Warning: Use of undefined constant referer - assumed 'referer' (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 102

Warning: Use of undefined constant host - assumed 'host' (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 105

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays:102) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 106

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays:102) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 109
Decartes - College Paper

Decartes

Descartes is famed by is familiar notion, “I think therefore I am (Cogito, ergo sum.).” It is a conclusion he has reached in his second meditation after much deliberation on the existence of anything certain. After he discovers his ability to doubt and to understand , he is able to substantiate his necessary existence as a consequence. What we doubt or understand may not ultimately correspond, but we can never be uncertain that we are in the process of thought. This idea is a major component in Descartes’ proof of the external world.
He relies on the existence of a non-deceiving God to ensure that an external world exists after calling it into doubt by the ...

Want to read the rest of this paper?
Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay
and over 50,000 other term papers

him rather than it being conceived in his mind completely independent of anything else. Descartes then considers those reasons that have inclined him to believe these material things exist in the past.
“I know by experience that these ideas do not depend upon my will, nor consequently upon myself, for often I notice them against my will... I feel heat, and therefore I believe that this feeling or idea of heat comes to me from something other than myself, namely from the fire I am near. Nothing is more obvious than the judgment that this object (rather than something else) grafts its likeness on to me.”
Since however, he has called upon anything to be false that provokes any doubt he does not believe this explanation to be enough for the proof of the external world. Relying on this sort of natural impulse has led him astray in the past, so what is to keep it from happening all the time. He also calls upon the dream argument in this instance. Ideas come to be in ...

Get instant access to over 50,000 essays.
Write better papers. Get better grades.

Already a member? Login

CITE THIS PAGE:

APA
MLA
Chicago
Turabian

Decartes. (2008, July 7). Retrieved April 28, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Decartes/86403

"Decartes." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 7 Jul. 2008. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Decartes/86403>

"Decartes." Essayworld.com. July 7, 2008. Accessed April 28, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Decartes/86403.

JOIN NOW

Join today and get instant access to this and 50,000+ other essays

PAPER DETAILS

Added: 7/7/2008 06:37:07 AM
Category: English
Type: Free Paper
Words: 781
Pages: 3

Save |

Report

SHARE THIS PAPER

SAVED ESSAYS

Save and find your favorite essays easier