Rationalism According to Descartes we know certain truths innately and we have some kind of ability to grasp these truths intellectually. John Tierney 's "Our lives controlled by some guy on a couch" is both an interesting and troubling notion as it questions free will and reality at the most basic levels. What is reality? According to Descartes we know that certain things are true and other 's false. This brings to mind the podcast I had done for my presentation that called Descartes in to question. John Campbell 's talk was on schizophrenia and how the patients would view the world in one way, having believed …show more content…
He also goes on to say that a classical philosopher would never have considered an insane persons ideas though mentions that because these people still have a grasp on language they can still be reasoned with. As far as the ability to grasp these truths and understand them on an intellectual level, that might be a little more complicated. On this issue of reality can we see and know what is and truly understand? To understand something is to be able to describe how it works and how it functions, can we do that about reality? We are obviously trying but coming with a summation that because if "evil" exists so does some grand designer and we must be in a simulation. I am not sold on that idea although it does seem to be a way around saying there is a God in this reality. Descartes would not like the idea of virtual simulation because we do not have the ability to innately grasp the …show more content…
In order to do so we would have to have a form outside of the reality we are in and be able to transcend this reality, which would mean that Hume was correct that the mind and body were separated. It is a fascinating idea but to me it seems to be a far reaching attempt to both prove and disprove a supreme being by removing God from the equation. By saying something is in control, but it 's not a deity but a being behind a monitor means that we remove any responsibility for our own actions as though we would have been judged by a God, we might not be by a race who is in the process of studying the reality of the actions of man. And on the notion to prove reality or God because of the reality of "evil" I think evil does not exist. What is good and what is evil? Good is something that happens to you that you like, if I see it and don 't like it then it is bad and therefore not good/evil. In saying this we can say that good and evil are relative to the person. If someone kills someone then the family of the victim will think that he 's evil even though he can justify his actions. He might feel remorse later when he understands how the family feels but in the moment he justified his actions. Good and evil, like time, is a concept created by