Rene Descartes, a noted mathematician, once stated “It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well “. This quote states, in other words, that a brilliant mind is one thing, but to really succeed, the mind must be applied. Proof of the reasoning behind this quote is shown throughout the world, including my own life. His quote is supported by the fact that successful people only achieve their goals as a combination of their effort and their knowledge, and that many people achieve greatness without extensive knowledge. Instead those people incorporate their ambition to achieve something great. The essence of these words are shown by the lives of Nikola Tesla and Christopher Langan, the uprising in Egypt and the novel The Da Vinci Code. Descartes’ words are words to live by and they have a meaning derived from past experiences.
First, in the history, this quote is true because of the fact that the purpose to use a great mind is what sets a great mind apart . For instance, the one whose exemplifies these words the best is Nikola Tesla. Nikola Tesla was a great man, whose discoveries led to our modern world. He had immense knowledge but that wasn’t enough. To really make it big, he had to use his knowledge to do something. This led to one of the biggest discoveries that is used worldwide today. On the other hand, the world’s smartest man, Christopher Langan, wasn’t so lucky. His IQ was off the charts, at an incredible 195. Just to put that number into perspective, only one in one hundred million people have an IQ of that size. He was speaking at just six months and scored a perfect score on his SATs, although he slept through a good portion of it. Chris Langan was gifted. But such an immense amount of knowl...
... middle of paper ...
...then realized the importance of an application of knowledge, rather than pure memorization. The ability to implement had more value in the real world that book smarts.
In conclusion, this quote by Descartes outlines a very prominent idea that occurs in the world throughout history. The meaning of this quote is supported by the lives of Nikola Tesla and Christopher Langan, the book, and my own personal experiences. If everyone learned to take this quote to heart, then our whole world would benefit. When people apply their minds to an idea that they really believe in, then something beautiful can happen.
Works Cited
Brown, Dan. The Da Vinci Code: A Novel. New York: Doubleday, 2003. Print.
Gladwell, Malcolm. Outliers: The Story of Success. New York: Little, Brown and, 2008. Print.
Kent, David J. Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity. New York: Fall River, 2013. Print.
William Manchester, the author, wanted us to comprehend that it is goal-oriented people such as Desiderius Erasmus who doubtlessly have all the capacity to alter the world. As Erasmus once said, “There are some people who live in a dream world, and there are those who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other”. If people do not have faith in themselves and work hard towards their goals, then they will never reach said desired goals and continuously remorse the days that they did not take advantage of.
This issue of having real world smarts as well as book smarts is especially relevant to the modern day higher education student. With all the pressure surrounding schoolwork, it is easy to get caught up in academics and lose sight of the world around you. Achieving a balance between school work and real world education is key to success in this world. College students these days must try to find their own personal "Manley Pointer", in order to remind themselves of the balance necessary in life.
People can achieve intelligent by learning or by following their passion in whatever they love. If someone loves fixing cars there is a chance he will become a mechanic, so he will be intelligent in that careers. That is how someone becomes intelligent because they learned everything they can about their profession in book or by what they learn on the streets. To become a intelligent person is important in society because that sets a standard for us and we try to learn everything we can to be the best in our jobs and careers, so we can be the best in our field.
... middle of paper ... ... When the creator of the argument is not 100 percent behind it, it is very difficult to get behind it yourself. Even with the farfetched ideas, contradictions and inconsistencies of Rene Descartes’s dream argument, it is still a very interesting outlook on the topic that has not been seen from Descartes angle by anyone before.
In the minds of many, intelligence not only excels your experience in education, but is also the key to a successful career. In Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell refutes this thought by expanding on the belief that intelligence can only take you so far, and that creativity and innovation tend to lead to just as much success. This thought process applies to many different levels of life including our interview and acceptance into the ACTION program.
. . . the truths whose discovery has cost the most effort, which at first could be grasped only by men capable of profound thought, are soon carried further and proved by methods that are no longer beyond the reach of ordinary intelligence. (Condorcet)
Isaacson and Dweck begin and would agree with a similar base that intelligence, to a `certain point, is innate upon those who society sees as intelligent. Isaacson proves his viewpoint by exploring the mind of Steve Jobs, someone that most would consider to be the pinnacle of intelligence, and stating that “His imaginative leaps were instinctive, unexpected, and at times magical. They were sparked by intuition, not analytic rigor” (Isaacson 3). By emphasizing
The teaching of Descartes has influenced many minds since his writings. Descartes' belief that clear and distinct perceptions come from the intellect and not the senses was critical to his ultimate goal in Meditations on First Philosophy, for now he has successfully created a foundation of true and certain facts on which to base a sold, scientific belief structure. He has proven himself to exist in some form, to think and therefore feel, and explains how he knows objects or concepts to be real.
This quote has a significant meaning to me because of one main reason. That reason is
work of a genius and the work of what he terms "a man of brains." (page
Is it possible for human beings to rise above the sensory interpretation about the world and become an intellectual? Both Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave” and René Descartes’ “Cogito, Ergo Sum” examine this issue, and come to the conclusion that it is possible, and from this ascent, to become certain and rational. For each author, though, this is accomplished in different ways. Plato’s allegory points out that we need to look beyond the surface of the knowledge we learn and let the idea of good be our basis in life. Descartes expresses that we need to eliminate doubt in order for us to know certainty and feel comfortable in our knowledge.
...eople have no other choice. For instance if a person is held at gun point and told to do something he may very well be passing a false judgment on something he has total knowledge of and in turn acting in error. From the other side of the argument Descartes says that to prevent himself from ever erring he must follow his feeling of indifference and stick with it instead of attempting to affirm or deny something (see Descartes p.41). But I must also add to this argument that society does place constraints on things to prevent people from committing errors. Therefore it is not entirely internal. So I will conclude with saying that I have no choice but to say, from my reasoning, that in Meditation on First Philosophy Descartes speaks of a very ideal situation which would, in that state, hold true. But in the practical world one’s perception cannot be so narrow because there are many facets that contribute to what we can do and why we can do them.
The author argues that certain decision leads to vast amount of untapped human potential and limits success to few who are selected unjustly. This example supports “Mathews Effect”. The Gladwell’s example of Bill Gates proves the “10,000 Hour Rule”, He explained that the timing and opportunity played a huge role to become an expert at computer programming. Bill Gates had access to computers decades before computers became mainstream. Such a timing helped him capture the opportunity to master the tool of trade and put him in the perfect position to start Microsoft. The Gladwell’s example of experiment by Lewis Terman, He argues about that a person’s IQ have a limited control over success. He claims that there is a minimal difference in the levels of success attained by those with IQs between 125 and 170. The author adds that IQ cannot efficiently measure person’s creativity. A person who has a high IQ does not mean that it has a high chance of winning a Nobel Prize because other kind of intelligence matter too. With the help of these facts, Gladwell proves that the relationship between IQ and success is
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand” (Albert Einstein). Albert Einstein’s claim could be broken down into two segments; one is defining the term knowledge as being “limited to all we know” and the second defines imagination as “embracing the entire world.” His words are not meant to attack any other scientist out there, all he meant was that imagination initiates our curiosity which leads us to conduct studies that eventually reveal information that we know as knowledge. Come to think of it, all great breakthroughs in history came from these ‘Eureka’ moments instead of solely reason of logic.
We can apply Rene Descartes philosophy to our everyday lives because we can make a difference. We can analyze what we do in our daily lives and we can make a difference finding the truth about life. I personally like the philosophy of Rene Descartes even though his philosophy is considered to be epistemological and it has zero ground. His philosophy can help our community by making us look at reality in a different way. Even if his philosophy is considered to be irrational, we should take in mind what he mediated in his meditation