In the beginning of his First Meditation, Descartes explains how several opinions he had grown up believing and trusting to be true had been false opinions, “and that whatever [he] had since built on such shaky foundations could only be highly doubtful” (First Med. pg. 13, line 1-3). From that point onward, his goal was to discover one thing that is certain and unshakable (First Med. pg. 17, line 34-35). Half way through his thought process, he claims that “it is certain only that nothing is certain”, since his senses cannot be trusted, as they could be constantly deceiving him. In the end, Descartes’ ultimate argument is this: that the existence of his own mind is the basis on which he can build further knowledge. Descartes argues this in a very long, elaborated thought process, explaining why he thinks this, starting from the First Meditation.
Descartes denies his senses and his body, since senses have many times proven to make one feel or see something that is not there. For instance, Descartes gives an explanation of how his sense perceptions have convinced him, through dreams, that he was comfortably sitting by the fire, when he was actually lying asleep in bed. Everything his senses …show more content…
I can see that Descartes argues that the existence of his own mind is the foundation on which he can build further knowledge, because he thinks that the existence of his own mind is the only thing that is absolutely certain. However, I do not believe this, and I argue that there is a possibility that there are other indubitable things that exist in the world that Descartes has not yet discovered, therefore, limiting him to the thought of the existence of his mind being the only foundation of which he could build knowledge
Descartes denies his senses and his body, since senses have many times proven to make one feel or see something that is not there. For instance, Descartes gives an explanation of how his sense perceptions have convinced him, through dreams, that he was comfortably sitting by the fire, when he was actually lying asleep in bed. Everything his senses …show more content…
I can see that Descartes argues that the existence of his own mind is the foundation on which he can build further knowledge, because he thinks that the existence of his own mind is the only thing that is absolutely certain. However, I do not believe this, and I argue that there is a possibility that there are other indubitable things that exist in the world that Descartes has not yet discovered, therefore, limiting him to the thought of the existence of his mind being the only foundation of which he could build knowledge