Rene Descartes Skepticism

Can we really know that the external world exists? In the past and today, this question commonly appears in many philosophical works - with many significant philosophers expressing skepticism about the external world’s existence. René Descartes details a particularly notable and compelling argument for skepticism about the external world in his Meditations on First Philosophy, specifically in his “First Meditation”. Descartes argument centers around bringing everything we think we know and understand into doubt. To accomplish this, Descartes first questions information we receive through our senses. If we acquire our beliefs of the external world only through information we receive from our senses and our senses are not reliable, then there is reason to at least doubt the existence of the external world. However, because we know external objects exist (Descartes gives himself sitting by the fire as an example of this), then our beliefs must arise through the mind and not the senses. Descartes follows by establishing three key arguments for skepticism about the external world. All three assertions depend on the idea that our …show more content…
If our comprehension of mathematics is untrue due to being deceived by an all powerful God, then it is possible that our understanding of the external world based on mathematics is false. The third and final argument is similar to the deceptive God argument and arises from the belief that God does not deceive, therefore, an evil and deceptive demon with equivalent powers to deceive human beings is introduced. Consequently, it is possible that the external world does not exist due to an evil demon deceiving us in our acquisition of knowledge through the senses and in our logical thinking - mathematics being an