A Brief Look at the Philosophy of Descartes Essay - 823 Words

When Descartes created the Method of Doubt his main mission was to develop a method that would bring him to the real truth. It was important that his initial beliefs were absolute. If any of them were in doubt, then it put the entire structure of knowledge at risk. Thus, Descartes developed a method to get rid of those beliefs of which he could not be completely being confident in them. This process is called the Method of Doubt. The first action to do while using the Method of Doubt is using the skeptical Method of Doubt. Then one must use the optimistic phase where one can restore the arrangement of knowledge based upon the truths that remained after taking these steps of his Method of Doubt. The main question with Descartes’s method†¦show more content†¦It’s such a long period of time we do not remember what was going on through the mind. Descartes then mentions maybe we were not even thinking at all. His goal is to discovery a footing on which all other kno wledge can be collected. He agrees with Plato that knowledge needs to have certainty. But, then again, disagrees with the fact that the real world is not knowable. Descartes questions to stop thinking are to no longer exist? Descartes would state that even though we may not recall what we were dreaming, we were definitely having something going on throughout our thoughts. Throughout our life there are many things we cannot look back on because we do not remember what we were thinking at that time. It is possible that being woken in the middle of the night by a loud noise and be right in the middle of a crazy thought and still we might not remember a thing. Even though we cannot remember any thought before we wake, we know that there was because we heard the noise and woke up. If we look back on our past there are times we do not remember. For example, we do not remember being born or events that occurred while we were infants but that does not mean that we were not thinking at that time. One can assume that thinking means that there is a physical being but Descartes was still not so certainShow MoreRelatedThe Mind Body Problem, By Rene Descartes Essay1331 Words   |  6 Pages Mind-Body Problem Oluwadamilola Kamson Philosophy 101: Introduction to Philosophy November 2016 INTRODUCTION The Mind-body problem dates back to Plato and was well received by the scholastic philosophers. However, it was Rene Descartes the famous French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist. The mind-body problem is not, of course, a single problem at all, but a large collection of problems which focuses upon the fundamental issue of reality and knowledge in so far as such analysisRead MoreThe Relationship of the Mind and the Body: The Person1071 Words   |  5 Pagesfunctions as usual, and in the same manner as if it was still in union with its partner? 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AsRead MoreAnimal Testing (Speech Outline)1200 Words   |  5 Pagesfirst look at the problem of animal testing.) br brbBody/b br brI. As I have mentioned, the question on animal testing was posed even as early as the 17th century, according to the All For Animals Newsletter. brA. According to this newsletter, Philosopher Jeremy Bentham rejected philosopher Rene Descartes theory that because animals have no reasoning that humans have, they therefore cannot feel pain or suffering. br1. But Bentham went further in this issue, rejecting Descartes idea