If I close my eyes and doubt that everything exists, all I can hear is the heater running in the room I’m in. I don’t really smell or taste anything. I would have to agree with Descartes in that I must exist because I am thinking. I must have a brain or I wouldn’t be able to think, so I am alive and a thinking thing. If I couldn’t think, then I wouldn’t be living. I know I have a body because I can move my extremities. I believe with certainty that I am alive and capable of thought and have a physical body. Descartes had a method that involved treating all of your former beliefs as if they were false, which came to be known as the Method of Cartesian Doubt (Classics, 52). Descartes advised that a person should reject the belief if they had
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So Descartes decided to evaluate his beliefs before starting the constructive stage of his work. This was recognized as a once in a lifetime exercise. Descartes believed there were apparent certainties, such as 2+3=5 and that a square has four sides. Descartes speaks of a strong test when searching for a belief that’s immune from doubt, the evil demon (Classics, 53). It may at times seem to be a little extreme, but when searching for a belief which is immune from doubt, the thought experiment of the evil demon is a very strong test. Descartes says that even if the evil demon is tricking him into believing 2+2 to be five, that the demon cannot trick him concerning his own existence. I have to agree with Descartes “I think, therefore I am”, and that I cannot be tricked into thinking I do not exist. I cannot deny that I am a living thing capable of thought. I also am not sure if I can always trust my senses because they can deceive me. Descartes talks about wax in an example revealing his belief that we can acquire knowledge of the nature of the world by reason alone. The wax taken from the honeycomb is hard and
So Descartes decided to evaluate his beliefs before starting the constructive stage of his work. This was recognized as a once in a lifetime exercise. Descartes believed there were apparent certainties, such as 2+3=5 and that a square has four sides. Descartes speaks of a strong test when searching for a belief that’s immune from doubt, the evil demon (Classics, 53). It may at times seem to be a little extreme, but when searching for a belief which is immune from doubt, the thought experiment of the evil demon is a very strong test. Descartes says that even if the evil demon is tricking him into believing 2+2 to be five, that the demon cannot trick him concerning his own existence. I have to agree with Descartes “I think, therefore I am”, and that I cannot be tricked into thinking I do not exist. I cannot deny that I am a living thing capable of thought. I also am not sure if I can always trust my senses because they can deceive me. Descartes talks about wax in an example revealing his belief that we can acquire knowledge of the nature of the world by reason alone. The wax taken from the honeycomb is hard and