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Descarte 2 - College Paper

Descarte 2


How can we know if we are a brain in a vat? Can we be sure that we are not the playthings of evil demons? These questions have been discussed by many philosophers in the past and still we do not have a proof that we are not some demon’s plaything. Yet, at least two prominent philosophers, René Descartes and John Locke believed there are ways to prove that we are not brains in vats.
At one point in his philosophy, Descartes reflected that perhaps God or some evil spirit was constantly tricking his mind, causing him to believe what was false. Descartes then responded to this argument by beginning with the observation that even if he were dreaming, or constantly deceived, he could at least ...

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introduced the famous Latin phrase “cogito ergo sum”, which means “I think, therefore I am.” Descartes then argued that “cogito ergo sum” has passed the test for “method of doubt ” because he can not be mistaken in his beliefs about the way things seem to him. Descartes held that by means of reason alone, certain universal, self-evident truths could be discovered, from which the remaining content of philosophy and the sciences could be deductively derived. Descartes therefore believed that his knowledge exist.
Descartes then tried to prove the existence of God which will help him in proving knowledge. He thought that the representative power that a finite thinking object has in creating mental pictures of things that is more perfect than itself cannot come from itself; it must somehow be derived from something at least as perfect as the objects represented by the thinking thing. It follows that the representative capacity that finite thinking substances, like ourselves, have ...

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PAPER DETAILS
Added: 5/20/2008 04:08:02 PM
Category: World History
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 1111
Pages: 5

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