ESSAY 1
In Meditations on First Philosophy, Rene Descartes discusses things that can be useful from the sphere of doubt in making a permanent structure of science. His goal is to be in a position of fully analyzing and addressing himself. In the following paper, I will discuss his proof of his own existence.
Descartes proves his own existence in Meditation 2, and he proves that he is a thinker persuading himself that nothing was erroneous. He is assured of his existence and is aware of deceivers. I will discuss the following steps in Descartes’ argument:
Reflecting ideas in his mind
Persuading his mind on existence
Mental conception of his existence
In Meditation 1, Descartes convinces himself that he should doubt all the information he has gained from his early youth. He does this by evaluating his past experiences all though his youth and the need to shun from his former ideologies. “I was convinced that I should once for all undertake to rid all the opinions which I had prior accepted, and concentrate to building a fresh from the foundation.” From this quote, it can be seen that Descartes wants to start afresh. The old information that he had been fed is messing with his thoughts or rather corrupts his thinking. Descartes addresses himself as an individual “I shall address myself to the wholeness upheaval of all my prior opinions.” After analysis and personal addressing, he would avoid uncertainty for what was certain. “I ought to withhold my assent from issues which are not entirely apparent and distinguish those which appear to me clearly to be false”
Descartes begins Meditation 2 in a state of great doubt. He seeks to find ways on how to forget the doubts. He suggests that this may only be estimated by certainty and zero doubts. He postulates that no one can help him or resolve the confusion that he carries around with. He argues that he is so disconnected such that he can neither realize if he exists or not. He however know that if he does not stay careful, he may as well find himself astray in respect to his knowledge which he holds dearly that he has learned the most certain and evident knowledge.
He then discovers the one thing he can know for sure. He knows that he exists and proves this by rejecting deception and reliance on his mental conception. He then seeks to examine what this thing is that he has proven to exist. He examines three possible definitions of it that he has given in the past and why these definitions are no longer tenable.
The first definition is that a man is not tenable because other animals can also be reasonable. The second definition is he is not tenable because he is just a thing that thinks. The third definition is the mind is not tenable because opinions are distinct. Descartes finally offers this definition of the body. By this he means that bodies are not properly speaking. This definition is successful because it gives room for criticism.
In the end, Descartes has moved from his project of radical doubt to one certainty. His original goal was to proof that he exists. This will help him because he can now affirm his existence
