Descartes On Existence Essay, Research Paper

The question of our existence in reality is a question which philosophers have

tackled throughout time. This essay will look at the phrase, cogito ergo sum or

I think therefore I am, a phrase brought about by Rene Descartes. This phrase is

the backbone of Descartes whole philosophy of our existence in reality. As long

as we are thinking things, we exist. When we look at this approach to our

existence we must first deny that any sensory data that we receive is believable

or it is conceivable that it is false. This means that we can?t really know

that anything we perceive through our senses is actually an accurate

interpretation of reality. After we?ve established that our senses aren?t

totally reliable we then have to look at what we know of without our senses.

Descartes says that the only thing that we can be sure of is that we are

thinking things. Even in denying that we are thinking things we are affirming

the actual point that we look to deny. The thought that we are not thinking

things is still a thought and therefore proof that we are thinking things. For

it is not conceivable for one to think of a point at which we are not thinking.

We can try to persuade ourselves that there are times when we are not thinking

but in doing so we see that we do exist. For it is impossible to persuade

nothing of something, so our existence is solely dependent on the fact that we

are things, thinking things that can be persuaded. Even though the fact that we

are thinking things doesn?t necessarily prove that we are human beings, it

does prove that we are beings. At this point Descartes would say that we don?t

know what we are just that we are. A thinking thing really has a very vague

description and cannot really be applied to us as beings which we perceive. So

what is the connection between what we believe to be us and what is us?

Descartes would say we have experiences of what we think we are. For example,

even though our senses aren?t reliable, when we see things we still have the

experience of seeing that thing. Even if in a dream, an apple is still

experienced as our definition of an apple. An apple in a dream will still look

and smell the same as an apple to us in wakefulness because the experience is

the same. Because we really don?t definitely know if we are awake or asleep at

any time we can only say that the experience of the apple is certain in our

minds. So we are thinking things which are constantly having experiences of what

we think is reality or the world without. These experiences are what define the

outside world, if in fact there is an outside world to us. Descartes says that

all of these things aren?t learnt but that we know them a priori or without

experience. Descartes gives the example of a ball of wax. When this ball of wax

is heated it becomes soft and changes shape. When it is heated more it becomes a

liquid and some may even evaporate but we know as it is in us to know that it is

the same piece of wax that it was to start with. Even though the description of

this wax has changed we still know as an a priori truth that this is still the

same piece of wax that it always was. Even though our senses tell us that this

looks, smells, sounds, and feels like something different then the original

piece of wax, we know that it is the same thing. Our sensory data has changed

but our interpretation remains the same, this Descartes would say is another

sense, a deeper sense, a sense separate from the senses. There must be something

that tells us more then our sensory knowledge. Thus extra sense allows us to

relate back to the original point of existence without the use of the senses.

This extra sense is perception in the mind not necessarily through the senses

and though not entirely separate from them. There is a point where we know what

we know even though some senses are deceiving. Because we think and the mind

perceives there must be something that exists. Objections to the cogito

philosophy aren?t overly plentiful in that it is hard to think of a time when

we are not thinking, and because we are constantly thinking we can then say that

we do exist. If we can think of a time when we are not thinking then an

objection arises. For example while one is in deep sleep we do not know whether

we are thinking or not. When we wake up we may remember a dream or two but when

we think about it they may only add up to about five minutes in length even

though we know we were asleep for eight hours. There is all of that time when we

don?t remember what we were thinking or if we were even thinking at all. When

using this as an objection to the cogito we say that it is impossible to not be

thinking because to stop thinking is to no longer exist. Descartes would say

that even though we may not remember that we were thinking, we were thinking

none the less. There are many things which we don?t remember. I don?t

remember being born but that does not mean that I wasn?t thinking at the time.

During the night we might be woken up by a loud sound, but after we wake up we

might not remember a thing. It still remains that even though we can?t

remember any thought before we woke, we know that there was because we heard the

noise and woke up. We still have experiences while asleep whether they are

dreams or experience of hot or cold or a smell or a sound. We know we still

experience them because they arouse us to wakefulness and therefore are

experience while in deep sleep. The introduction of stimuli in deep sleep

arouses thoughts in us in order to wake us. Therefore, while in deep sleep we

might not remember everything we thought but we are still thinking or else we

would probably never wake up. Think about how you wake up at any time and it is

obvious that some thought is involved.