Rene Descartes (1596-1650) published a series of thought experiments in 1641 called Meditations on First Philosophy. At the beginning of the Third Meditation, Descartes outlines the Problem of the External World. Predictably, without reading the First and Second Meditations, the problem is difficult to grasp. Therefore, I will provide a summary of what took place before I continue. In the First Meditation, Descartes, contemplates the great number of falsehoods he has come to believe over the course of his life. Rather than demolish each belief individually, he concludes that the only way to acquire truth and knowledge is to do away with every single one of his prior beliefs and start over, building knowledge on certain foundations.
Thus far, …show more content…
(2) He acknowledges that there may be an External World but he is concerned that his ideas are not an accurate portrayal of it. The former interpretation can be solved if Descartes could prove the existence of even one thing outside of himself. The latter problem could only be solved in Descartes could establish that we are not being deceived, which would require proof of an all-knowing, all-good God who would not deceive us. Therefore, in the Third Meditation, Descartes attempts to prove the existence of God to establish knowledge of the outside …show more content…
It needs to include something that allows Descartes’ thoughts to have meaning in the outside world. Descartes needs to show that he can be certain of the existence of the external world, in the face of his dreaming and demon arguments from the First and Second Meditations. The only possible ways to accomplish are: Descartes could consider other possible causes of our ideas of material things—for example, they are innate, not fabricated—and show that only material things could be the source of our ideas of them.
Ultimately, Descartes invokes the Connection Principle, based on his Causal Principle, which states that something cannot be created from nothing, and the cause of an event must be larger than or equal to its effect. More specifically, the Connection Principle stipulates, “any idea that has representative reality must surely come from a cause that contains at least as much intrinsic reality as there is representative reality in the idea.” Representative reality, or Objective realty, is only found in ideas and it is characterized by things that stand for other things—hence, the one thing represents another. The Intrinsic, or Formal reality of an object depends on the object’s kind and can affect things to varying degrees; all things are characterized under three categories: being a mode, a finite substance, or an infinite substance. The degrees are, respectively, low, medium, and
Thus far, …show more content…
(2) He acknowledges that there may be an External World but he is concerned that his ideas are not an accurate portrayal of it. The former interpretation can be solved if Descartes could prove the existence of even one thing outside of himself. The latter problem could only be solved in Descartes could establish that we are not being deceived, which would require proof of an all-knowing, all-good God who would not deceive us. Therefore, in the Third Meditation, Descartes attempts to prove the existence of God to establish knowledge of the outside …show more content…
It needs to include something that allows Descartes’ thoughts to have meaning in the outside world. Descartes needs to show that he can be certain of the existence of the external world, in the face of his dreaming and demon arguments from the First and Second Meditations. The only possible ways to accomplish are: Descartes could consider other possible causes of our ideas of material things—for example, they are innate, not fabricated—and show that only material things could be the source of our ideas of them.
Ultimately, Descartes invokes the Connection Principle, based on his Causal Principle, which states that something cannot be created from nothing, and the cause of an event must be larger than or equal to its effect. More specifically, the Connection Principle stipulates, “any idea that has representative reality must surely come from a cause that contains at least as much intrinsic reality as there is representative reality in the idea.” Representative reality, or Objective realty, is only found in ideas and it is characterized by things that stand for other things—hence, the one thing represents another. The Intrinsic, or Formal reality of an object depends on the object’s kind and can affect things to varying degrees; all things are characterized under three categories: being a mode, a finite substance, or an infinite substance. The degrees are, respectively, low, medium, and