Descartes On Knowledge Essay, Research Paper

Descartes overall objective in the Meditations is to question knowledge. To

explore such issues as the existence of God and the separation of mind and body,

it was important for him to distinguish what we can know as truth. He believed

that reason as opposed to experience was the source for discovering what is of

absolute certainty. The first meditation acts as a foundation for all those that

follow. Here Descartes discerns between mere opinion and strict absolute

certainty. To make this consideration he establishes that he must first

"attack those principles which supported everything I once believed."

He first examines those beliefs that require our senses. He questions, whether

our senses are true indicators of what they represent. By inspecting our

sometimes firm belief in the reality of dreams, he comes to the conclusion that

our senses are prone to error and thereby cannot reliably distinguish between

certainty and falsity. To examine those ideas that have "objective

reality," Descartes makes the improbable hypothesis of "an evil

genius, as clever and deceitful as he is powerful, who has directed his entire

effort to misleading me." By proposing this solution he is able to suspend

his judgment and maintain that all his former beliefs are false. By using doubt

as his tool, Descartes is now ready to build his following proofs with

certainty. In Meditation two, Descartes embarks on his journey of truth.

Attempting to affirm the idea that God must exist as a fabricator for his ideas,

he stumbles on his first validity: the notion that he exists. He ascertains that

if he can both persuade himself of something, and likewise be deceived of

something, then surely he must exist. This self validating statement is known as

the Cogito Argument. Simply put it implies whatever thinks exists. Having

established this, Descartes asks himself: What is this I which "necessarily

exists"? Descartes now begins to explore his inner consciousness to find

the essence of his being. He disputes that he is a "rational animal"

for this idea is difficult to understand. He scrutinizes whether perhaps he is a

body infused with a soul but this idea is dismissed since he cannot be certain

of concepts that are of the material world. Eventually he focuses on the act of

thinking and from this he posits: "I am a thing that thinks" A thing

that doubts, understands, affirms, denies, wills, refuses, and that also

imagines and senses. To prove that perception on the part of the mind is more

real than that of the senses Descartes asks us to consider a piece of wax. Fresh

from the comb the qualities we attribute to the wax are those derived from the

senses. Melted, the qualities that we attribute to the wax are altered and can

only be known to the intellect. Descartes demonstrates how the information from

the senses gives us only the observable, it is the mind that allows us to

understand. The results of the second meditation are considerable, doubt has

both proven the certainty of Descartes existence and that his essence is the

mind. Descartes having proven that God exists must now make some clarifications

concerning why God is no deceiver. The main question that needs clarification is

this: If God is no deceiver then why do we err? Descartes answers that we are

prone to make mistakes because our wills are infinite but our intellect is not.

The will gives us the faculties of assertion, denial and suspension of judgment.

The intellect allows us to perceive things clearly and distinctly. Like God we

have an infinite will, but we are imperfect because are understanding is finite.

Descartes concludes that because we are free we are responsible for our errors.

It is possible however, that if we use our faculties properly we will not assent

false judgments. Confident that God has created us such that if we perceive

things clearly and distinctly our reasoning will not be wrong; Descartes is now

free to explore the possibilities of material things and the mind body

relationship. In the fifth meditation the essence of material things is

considered. Before he begins with material considerations however, Descartes

feels it necessary to offer another proof for the existence of God. Since

Descartes has just demonstrated that we gain understanding through ideas, he is

able to continue with an ontological argument proving that God necessarily

exists. The claim that is the glue to this argument is that a supremely perfect

being must necessarily exist. If this is not the case the being in question does

not meet the criterion for perfection. God without existence is like a triangle

without 3 sides or a mountain without a valley. (paraphrase) A supremely perfect

being would lack some perfection. That taken care of, he turns his attention to

material issues, namely the body. First Descartes separates sensation as being

separate from his imagination because he does not have any control over it.

Doubt takes over at this point and Descartes must again face the same problem he

did in meditation one: the unreliability of the senses due to dreams or

hallucinations. To counter this Descartes concludes that our knowledge of

material things is based on our knowledge of God. He asserts that God has

created him with such a strong belief in the existence of material things that

they must not be false because God is not deceptive. By using God as his proof

for the material world, Descartes has left himself in a precarious situation.

Were it to be found that God does not exist the rest of his assertions would

subsequently crumble. Nevertheless, Descartes is satisfied with the progress

that he has made and is now ready to prove the existence of material things.

There remains but one question as we draw near the end of the meditations,

whether material things exist. To prove the existence of the material objects

Descartes draws on his previous meditations to find the answer. He believes that

material things can exist, if they are the object of mathematics. We can prove

the existence of these objects because we can understand them with our

intellect. There remains a question regarding our imagination. Descarte reasons

that it is not essential. The understanding is greater than the imagination.

Descartes assumes to have a body based on what his senses perceive. He begins to

explore this notion that he had previously dismissed to doubt. He inquires

whether his senses give him reason for bodies to exist. He comes to the

conclusion that they do because God has given us "a great inclination to

believe that these ideas proceeded from corporeal things." ( ) This proof

progresses into the nature of how mind and body co-exist. Descartes beliefs are

as follows: It is from nature that we distinguish other bodies and their

interpretation. We are inclined by nature towards things that benefit us. This

is for our own self- preservation. Descartes makes the distinction between mind

and body. He states that the mind is a thinking, unextended thing, while the

body is a physical extended thing. The mind is indivisible whereas the body can

be divided. It is the minds task to differentiate the part of the body

affiliated with a certain sensation. God has endowed us with these natural

inclinations to allow us self preservation. Descartes now dispels his dream

hypothesis because he realizes that wakefulness is the interaction of both mind

and body. He leaves us with the message that "we must acknowledge the

infirmity of our nature." It is Descartes hope in Meditation two that he is

able to find his first certainty. By use of the Cogito argument Descartes does

just that. Having proven his existence he turns his attention toward the essence

of his nature. As the title of the second meditation suggests, he proves that

are essence is of the mind and thus more known to us than the body. The Cogito

argument as it looks in the Meditations runs like this: "Thus, after

everything has been most carefully weighed, it must finally be established that

this pronouncement "I am, I exist" is necessarily true every time I

utter it or conceive it in my mind." (P.18) Descartes Second Meditation is

an attempt to find a truth that he can accept with certainty. In order to

accomplish this, Descartes has established that his postulate must be open to

strict scrutiny as to expel all doubt to its validity. By the third paragraph of

the meditation he has discovered such a certainty, the claim that "I think,

therefore I exist." What he is trying to say with this statement is that

every time he thinks something in his mind, he has proof that he exists. It is

not possible to think without also existing. This proof, known as the Cogito, is

Descartes first progression towards his goal of perfect knowledge. For this

reason it is important that we examine this proof so that we can have a better

understanding of its meaning. To evaluate the Cogito argument, we must first

understand it clearly. There are four key statements in meditation two that lead

Descartes to the certainty that he exists. Herewith is a summation of Descartes’

argument: 1) "Am I so tied to the body and to the senses that I cannot

exist without them?" 2) "But certainly I should exist, if I were to

persuade myself of something." 3) "Then there is no doubt that I

exist, if he (evil demon) deceives me. 4) "I am, I exist" or in other

words "I think, therefore I am." These claims respectively suggest,

that by denying, persuading, and being deceived; a certain faculty of thought is

being used. By thinking, one can be certain that he exists. Though the argument

may seem simple and straightforward, upon closer inspection this is not the

case. There seems to be some questions concerning the Cogito’s interpretation,

the most important being: What is the first certainty that Descartes uncovers?

What perspective does he use to rationalize this certainty?, and how does he

back it up? By examining the inferential, intuitional and epistemic

interpretations, we can discover which interpretation of the Cogito was meant by

Descartes in Meditation two. At first it seems obvious that Descartes had meant

for the Cogito to be an inferential argument. Of the key propositions in the

Meditations all seem to have the commonality of thinking as their first premise.

Similarly the second premise and the conclusion seem to follow the same pattern.

The second premise posits the notion: Whatever thinks exists; followed by the

conclusion: therefore, I exist. To know something by inference, is to discover

something based on previous knowledge. In Descartes case, he has come to know a

metaphysical certainty, existence, based on a prior metaphysical certainty,

thinking. The soundness of this reasoning is good because know matter what we do

it is impossible to deny that we think. It seems simple enough, until we

consider that Descartes seems to emphasize that his first absolute certainty is

existence. Using the criteria for inference then, it is impossible that "I

exist" is the first certainty. This is a weak argument for in order for

this inference to work; Descartes would have to make revisions to meditation

two. However, since he feels so strongly of this first certainty, I am not

convinced that Descartes had meant for this interpretation. The interpretation

of the Cogito, maintains that it is certain because Descartes has intuited it.

Descartes idea of intuition is likened to a flash of insight. It can be seen to

be true, the same way we know that 2+3=5. He simply knows he exists based on a

direct understanding. With this interpretation, clearly the proposition "I

exist" is the first certainty. The problem of this argument is that the

idea of intuition is too subjective an interpretation to prove that he exists.

There is no way to replicate this procedure and obtain the same conclusion as

Descartes. The evidence for this interpretation is not strong enough to render

it to be the one Descartes intended. Having established his existence, Descartes

finds that his essence is the mind. He places a major importance on the

intellect. In further meditations it is the mind, through understanding, that

leads us to various conclusions. Near the end of Meditation two, Descartes

demonstrates how the ideas of the mind are more attune to finding knowledge than

are senses are. The point that he makes here is that only through the mind can

we understand the essential qualities of the wax. Melted a piece of wax exhibits

qualities such as extension and mutability. These are concepts that are only

clear to the intellect. The main point that Descartes was trying to get across

by using this wax experiment is, that if he can understand the wax better with

his mind, then it certainly follows that he should know himself better through

the same faculty. Descartes presentation of the mind body problem has given me a

new topic to explore. Is it the mind that rules the body or the body that rules

the mind. Where does one begin, and the other end? By using some of Descartes

methods I have attempted to see his arguments, and tried to come to my own

conclusions. The mere fact that Descartes found so many certainties in the

Meditations is surprising. The Meditations have taught me to be open minded, and

to acknowledge that sometimes we make mistakes. However, if we take caution and

use reason carefully we are capable of finding certainty.

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