CHOOSE ONE CHOICE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

CHOOSE ONE CHOICE - Essay Example The contention of this paper is to examine Descarte’s mediation and determine if it they are a true representation of reality and whether the senses, as he claims are untrustworthy. During this mediation, he is sitting by the fire and commences by asking himself whether he can be sure he is sitting there doing what he thinks he is doing. He argues that he can be sure because his senses tell him so. He can feel his hands and the flames on them- surely, this should be sufficient proof that these things are happening? However, he questions this by comparing it to a dream. When he is dreaming, he imagines and believes things that would not make sense if he were awake. He even suggests that should he act in or feel as he does in his dreams, he would likely be assumed mad (Springett). He admits that he cannot really tell the different between being asleep and awake since the sensations are the same only one is abstract and the other concrete. He tries to differentiate between being awake and asleep; he can confirm that he is not asleep since he can feel the warmth of the fire and his eyes are wide. This would have been proof of his being awake except for the fact that he knows he has deceived himself thus previously while dreaming. Therefore, he posits that in view of the past occasions in which his senses have misled him, he would be unwise to trust them without question. In the process of eliminating the things he cannot prove, he examines the concept of a divine creator who he believes is all-good and all-powerful. Why then, he enquires, is it possible for him to be deceived if God in his ultimate power and goodness does indeed exist? He considers that it may not be God who is in charge of the universe but a cunning deceiver who tries to make sure we believe whatever we perceive to be true by confusing us (Springett). Descartes determines to defeat this being by refusing to believe anything but instead