In Second Meditation, Descartes claims, after radical doubt, that the only undeniable truth is his existence as a result of his ability to think. His argument is compelling, but problematic. In this paper, I shall argue Descartes’ claim that his existence can be proved by “thinking” (Descartes, 153) is flawed because he establishes no premise to claim ownership of this thinking. I will also show that even if Descartes is thinking his own thoughts, although without proof, his argument still does not prove a causal relationship between thinking and existing.
In passage B, Descartes examines the properties of a piece of wax to confirm his existence. Descartes is aware of his existence, but cannot pinpoint proof for it. However, he notices that …show more content…
I will not go into details about Descartes’ presupposition of “a God” (Descartes, 150) here, even though he has not yet established God’s existence. Instead of attempting to disprove this possibility, Descartes dismisses this idea by claiming he is just as likely to be “the author” to his thoughts. He then concludes his existence “is necessarily true whenever it is put forward by me or conceived in my mind” (Descartes, 150) without an account of how he claimed authorship of his thoughts. Descartes’ lack of a logical counter to the possibility of a thought-sending “God” (Descartes, 150) further weakens the basis of his …show more content…
By Descartes’ argument, it is reasonable to formulate “A” exists because “A” can think (i.e., “A” is a substitute for something). But, it is also possible to formulate the alternative conclusion: because “A” can think “A” exists. To show Descartes’ argument is invalid, I will bring up a dream situation. In this dream, I am not myself, but another persona (e.g., Santa Claus); I can think in this dream as Santa Claus. It then follows to show that because “Santa Claus” can think “Santa Claus” exists, when this Santa Claus is a product of my dream. This example shows Descartes’ argument is logically unsound because the ability to think does not necessarily cause existence. Furthermore, Descartes’ claim that thinking is the only way to prove existence is self-contradicting. He does not need the ability to think to prove he is “something” (Descartes, 153), because he already established he could exist as a result of being deceived by the evil
In passage B, Descartes examines the properties of a piece of wax to confirm his existence. Descartes is aware of his existence, but cannot pinpoint proof for it. However, he notices that …show more content…
I will not go into details about Descartes’ presupposition of “a God” (Descartes, 150) here, even though he has not yet established God’s existence. Instead of attempting to disprove this possibility, Descartes dismisses this idea by claiming he is just as likely to be “the author” to his thoughts. He then concludes his existence “is necessarily true whenever it is put forward by me or conceived in my mind” (Descartes, 150) without an account of how he claimed authorship of his thoughts. Descartes’ lack of a logical counter to the possibility of a thought-sending “God” (Descartes, 150) further weakens the basis of his …show more content…
By Descartes’ argument, it is reasonable to formulate “A” exists because “A” can think (i.e., “A” is a substitute for something). But, it is also possible to formulate the alternative conclusion: because “A” can think “A” exists. To show Descartes’ argument is invalid, I will bring up a dream situation. In this dream, I am not myself, but another persona (e.g., Santa Claus); I can think in this dream as Santa Claus. It then follows to show that because “Santa Claus” can think “Santa Claus” exists, when this Santa Claus is a product of my dream. This example shows Descartes’ argument is logically unsound because the ability to think does not necessarily cause existence. Furthermore, Descartes’ claim that thinking is the only way to prove existence is self-contradicting. He does not need the ability to think to prove he is “something” (Descartes, 153), because he already established he could exist as a result of being deceived by the evil