The Move from Doubt to Certainty; A Look at the Theories of Descartes and Locke
analytical Essay
2292 words
Descartes is interested in the certainty of his existence and the existence of other people and things. Descartes’ beliefs vary from those of Socrates. Descartes argues that knowledge is acquired through awareness and experience. Using this approach, Descartes moves through doubt to certainty of his existence. He asks himself various questions about the certainty of his existence and solves them through clear thought and logic. Using this method Descartes establishes doubts to be truths and by the end of the book, he has established that he does indeed exist.
In this paper, I will show how Descartes moves through doubt to certainty. I will explain how Descartes uses the cogito, proves the existence of God and what that means to his existence. I will also discuss the general rules of truth that Descartes establishes. In the First Meditation Descartes begins to examine what is certain and what is doubtful.
Descartes wants to establish that his knowledge is certain and not doubtful. He states, ...I had accepted many false opinions as being true, and that what I had based on such insecure principles could only be most doubtful and uncertain; so that I had to undertake seriously once in my life to rid myself of all opinions I had adopted up to then, and to begin, and to begin afresh from the foundations, if I wished to establish something firm and constant in the sciences.(Descartes 95) By this Descartes means that he wishes to establish a foundation for his knowledge based on certainty instead of doubt. Descartes first looks at the senses. This is important because the senses are the first thing to cause doubt. He focuses on the perception of things.
He says that things far from him, in the distance, give him reason to doubt their certainty, while things that are close to him are indubitable and he is clear about their certainty. However, Descartes realizes that dreams pose an obstacle to his beliefs. Even up close, dreams can be indubitable. Descartes believes that if a person has had a dream that was so intense that the person could not determine it form reality, then they have reason to doubt objects that are close to us and appear to be indubitable. In order to resolve this problem, Descartes suggests that one must examine whether they are dreaming or not.
Descartes realizes that he can not rely on his senses anymore to give him dubitable truths.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how descartes is interested in the certainty of his existence and the existence of other people and things. he argues that knowledge is acquired through awareness and experience.
- Explains how descartes moves through doubt to certainty, using the cogito, proves god's existence, and discusses the general rules of truth that he establishes.
- Explains that descartes wants to establish that his knowledge is certain and not doubtful. he first looks at the senses, which causes doubt.
- Analyzes how descartes realizes that dreams pose an obstacle to his beliefs. even up close, dreams can be indubitable.
- Analyzes how descartes realizes that he cannot rely on his senses anymore to give him dubitable truths. he turns to find something that is indubitably.
- Analyzes how descartes finds that geometry and arithmetic can be trusted because there are no senses involved. the only thing that could make these truths dubitable is through the intervention of an evil deceiver.
- Explains that descartes cannot prove that god is good and has to acknowledge god's power to deceive. he must doubt all things until he can prove their certainty.
- Analyzes how descartes affirms his existence every time he thinks, doubts or is persuaded.
- Explains that descartes affirms that if there is an evil deceiver, he must exist. he can only prove his existence in the mental capacity.
- Analyzes how descartes melts a piece of wax to understand his relationship between his body and mind.
- Analyzes how descartes makes a link between the senses and the mind in his third meditation. if god is an evil deceiver, then this cannot be true.
- Explains that descartes uses three points to establish the existence of god: adventitious ideas, invented ideas and innate ideas.
- Explains that descartes uses two more points to further establish that god exists. he uses the ideas of "infinite" and "perfect".
- Analyzes how descartes concludes that god does exist and therefore is not an evil deceiver. god has supplied us with the innate ideas of perfection and infinity.
- Analyzes how descartes proves that doubt is not universal, and that there is a general rule of truth.
- Analyzes how descartes explains that god exists and cannot be an evil deceiver, but why are humans imperfect and perpetually making errors?
- Explains that free will allows humans to make choices and decisions free from the influence of god. free will interferes with god's ability to help humans, which leads to poor decisions.
- Explains that descartes' fifth and sixth meditations begins with the establishment of his remaining doubts and the application of what he has discovered.
- Analyzes how descartes reiterates that god is not an evil deceiver and therefore he can clearly conceive something to be true. imperfection isn't compatible with god's omnipotence.
- Analyzes how descartes solves his second problem: the existence of corporeal (physical things) exist with certainty. since god is not an evil deceiver, the idea of physical things is accurate.
- Analyzes how descartes realizes that he has a body, which is ill-disposed when it feels pain, and that god is not an evil deceiver. he now can distinguish between being awake and dreaming.
- Analyzes how descartes concludes his meditations and uncertainties by establishing certainty to his doubts. john locke disagreed with his theories.
- Compares the beliefs of locke, an empiricist, to those of socrates. he argued that when a person was born their mind was empty.
- Analyzes how locke proposes three different possibilities about truth. the first is that there is no such thing as truth, the second is the no way to obtain truth and the third is implied things but not be absolutely certain about them.
- Explains that locke states that not all innate ideas come from "natural ability" and that a universal consent does not prove them. they could arise from experience.
- Explains that descartes and locke were two men with completely different views. they each set out to prove their own existence in a different fashion.
Related
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- explanatory
- Descartes' Proof of the Existence of God in Meditation Threeanalytical essayDescartes then states that he wishes to extend his knowledge through knowledge in his own self. He judges things that he once knew as fact to possibly now be doubtful and uncertain and that all his prior knowledge could have just been a work from a deceitful God. If then he wishes to learn from within himself and a deceitful God does in fact exist how can he affirm any knowledge within himself or even any knowledge he has affirmed through his meditations? If ideas that he once had now seemed uncertain then does that not mean all he knows can just be a work of a deceitful God, if of course a God does exist.
In this essay, the author
- Explains and evaluates descartes' proof for the existence of god in meditation three. it will show the weaknesses, but also give credit to the strengths in his proof.
- Analyzes how descartes starts the meditation by saying what he has already learned in the first two meditations.
- Analyzes how descartes wishes to extend his knowledge through knowledge in his own self. if a deceitful god exists, how can he affirm any knowledge within himself?
- Analyzes how descartes wants to prove to a level of certainty that god does exist. his first major point is that something cannot proceed from nothing.
- Analyzes how descartes conceives a supreme god, an eternal, infinite, immutable, omnipotent creator of all things that exist outside of himself.
- Analyzes how descartes claims that god is all-powerful and completely good, yet gives no proof that he is good.
- Analyzes descartes' second argument that god exists is that since he exists god must exist.
- Analyzes how descartes admits that his parents were at least part of the cause, but then says he can continue to live without them.
- Explains descartes' third conceivable idea that some being other than himself is conserving his existence. god must have created the being, which brings up the possibility of spontaneous generation and evolution.
- Analyzes how descartes claims to find in himself, among his other ideas, the idea of an infinitely perfect being.
- Analyzes how descartes states at the end of meditation three that god cannot be a deceiver because he is perfect being. the idea of god's omnipotence provides us with reason to doubt our mathematical intuitions.
- Concludes that descartes cannot compete with what modern science has shown for proof of evolution and the idea of spontaneous generation.
1027 wordsRead More - An Examination of the Second Meditation of Descartesanalytical essayAn Examination of the Second Meditation of Descartes Baird and Kaufmann, the editors of our text, explain in their outline of Descartes' epistemology that the method by which the thinker carried out his philosophical work involved first discovering and being sure of a certainty, and then, from that certainty, reasoning what else it meant one could be sure of. He would admit nothing without being absolutely satisfied on his own (i.e., without being told so by others) that it was incontrovertible truth. This system was unique, according to the editors, in part because Descartes was not afraid to face doubt. Despite the fact that it was precisely doubt of which he was endeavoring to rid himself, he nonetheless allowed it the full reign it deserved and demanded over his intellectual labors. " Although uncertainty and doubt were the enemies," say Baird and Kaufmann (p.16), "Descartes hit upon the idea of using doubt as a tool or as a weapon. . . .
In this essay, the author
- Explains descartes' method of carrying out his philosophical work involved first discovering and being sure of a certainty and then reasoning what else it meant one could be certain of.
- Analyzes how descartes writes the longest paragraph in his "synopsis of the following six meditations" on the second meditation.
- Analyzes how descartes opens the meditation almost in a frenzy, apparently on the verge of panic about the prospect of "losing" the reality he'd known all along.
- Analyzes how descartes concludes that only thought is inseparable from his identity.
- Analyzes how the meditation is devoted to descartes' famous examination of a piece of wax. he pauses and considers that if he perceives the wax to exist at all, then there must be an "i" doing this perceiving.
- Opines that descartes' preface to the reader is of surprisingly little assistance in preparing oneself for the reading of the meditations to come.
- Opines that descartes could have done a better job of preparing or following his synopsis in the case of the second meditation.
- Opines that the meditation can be divided into two parts: the proof for the existence of self, and that for objects independent of the self.
- Opines that descartes' assertion that external objects are "understood" comes from nowhere and is nowhere supported.
- Analyzes how the second meditation reveals the mathematical, rational basis on which descartes' methodology rests, and the rationalism inextricable from the thinker's philosophy.
1585 wordsRead More - Descartes And Epistemologyexplanatory essayEpistemology can be defined as the theory of the nature and knowledge in reference to its value. This means the study of facts on knowledge. Epistemologists, try to evaluate the commonsense idea that we have knowledge and that we are rationally justified in the beliefs we have. Descartes way of thinking is through Method of Doubt. Descartes attempted to use the fundamentals of knowledge and the method of doubt he used during his time of mediation became an essential part of epistemology.
In this essay, the author
- Defines epistemology as the theory of the nature and knowledge in reference to its value. descartes' method of doubt became an essential part of it.
- Explains descartes' meditations can be described as doubt. he tries to find something that will last and stay stable.
- Explains that descartes, as well as many other philosophers, have maintained the belief that knowledge and certainty go together. if everything is certain, then a person cannot have knowledge at all.
- Explains that people's knowledge can be connected in three meanings: having skill, having awareness or object knowledge, and prepositional knowledge. descartes doubts factual knowledge but not always certain in what they know.
- Explains that people who believed the world was not flat were persecuted for believing that the earth was flat.
- Explains how aristotle's theory, though physics and astronomy of ptolemy, tried to prove that the earth was the center of the universe.
- Explains that descartes believes that to have certainty, the fundamentals of knowledge are important to undoubted arguments.
- Explains that some philosophers try to rationally justify their beliefs through knowledge, while others base their knowledge through commonsense. philosophers that claim we have no knowledge are defending philosophical skepticism.
- Opines that descartes was not a skeptic because he doubted all knowledge. he did not doubt knowledge to falsify truth.
- Explains that descartes doubted common sense that everyone took as fact. his thinking led to a useful use in epistemology.
711 wordsRead More - Descartes and Hume: A Look at Skepticism and Finding Stabilityanalytical essayRené Descartes was a skeptic, and thus he believed that in order for something to be considered a true piece of knowledge, that “knowledge must have a certain stability,” (Cottingham 21). In his work, Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes concludes that in order to achieve this stability, he must start at the foundations for all of his opinions and find the basis of doubt in each of them. David Hume, however, holds a different position on skepticism in his work An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding, for he criticizes Descartes’ claim because “‘it is impossible,’” (qtd. in Cottingham 35). Both philosophers show distinct reasoning in what skepticism is and how it is useful in finding stability.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that rené descartes was a skeptic, believing that knowledge must have stability. david hume, however, criticizes his claim because "it is impossible."
- Analyzes how descartes begins by stating that he felt it was necessary to demolish everything completely and start again right from the foundations of his beliefs to establish something stable and likely to last.
- Argues that david hume's approach to skepticism is different from descartes' because he believes that it is not good to become skeptical of everything.
- Compares hume and descartes' levels of skepticism, stating that the distinction between the two philosophers is evident regarding their claims.
899 wordsRead More - Descartes Meditation 1 Analysisanalytical essayIn his work, Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes narrates the search for certainty in order to recreate all knowledge. He begins with “radical doubt.” He asks a simple question “Is there any one thing of which we can be absolutely certain?” that provides the main question of his analysis. Proceeding forward, he states that the ground of his foundation is the self – evident knowledge of the “thinking thing,” which he himself is. Moving up the tower of certainty, he focuses on those ideas that can be supported by his original foundation. In such a way, Descartes’s goal is to establish all of human knowledge of firm foundations. Thus, Descartes gains this knowledge from the natural light by using it to reference his main claims, specifically
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how descartes narrates the search for certainty in order to recreate all knowledge in meditations on first philosophy.
- Explains that natural light is the trustworthy skill that identifies truth from falsity. spontaneous impulse allows descartes to believe it because humans are taught by nature.
- Analyzes how descartes builds his foundation of certainty from the natural light through the examination of god's existence.
- Analyzes how descartes explains god's existence as a non-deceiving entity of natural light in meditation iv.
- Analyzes descartes's work, saying they're an amateur philosopher. they think natural light is having awareness that manages knowledge of truth through its own light.
- Explains that natural light has a significant meaning to the studies and explorations of this course. plato, descartes, or aristotle wrote about existence, virtues, and soul.
- Analyzes how descartes' meditations provide a basis for knowledge because one's senses can be sometimes misleading. with such beliefs, he moves forward in finding the foundation of knowledge and its certainty.
958 wordsRead More - Analysis Of Descartes Method In The Meditationsanalytical essayRather than begin by inspecting each item of belief, Descartes goes to the root of the matter by describing the foundations of our ordinary beliefs. These ordinary beliefs rest upon the senses. Usually when people describe something as known they are basing that claim on something that had come from the senses. This is where Descartes begins his progressive series of doubts.
In this essay, the author
- Explains descartes' method in the meditations is to free us from our preconceived opinions and seek to discover the grounds on which we can truly be said to base our beliefs.
- Analyzes how descartes goes to the root of the matter by describing the foundations of our ordinary beliefs.
- Argues that the appeal to dreams is the next stage in descartes' method of doubt. dreaming things appear to people as distinctly as they do when they are awake.
- Explains that descartes considers that even when people are dreaming, things that appear before them take their patterns from something that is real. there is a distinction between different types of qualities objects seem to possess.
- Analyzes how descartes radicalizes the procedure of doubt by mentioning that there could exist an omnipotent god.
- Analyzes how descartes takes the ultimate radical step in his method of radical doubt. he assumes that there is an evil demon who sets out consciously and constantly to ensure that he is deceived in all things.
- Concludes that it is worth arguing if there is room for doubt about what he says. descartes method cuts the mind off from its sense of being in the world.
703 wordsRead More - The Mind and the World: Descartes Meditationsanalytical essayDescartes presents three skeptical arguments in his meditations which shows he has reason to doubt all of his sensory beliefs. Descartes ultimately aims to free himself from all bad beliefs. His quest for certainty is driven from his belief that our belief system is built on a foundation of basic beliefs, that are not justified, in turn, causing him to believe that all his other beliefs are uncertain, as well. His method for achieving a system immune from errors is described in three steps from Meditation One. Descartes three skeptical arguments pose a few objections to the plausibility to each step.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how descartes presents three skeptical arguments in his meditations which shows he has reason to doubt all of his sensory beliefs. his quest for certainty is driven from his belief that our belief system is built on a foundation of basic beliefs, that are not justified.
- Explains that descartes' method of doubt suggests that in order to find out which beliefs are stable and which are not, he will withhold assent.
- Explains descartes' third and most powerful argument for skepticism, the dream argument, where he argues if there is a way to distinguish dream from reality.
- Analyzes how descartes suggests that it may be possible that we are being deceived by an evil demon.
- Analyzes how descartes' three skeptical arguments give reason to doubt all beliefs deriving from the senses.
- Explains larkin, w. phil 111: introduction to philosophy.
995 wordsRead More - Analysis Of Descartes Discourse On Methodanalytical essayDescartes major concern is what we can know to be actually real. This concern starts from a dream he has, in his dream he thinks he is actually awake, so when Descartes does wake up he begins to question reality. On page 75 and 76 he says “ But I had the persuasion that there was absolutely nothing in the world, that there was no sky and no earth, neither minds nor bodies; I was not, therefore, at the same time, persuaded that I did not exists? To solve this he tosses out all emotions and reasons to try to figure out what actually exists. He starts himself on this hyperbolic doubt, increasing levels of doubt, meaning he continues to doubt himself until what he is left with is Cogito Ergo Sum. . Cogito Ergo Sum is being aware of disembodied thinking. He uses this as proof of his existence, because having thought, whether wrong or right, is proof that one does exist.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how descartes asserts knowledge is done through experimentation using a scientifc method to removing opinions, and come up with solutions to conflicts.
- Analyzes how descartes states his views on opinion saying that every human has the power of judging well and of distinguishing the true from the false, implying that everyone can be right.
- Explains descartes' method of finding truth involves self-evident knowledge, theorems, and axiom. he creates several laws for himself to follow throughout his experiment.
- Explains that descartes favors the geometric method of deductive axiomatic, which is used to build the foundation of the super structure.
- Analyzes how descartes' major concern is what we can know to be actually real. he tosses out all emotions and reasons to try to figure out what actually exists.
- Explains that descartes knows that with the mathematical theory everything in the mind is self-evident. however, the more outside of mind something is the greater the challenge.
- Explains that there are two dimensions, res cogitan, the foundation, and res exstensa, which are divided and impossible to observe except for god.
- Analyzes how the quantitate wax example proves that mind and body are two separate things.
- Describes descartes' journey to prove the existence of objects outside of his mind. he creates the theory of cogito ergo sum, "i think therefore i am".
1251 wordsRead More - Meditation By Rene Descartesanalytical essayRene Descartes’ greatest work, Meditations on First Philosophy, attempts to build the base of knowledge through a skeptical point of view. In the First Meditation, Descartes argues that his knowledge has been built on reason and his senses, yet how does he know that those concepts are not deceiving him? He begins to doubt that his body exists, and compares himself to an insane person. What if he is delusional about his social ranking, or confused about the color of his clothes, or even unaware of the material that his head is made of? This is all because the senses are deceiving, even in our dreams we experience realistic visions and feelings. Finally, Descartes comes to the conclusion that everything must be doubted, and begins to build his
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how rene descartes' greatest work, meditations on first philosophy, attempts to build the base of knowledge through a skeptical point of view.
- Analyzes how descartes becomes inconsistent with his initial position on skepticism, stating that he must define a concept before we can prove its existence.
- Analyzes how descartes moves away from his skeptical point of view as he attempts to prove god's existence.
- Analyzes how descartes attempts to prove the existence of god to rid any doubts he may have of his perceptions, but why does it have to be god?
- Analyzes descartes' argument that god is the most perfect being, but this is only an assumption, which can be doubted.
1373 wordsRead More - An Analysis Of George Berkeley And Descartesanalytical essayIn Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous and Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy, philosophers George Berkeley and René Descartes use reasoning to prove the existence of God in order to debunk the arguments skeptics or atheists pose. While Berkeley and Descartes utilize on several of the same elements to build their argument, the method in which they use to draw the conclusion of God’s existence are completely different. Descartes argues that because one has the idea of a perfect, infinite being, that being, which is God therefore exists. In Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous, Berkeley opposes the methodology of Descartes and asserts that God’s existence is not dependent on thought, but on the senses and
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how philosophers george berkeley and rené descartes use reasoning to prove the existence of god in three dialogues between hylas and philonous and discourse on method and meditations on first philosophy.
- Analyzes how descartes doubts the validity of what he believed to be true according to the teachings of books and human opinions of his youth.
- Opines that when one doubts that one is incomplete and dependent, there comes to mind a clear and distinct idea of an independent and complete being, that is god, and draws the obvious conclusion that god also exists.
- Analyzes how berkeley rejects descartes' philosophy by arguing that matter, or sensible things, only exist within the human mind.
- Opines that men believe that all things are known or perceived by god, whereas i, on the other side, immediately and necessarily conclude the being of a god.
- Analyzes how berkeley deduces that the ideas that stem from the impressions of objects are not his own.
- Analyzes how rené descartes and george berkeley ventured to create a foundation of certainty and truth in their writings by proving the existence of god.
850 wordsRead More