René Descartes first builds up his position in Meditations on First Philosophy by starting with pushing aside all that we know and learned as it was based on the empiricist thinking, that our beliefs are to be based on our sense experience, which is the perceived foundation of how everyone thinks. This way of thinking, according to Descartes, should be abandon as it is a defective way to do so when learning. Even thinking by numbers and figures are not a good foundation when gaining knowledge in Descartes’ Meditations, so he takes through his thoughts so that we come to same conclusion as him on why the methodological doubt should be used to better our understanding of the world.
The beliefs we currently have are invalid since our senses …show more content…
Descartes goes into questioning whether his existence is valid since all of our surroundings and understandings can be undone with doubt. This is hyperbolic doubt, the beginning of methodological doubt which is a technique Descartes believes we should use to rid ourselves of inaccurate thinking. He poses the question of how do we know that we exist if we cannot depend on our sense and math if there is a being that can deceive us every step of the way and leaves the physical world as nonexistent were that the case. With this, he reckons that even there is a deceiving demon, the fact that he can think cannot be denied and declares it as “cogito ergo sum” or “I think, therefore, I am” (Meditation II). To affirm existence is to be able to think, even if we do not have a body which encompasses all the senses that could be deceived therefore making it impossible to exist. This establishes the fact that since it is the mind that holds consciousness, it is what can be relied on as opposed to what we experience through our senses since we cannot doubt the mind because the only way to doubt is through the mind itself. Descartes believes with certainty that he exists because he can think without needing a physical body and essentially concludes to “I think, therefore, I am.”
The importance of Descartes conclusion of cogito ergo sum is the differentiation of the mind, the body, and consciousness, and how interconnected one is to the
The beliefs we currently have are invalid since our senses …show more content…
Descartes goes into questioning whether his existence is valid since all of our surroundings and understandings can be undone with doubt. This is hyperbolic doubt, the beginning of methodological doubt which is a technique Descartes believes we should use to rid ourselves of inaccurate thinking. He poses the question of how do we know that we exist if we cannot depend on our sense and math if there is a being that can deceive us every step of the way and leaves the physical world as nonexistent were that the case. With this, he reckons that even there is a deceiving demon, the fact that he can think cannot be denied and declares it as “cogito ergo sum” or “I think, therefore, I am” (Meditation II). To affirm existence is to be able to think, even if we do not have a body which encompasses all the senses that could be deceived therefore making it impossible to exist. This establishes the fact that since it is the mind that holds consciousness, it is what can be relied on as opposed to what we experience through our senses since we cannot doubt the mind because the only way to doubt is through the mind itself. Descartes believes with certainty that he exists because he can think without needing a physical body and essentially concludes to “I think, therefore, I am.”
The importance of Descartes conclusion of cogito ergo sum is the differentiation of the mind, the body, and consciousness, and how interconnected one is to the