Descartes

Here is a short paper I wrote on Descartes my freshman year. 

Rene Descartes, 1569 – 1650, was considered the father of modern philosophy. He was a very important French philosopher, mathematician, scientist, and writer. Descartes was greatly attracted to the new sciences, namely mathematical physics. His thoughts were so radical that much of Western philosophy is a reaction to his ideas and writings. In his work, Meditations on the First Philosophy, Descartes discusses in depth the idea of reality, questioning both its existence and meaning. It seemed to him that no previously philosophers could accurately answer the question of what is real? Although Thomas Hobbes had said that physical things were the only real things, Descartes was not convinced by this materialistic worldview. Descartes was also unsure and unsatisfied with the conventional Ptolemaic worldview. But he believed that before we concern ourselves with deeper philosophical and moral issues, humans must first be able to define reality and agree upon its existence.

            Reality is conventionally defined as the state of things as they actually exist. Descartes argues that what we take to truly exist can only be explained in terms of our sense perception. He points out that our sense perception is often mistaken however. He says that, “the senses are sometimes deceptive and it is a mark of prudence never to place our complete trust in those who have deceived us even once”. Often, our senses are mistaken when the object being perceived is at a distance or is very small. Insofar as our sense perceptions are what create reality, and because these perceptions can be mistaken, we must then ignore this conception of reality. But what about objects up close, such are our bodies? How can one deny their existence? Descartes considers himself sitting in his study by his fireplace. He asks, “On what grounds could one deny that these hands and this entire body are mine?” If he is not insane, how then can he question the reality of his own being? But perhaps because he was a believer in scientific reasoning, Descartes continued to question and doubt everything. Science shows that what humans take to exist is based solely on sensory perception and that all objects are actually made up of smaller, super-ceptual bodies such as atoms and molecules. We are simply unaware of this subatomic reality because we cannot experience it through our sense perception. Descartes also calls into doubt his self-awareness by pointing out that he often dreams up the very same existence, sitting in front of his fireplace in his study. Perhaps then, his entire existence is part of a larger dream. Descartes says, “I see so plainly that there are no definitive signs by which to distinguish being awake from being asleep.” Insofar as dreams are deceptive, we can never be sure whether we are awake or dreaming. Zhuangzi, the Chinese philosopher and founder of Taoism, had a similar idea. Zhuangzi tells the story of falling asleep and dreaming he was a butterfly. Upon waking up, the philosopher was unsure whether he was a man who dreamt he was a butterfly, or a butterfly now dreaming he was a man. Much like Descartes, Zhuangzi is aware of the difficulties in differenciating reality from dreams. Descartes points out that although he may be dreaming, his dream objects could only be produced in the likeness of true things. “Therefore at least these general things – eyes, heads, hands, and the whole body – are not imaginary things, but are true and exist.” He compares his dreams to a painting, or a visual representation of reality created by an artist. When a painter wishes to portray an object artistically, he can do so in a bizarre or unique way, but “surely he cannot assign to them utterly new natures.” In doing so, the art would lose all of its initial meaning altogether. Consequently, Descartes concludes that there must exist certain objects that are universal and true, and that all other thoughts are fashioned in their likeness. What is true is, “the shape of extended things; their quantity, that is, their size and number, as well as the place where they exist; the time through which they endure, and the like.” He does admit, however, that the studies of such universal objects, such as medicine, astronomy and physics, can be doubted. However, the simplest and most general foundations of these studies, such as arithmetic and geometry, must be taken to be universal realities and thus should not be doubted.

            Whether he is sleeping or dreaming, Descartes says he is absolutely certain that 2+3=5 and that a square has four sides. But perhaps it only seems these propositions (2+3=5 and a square having four) sides are true. After all, some propositions that have seemed absolutely true have turned out to be false. How can one be certain he hasn’t been programmed to believe these propositions true when in fact they are indeed false? The only way one could doubt that simple things such as mathematics to be false would be if God, or some supreme intelligence, had deceived man in his perception of these universals. But Descartes points out that God is supremely good and it would go against his very nature to cruelly deceive humans in their perception. However, this reasoning asserts that God never deceives his subjects with regard to anything, which is clearly not true. As pointed out earlier, man is constantly fooled by his own sense perception. Perhaps then, man is mistaken in his conception of what it means to be supremely good. Even if there is a God, it is still possible for reality to be deceptive. Descartes decides to examine a God-less reality. He says that if he is on earth because of fate or chance, or by a chain of connected events, it is only “more probable it will be that I am so imperfect that I am always deceived.” At least in believing in God, our imperfect senses were created by a perfect being. Descartes decides that the atheist has no grasp on reality whatsoever. Finally, he supposes that there is not a supremely evil God, but that the source of truth comes from “an evil genius, supremely powerful and clever, who has directed his entire effort at deceiving me. For a time, it is possible to doubt all of reality as being illusory. However, at a certain point, laziness will bring man back to his customary way of living. Descartes believes that in such a reality, he is, “not unlike a prisoner who enjoyed an imaginary freedom during his sleep, but, when he later beings to suspect that he is dreaming, fears being awakened and nonchalantly conspires with the pleasant illusions.” So then if all of reality is deception, as long as the deception is consistent, deception itself becomes nothing more than utter reality.

            Descartes decides that he cannot put his trust in any belief and decides that even if reality is a complete delusion, it certainly still exists. He concludes that he must be conscious in order to be deceived. The one thing he is absolutely certain of is the existence of his mind and consciousness. Descartes said, “I think, therefore I am.” However, he never claims an existence of an objective reality. The only thing he can be sure of is the first-person reality of his own being. Perhaps everyone else is a simple delusion, but insofar as Descartes is conscious, he knows he at least exists. “I am; I exist – this is certain. But for how long? For as long as I am thinking; for perhaps it could also come to pass that if I were to cease all thinking I would utterly cease to exist.” Any attempt to doubt ones existence as a thinking being is to think and thus exist. In doubting itself in the first place, the self must exist in order to do so. So it appears that all reality is but a thought. For if there is no mind to process the idea of reality, reality then ceases to exist.