Descartes

In his first meditation, Descartes sets out with amazing clarity and persistence to clear himself of every false idea that he has acquired previous to this, and determine what he truly knows. To rid him of these rotten apples he has developed a method of doubt with a goal to construct a set of beliefs on foundations which are indubitable. On these foundations, Descartes applies three levels of skepticism, which in turn, generate three levels at which our thoughts may be deceived by error. Descartes states quite explicitly in the synopsis, that we can doubt all things which are material as long as we have no foundations for the sciences other than those which we have had up till now(synopsis:12). This skepticism also implies that doubt can free us from prejudices, enabling the mind to escape the deception of the senses, and possibly discover a truth which is beyond doubt. The first and main deception in Descartes opinion has evolved from sense perception What ever I have up till now accepted as most true I have acquired either from the senses or through the sense. But from time to time I have found that the senses deceive, and it is prudent never to trust completely those who have deceived us even once(1:18[13]). At the root of our beliefs, Descartes argues, lie the experiences we gain from our senses, because these are sometimes mistaken, as in the case of mirages or objects which appear small in the distance, and because of this he will now forfeit all of his most reliable information . More importantly it may be to follow in the steps of Plato and require knowledge that is certain and absolute ( Prado 1992 ). This argument consists of four main premises: 1. All that he has accepted as true up to this point, he has acquired by the senses or Cartesian Doubt 3 through the senses; 2. but on occasion these senses have been deceptive. 3. It is wise not to trust anything that has been deceiving in the past 4. Therefore, it is possible to be mistaken about everything. In premise one his beliefs are derived from the senses, such as he sees that he has a paper in his hand and concludes that it is a paper, and what is meant by through the senses, is that his beliefs may have been based on others sense experience. All Descartes requires for the second premise is the possibility that he may have been deceived, for if he cannot decide which is wrong, than he must not have any knowledge. This leads to the third premise where it seems at least reasonable to assume, that if one has been deceived previously, there is no absolute assurance that it is presently correct. Therefore, there is a chance of being deceived about everything. But many critics will argue that several of these false percepts can be corrected by means of alternative senses, such as he bent stick in water example. Although our sight may be tricked into thinking that the mirage exists, by using the sense of touch we can correct this falseness, and uncover what truly exists. Descartes does retreat, and assess the damage from his first level by saying, there are many other beliefs about which doubt is quite impossible, even though they are derived from the senses-for example, that I am here, sitting by the fire, wearing a winter dressing gown.. (1:18[12]). Here even he objects to the validity of his argument, even if he could be deceived about anything he perceives, this does not mean that he is deceived about everything. Just because his senses are unreliable at times is not proof enough that everything in the world is false (Williams 1991). In addition to being delusional, Descartes believes we can be tricked by madness or insanity. Since those who are insane may interpret things detached from reality by means of their senses, how could it be denied that these hands or this whole body are mine? Unless perhaps I were to liken myself to madmen, whose brains are so damaged by the persistent vapours of melancholia (1:19 [13]), they in fact believe these percepts to be true. Though Descartes does go on to say such people are insane, and I would be thought equally mad if I took anything from them as a model for myself, and continues by likening the dreams he has to the experiences a madman faces when awake. From here Descartes makes a stronger argument for calling into question his common sense beliefs, the possibility that he might be dreaming, that every emotion and every sense perception appears to him only in a dream. Since there is always a possibility that we may in fact be dreaming, this hypothesis is done to provoke his faith in reality and the senses, to get the absolute certainty of how things may appear or feel (Prado 1992). His view on this is taken from the fact that when dreaming, the same types of mental states and feelings are present as when we are awake, How often, asleep at night , I am convinced of just such a familiar event-that I am here in my dressing-gown, sitting by the fire- when in fact I am lying undressed in bed (1:19[13]). Since there is no absolute way in determining the waking state from the dreaming state, when it comes to sense experience, we are no better off awake than asleep. Therefore our judgment must be suspended even when we are sure that our state is that of waking because we clearly have no reason to believe that effects resemble their causes in the waking state, since they clearly do not in the dreaming state (Prado, 1992). The only way we can avoid the suspension of judgement is only if we have a standard to determine where the truth exists (Williams 1986). To use the conflict of the stick being bent in water, what sense is it that we should believe, when we have no tool to decipher the truth? Thus, the suspension of truth works for the doubt of he senses as well. The reason why doubting the senses is not enough to base an entirely new set of ideas, is due to the fact that it does not call into question all of ones common sense beliefs, for the representations found in dreams are derived from real objects, although possibly arranged in a different way. The thoughts and feelings of a dream are real, they are the same thoughts and feelings that occur every day in the waking state. To be afraid during a dream is the same feeling experienced if . It is due to the similarities in feelings and thought between dreaming and waking, that Descartes is able to find ground for doubt, there are never any sure signs by means of which being awake can be distinguished from being asleep (1:19[13]). This than leads to the eternal skeptical question : How can I tell whether at this moment I am awake or asleep? (Malcolm, 1967). If we take any series of thoughts, emotions or feelings, it is possible that the same series can occur while dreaming or awake. Thus, we can never be absolutely clear on whether what we are experiencing at that exact moment in time is a dream, or that of a waking state. Though Prado (1992) insists that Descartes states in the sixth meditation, that temporal coherence allows