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
Descartes First Meditation - College Paper

Descartes First Meditation

Descartes’ first meditation, his main objective is to present three skeptical arguments to bring doubt upon what he considers his basic beliefs. Descartes believes this to be an intricate part of his complete epistemological argument. Descartes skeptical arguments are not intended to be a denial of his basic beliefs. On the contrary, he uses these arguments to help prove one of his main theses, which is the existence of God. One of the main premises that Descartes uses in his proof for the existence of God comes from the evil demon argument, which he proposed, in the first meditation. It is this evil demon argument, which will be the topic of the following discussion.
The ...

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

existence of the outside world, which were the sensory illusion and dreaming arguments. However, people such as Descartes who believe in an omnipotent supremely good being, called God, could easily refute these arguments. Therefore, in order for Descartes to start from the very beginning, in terms of knowledge, he needed to find a way to bring doubt upon the very thing that was the basis for all his knowledge, which was God.
In the evil demon argument, Descartes is not denying the existence of God. The way the argument is presented, Descartes makes it seem as if the evil demon coexists with God. Therefore, when his mind is being deceived or being given false information it is not from God but from the evil demon. From this skeptical argument, one would come to doubt the existence of the external world. If an evil demon really existed there would be the possibility that the only part of our being that exists would be our minds, in whatever form that maybe, probably ...

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

Descartes First Meditation. (2007, July 25). Retrieved November 22, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Descartes-First-Meditation/68523

"Descartes First Meditation." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 25 Jul. 2007. Web. 22 Nov. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Descartes-First-Meditation/68523>

"Descartes First Meditation." Essayworld.com. July 25, 2007. Accessed November 22, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Descartes-First-Meditation/68523.

JOIN NOW

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

PAPER DETAILS

Added: 7/25/2007 12:52:39 AM
Category: English
Type: Free Paper
Words: 910
Pages: 4

Save |

Report

SHARE THIS PAPER

SAVED ESSAYS

Save and find your favorite essays easier