If I were to be stuck in the first meditation of Aristotle, it is critical to mention that, as a matter of fact, my life could definitely change. Describing the change is quite challenging, but the feeling can be summarized in a single word – confusion. I would definitely feel confused and unsure of everything, including my existence. Certainly, my life would significantly change, since I would take a skepticism approach towards everything, not wanting to believe anything, and trying to disapprove the theories and principles held by neo-Platonists and Aristotelians.
Experience would look different in the sense that, in my new state, nothing could be taken as gospel truth. I will consider myself as someone that has lived a lie all through. People trying to challenge my new position would be neo-Platonists or Aristotelians. These are the followers of Aristotle, that believe in science, common sense and empirical proof. Such thinkers would seek to challenge my decision to doubt what they consider obvious. I would answer these people that they are under some deception by a being that are not God, only the opposite of God – a demon that endeavors to convince people into assertion.
Such people as neo-Platonists might say to me that I am out of my mind to cast doubt on everything, including commonsense. They may then consider me insane or a person dwelling on delusions since according to them, existence is proven by science, arithmetic, and common sense. In replying to these people, who are fundamentally Aristotelians, I would draw them to the first effort of Descartes. I would ask them to drop all their beliefs and reason along the lines of dream. How such dreams reflect the real world. I would challenge them to prove to me that what they assume to be gospel truth is not a dream or some form of hallucination.
Work cited
Descartes, René. "Meditations on First Philosophy in which are demonstrated the existence of God and the distinction between the human soul and body."Descartes: Selected Philosophical Writings (2010): 73-122.
