Descartes

3 Pages 828 Words

“I am something real and really existing, but what thing am I? I have already given the answer: a thing which thinks.”

Rene Descartes was a modern European thinker. Throughout his meditations he constantly implies that we are “things that think”. Our bodies, these things, are just a jumbled mess of flesh, blood and bone. It is thinking that creates the person. Thinking is what separates humans from the rest of the animal kingdom. In “Meditations on First Philosophy”, Descartes says “I am something real and really existing, but what thing am I? I have already given the answer: a thing which thinks” (pg. 26). This passage explains that the best way to learn is by questioning our very existence. I agree with this belief wholeheartedly. It is up to us to use our senses and minds to develop and explore our beliefs on life. Life would be quite boring if we believed everything we heard. Ineffability, or an individual experience which makes it incapable of being imparted, is when one feels most alive and what sets us apart from others.
Skepticism is described as doubting everything and is a frequently used method by Descartes. He doubts the fact that he is really living; maybe what he is doing at this moment is dreaming. “As if I did not remember other occasions when I have been tricked exactly similar thoughts while asleep! As I think about this more carefully, I see plainly that there are never any sure signs by means of which being awake can be distinguished from being asleep” (pg.19). This quote is found in Descartes first meditation where he doubts many physical things. He is not saying that nothing exists. He is simply saying that there is no way to know; no proof they do exist.
I agree very much with this declaration that Descartes made. He knows that there is no proof that the world doesn’t exist and he states that. I certainty agree that it is not certain that the world we are living in is act...