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There are few
philosophical thinkers who were more representative of
their times than Rene Descartes.
He had an Enlightenment philosopher’s dualistic
view of the universe, seeing both sides of an issue --
good and evil, material and immaterial, mind and body. Descartes also made shrewd use of a philosopher’s
most important tool: reason, so that facts could be
proven
beyond any reasonable doubt.
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Meditations and other related works!
Rene Descartes is, in fact, best known for
his Meditations - a collective work
published in Paris in 1641. When dedicating the book to the
Dean and Faculty of Theology at the University of Paris,
he was certain that the implied "endorsement" of
such esteemed theologians would represent an acknowledged
proof of approval and support of the truth in the content
of his work. "The Meditations" have become to be
generally viewed as the most important of all of
Descartes' works. It is in "The Meditations"
that he best presents his metaphysical and epistemological
premises in their entirety. He considers the problems of
the sources and nature of knowledge; the validity of
truth; the nature and destiny of man; the existence of
God, as well as the creation of the universe. It is in his
second meditation that he describes the nature of the
human mind.
In "Meditation II,"
Descartes claims that the recognition of his omnipresent
skepticism makes him similar to a swimmer suddenly thrown
into deep water. "I am so disconcerted that I can
neither make certain of setting my feet on the bottom, nor
can I swim and so support myself on the surface"
(Descartes med2). It is as the disoriented swimmer
that he nonetheless sets forth arguments he is certain are
true. In this meditation, he assumes that all that he
perceives and understands is, in reality, false.
Descartes has to believe that there is no memory,
senses, body, or any other so-called reality and he must
admit that it is possible that he is being and has been
perpetually deceived by the illusion of reality. Then the
question presents itself that if he is being deceived,
doesn’t he
still exist as a deceived person? In order to truly
support his argument, he must present the opposing view,
which he claims to have made himself and found it to be
false.
He makes an irrefutable claim, that "we cannot
conceive of body excepting in so far as it is divisible,
while the mind cannot be conceived of excepting as
indivisible" (Descartes med2), and this he can
fully support. Descartes supports this claim so well, in
fact, that it cannot be argued against with any validity.
He realizes that, in a similar way, all the
characteristics of his body, face, hands, legs, and all
the rest, his senses and the belief that he occupies space
as an individual entity separate from all other entities,
must also be held in doubt and viewed with suspicion.
Absolutely the only assumption that he can make at this
point in the established and universally agreed upon
reality is that he exists as a thinking thing. In fact, he
knows that he exists only when he is thinking. Therefore,
the mind, as the creator of thought, is much more
accessible to belief, realization, and legitimization than
the body. It is the entity that determines what is and
what is not and therefore has far more legitimacy than the
simple, "mindless"
body. Confused? Don't be! Find a helpful paper on the
philosophies of Rene Descartes below...
Click here for a list of papers!
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