bertrand Russell asks the question: "Is there any knowledge in the world which is so certain no reasonable man could doubt it?" Hume and Descartes would have certainly had different thoughts on the matter. By looking at the ideas put forth by both Descartes and Hume we can gain a better understanding of how humans process knowledge.
Descartes’ dream conjecture questions the human ability to distinguish falsities from reality. In essences’, the doubt that Russell speaks of in his statement. The premise of his reasoning is to ask the question, “How can be distinguish when ...

Arguably the most controversial philosopher Descartes’ works have raised different points of view among modern philosophers. His most prominent work – Meditations of First Philosophy endeavors to explain the existence of the human being. He endeavors to explain the difference between body and mind through various skeptical arguments. In the first and second meditations, Descartes is seen to be troubled in understanding who he is and whether or not he exists. The philosopher casts doubt on various perceptions that he has had to believe in the past, which actually turned out to be false (Descartes et al 1996, pp.34). The ...

The thoughts and writings of Aristotle and Descarte about reality are similar in the sense that both philosophers use the concept of substance to define what reality is. For Descartes, the infinite Substance is God, the bodies of persons are considered extended substances and the mind of the people is the thinking substance.
Aristotle (384-322 BCE) defines reality as that which is actually in this world. He believes that we attain our knowledge of reality based on perceptual experience. He categorizes substances as being “primary substances” and “secondary substances.” An example of primary substance is man or person. ...

I intend to discuss the nature of being a person. Firstly I will be touching on the German philosopher Kant regarding his theories on personhood and consciousness in terms of their literal personhood. I then will be moving on to broader issues surrounding the subject using philosophers like Nietzsche and Descartes to understand what is means to be a person.
Plato was quoted as saying “The brain was the seat of the soul” while Aristotle and Kant both agree that an intellectual consciousness is how define someone that is alive. With that in mind Terri Schiavo, to Kant would not ...

Imagine that you are at the end of your life – your body begins to shut down, your organs start to fail you, and the fear of losing who you are forever. However, a magical company comes along with the ability to transplant your mind into someone else’s body. Who would you be if that came to be? There are many different philosophical nuances to navigate when exploring this question, as it relates closely to the dilemma of the nature of self – whether you are the sum of your thoughts, or whether or not your body actually constitutes an important ...

The divine command theory dictates that whatever god says is morally correct is morally correct and whatever god says is morally wrong is morally wrong. This makes moral dilemmas as easy as looking it up in an instruction manual. This in theory completely resolves the issue of subjectivity in morality. (Aquinas 1274)
For evil to exist in this theory god would have to be evil himself or he/she/it would have to be good or neutral and allow evil because if god is all powerful, they should be able to stop the evil but have purposefully allowed it instead ...

In this reading, Descartes takes a turn in his argument from the previous believe. He considers everything that is doubtful as false. By changing the approach, a different controversial ending is expected. He states that there exists no doubt about the existence of God. It is God who makes sure that all other doubts are true. By relying to our own reasoning and thoughts people deceive themselves since the thought can either be correct or erroneous.
He comes up with a statement that I am thinking and therefore I exist. The statement reaffirms that the fact that an individual is thinking ...

Descarte's Ontological arguments focus on the reality about the existence of God. On the other hand, Ahuangzi's arguments focus on the reality about life and knowledge. Despite the fact that there are various philosophers who have criticized these works, there are various reasons to support them.
Secondly, in his fifth ontological argument, Descartes holds a strong belief that God is a supremely perfect being. This means that God has all the positive attributes that entail a perfect human being. Such attributes includes omnipotence, honesty, existence and benevolence. However, Descartes makes refutable conclusion that God’s perfection is dependent on his existence. In ...

Upon breaking down the elements of how senses gather information Rene Descartes begins to realize that all these elements also exist in dreams and it is very difficult for him to create a clear distinction between dreams and reality because they share the same elements and often you have a dream that seems real but then is justified as a dream by the act of waking. The only argument Descartes poses against the idea of the devil tricking us is that for a loving god to exist this has to be false because a loving god who created us in his image would not ...

Living in Radical Doubt

1. How Will You Feel In Your New State of Mind?
According to Descartes Meditation I, radical and methodical doubt is necessary to remind myself about the habit of accepting beliefs without any logical support. Thus, Descartes says that that it is important to dismiss all judgements on the basis of beliefs that are doubtful and do not have any solid support. In the new state of mind, where I doubt everything at least I would be content to know that I am not being misled into falsehood by some evil demon. The new state of mind would ...

Upon breaking down the elements of how senses gather information Rene Descartes begins to realize that all these elements also exist in dreams and it is very difficult for him to create a clear distinction between dreams and reality because they share the same elements and often you have a dream that seems real but then is justified as a dream by the act of waking.
In theory as I am sitting at my computer now typing if I were to then black out and wake up in my bed I would have to attribute what I am doing now to a ...

Upon breaking down the elements of how senses gather information Rene Descartes begins to realize that all these elements also exist in dreams and it is very difficult for him to create a clear distinction between dreams and reality because they share the same elements and often you have a dream that seems real but then is justified as a dream by the act of waking. The only argument Descartes poses against the idea of the devil tricking us is that for a loving god to exist this has to be false because a loving god who created us in his image would not ...

The divine command theory dictates that whatever god says is morally correct is morally correct and whatever god says is morally wrong is morally wrong. This makes moral dilemmas as easy as looking it up in an instruction manual. This in theory completely resolves the issue of subjectivity in morality.
For evil to exist in this theory god would have to be evil himself or he/she/it would have to be good or neutral and allow evil because if god is all powerful, they should be able to stop the evil but have purposefully allowed it instead for some ...

Rene Descartes had various meditations on issues that becomes the basis of various philosophies. The meditation 1 is entitled what can be called into doubt , which opens with mediator reflecting on falsehoods that he has believed in life as well as the faultiness of body of knowledge. As a matter of fact, the mediation 1 is a clear indication of how things through individuals common sense is always open to doubt. In the meditation, Descartes uses various arguments to demonstrate the peoples knowledge on doubt. The arguments include the deceiving God argument, the dream argument, as well as the evil demon ...

In writing his six Meditations, Rene Descartes was not really being a skeptic about the existence of God and a soul, but rather he was attempting to provide definite proof for that they did exist, and would also be compatible with the new science of the 17th Century. Although he was a rationalist, he also took it on faith that God and the soul were real, and that the teachings of the Bible and the church were the truth. What Descartes really required was a method that could also demonstrate this using the methods of science, logic and reason. He carries his skepticism ...

In the world around us, the nature of reality itself is something that people take for granted; however, the question of whether or not we can be certain that reality truly exists remains an ever-present issue. Rene Descartes was the originator of Cartesian doubt, a method of skepticism that allows one to cast into doubt the validity of what one believes. According to Descartes, one needs to never take anything for granted; no matter what one believes, one must never take it as gospel, and remain skeptical of it. In order to truly achieve an accurate picture of one’s ...

Rene Descartes is one of most well-known French philosophers of the seventeenth century. As most of his contemporaries, Rene Descartes dedicated lots of his time and efforts to studying the way people cognize the world and consideration of different theories related to cognition processes. Descartes is considered to be an author of catch phrase Cogito, ergo sum, which is translated from Latin as “I am thinking, therefore I exist”. Despite the fact that the meaning of this phrase can be considered to be quite clear, I would like to make an attempt to challenge Descartes’ most famous statement and, ...

Descartes argues that perception of the world around us relies more on the mind than that of the body. The body or moreover the senses collect sensory information like touch, taste, sight, smell and then this information is relayed to the mind. The mind then collates this information and turns it into something we can understand. So when we look upon something with our eyes, our eyes are in fact tools used by the mind to form a proper understanding under mental inspection of the object.
Descartes uses the example of a piece of wax to illustrate the point that ...

1. In his Second Meditation, Descartes argues that he knows (with absolute certainty) that he exists. Can he know this statement given his high standards for knowledge? Begin by clearly and thoroughly explaining Descartes’ argument for this claim. Next determine if his argument succeeds by considering a possible challenge and explaining whether or not Descartes can adequately address this challenge.
In the Second Meditation, Rene Descartes considers perhaps God, the body and the whole physical universe were dreams or hallucinations, or that his thoughts and perceptions were being manipulated by some evil being. Ultimately, though, he decides that he ...

Philosophy has gone through periods of revolutions during which new radical ideas were incorporated and became mainstream knowledge. On of this period was stated by Rene Descartes who used clear and apparently simplistic methods to legitimize the new science and asserted that the human is different from the mind. Descartes argued that the human mind is rational and adaptable and thus it can not be compared with any automation generated from clever designs. Contemporary philosophers in England reacted differently to Descartes ideas. Thomas Hobbes, a political philosopher did not agree that humans should be treated any different because of their ...

The field of philosophy explores the connection and relations between fundamental issues and problems in life. It delves into the realms of knowledge and conceptualization of ideas, the mind, existence, reasons and communication. Philosophy offers critical and analytical approaches to coming up with rational decisions. This brief discourse is about how Descartes discovers his existence, the relationship between the body and soul and the eventual discovery by Descartes that everything conceived clearly and distinctly is always true.
Descartes experience in a school that was celebrated shaped his perceptions and views about himself. Descartes believes that even though he could ...