Stroud believes that there is an argument in which no one can ever really know anything about the external world. Stroud examines how Descartes upon reflecting on his senses, was unable to rule out the possibility of dreaming which leads him to conclude that he has no knowledge of the world around him. Stroud then argues how Descartes couldn’t distinguish reality from the concept of dreaming, and since he believed one couldn’t know things on account of their dreams, then in simpler words he wouldn’t know anything. He basically states how he knows about the external world only if he knows that he is not dreaming, but he cannot know that he is dreaming at the moment, therefore he cannot know anything about the external world. So in order to know anything about the world around us we must then know for a fact that we are not
Stroud believes that there is an argument in which no one can ever really know anything about the external world. Stroud examines how Descartes upon reflecting on his senses, was unable to rule out the possibility of dreaming which leads him to conclude that he has no knowledge of the world around him. Stroud then argues how Descartes couldn’t distinguish reality from the concept of dreaming, and since he believed one couldn’t know things on account of their dreams, then in simpler words he wouldn’t know anything. He basically states how he knows about the external world only if he knows that he is not dreaming, but he cannot know that he is dreaming at the moment, therefore he cannot know anything about the external world. So in order to know anything about the world around us we must then know for a fact that we are not