Analysis Of Descartes s Meditation I - 989 Words

In Meditation I, Descartes discusses those things that can be called into doubt. He starts off by talking about how he has been mislead by his beliefs before, so will start off by separating those beliefs that cause him to doubt. He would like to secure his foundational beliefs similar to a house, without a secure foundation, the house can fall. Descartes mentions how he occasionally realizes that he has been deceived by his senses. Some things seem small at a distance, but then when looking at the same object, at a closer distance, it is not what you thought it was, your vision had deceived you; so he says it is better that you don’t trust those who may have even deceived you once, the senses. We should not depend on just the senses to make judgments, we should be aware of the fact that our senses can mislead us. He [Descartes] asks if he even exists, writing and sitting by the fire, if these hands are even his, but then he says these questions would lead him to be perceived as he is crazy, and he so ignores the idea. Next, in Meditation I, Descartes is wondering how he can tell if he is dreaming or awake. He imagines, what if he is not really sitting by the fire, in his gown, and writing, what if he is actually in bed and dreaming. When focusing and feeling on his hands, he realizes that he isn’t asleep, but there have been many times when he has assumed he is awake, when really he was dreaming. So he concludes that there is no way of really telling whetherShow MoreRelatedDescartes’ Cogito Argument Successfully Shows the Evil Demon Argument is Unsound888 Words   |  4 PagesDoes Descartes’ Cogito argument successfully show that the Evil Demon Argument is unsound? 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