Term paper on What Is Wrong With Descartes Philosophy
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It is from the views of Descartes that most of the metaphysical systems of the last three centuries begin, trying to improve upon them, or to overcome what they regard as difficulties in the Cartesian system.
René Descartes is responsible for the predominance of the problem of human knowledge in modern philosophy. Many of the systems of philosophy and theories of knowledge which have arisen in the last three centuries can trace their lineage directly to the influence of the questions Descartes raised and the method he employed in answering them. He promulgated the principle of "science without presuppositions" and thereby introduced a new epoch in science and philosophy. It will, therefore, not be amiss to analyze his fundamental ideas and evaluate his method.
As his starting point Descartes begins with the contention that we rely entirely too much on traditional doctrines and spontaneous convictions, so that our supposed knowledge of truth rest mostly on unproved presuppositions. This makes it difficult for us to distinguish between truth and error, since we do not know what is true knowledge and what is unwarranted belief. Hence, he would tear down the whole edifice of knowledge and rebuilt it from the foundation, and he would not begin to build until he had reached the one and ultimate truth which the bedrock of human knowledge.
Methodic Doubt
Being a mathematician, Descartes felt convinced that he could deduce all truth from a single fundamental principle. As the instrument of his search for truth he used a universal methodic doubt. His own words will best reveal his line of thought.
I. In order to seek truth, it is necessary once in the course of our life, to doubt, as far as possible, of all things.
As we were at one time children, and as we formed various judgments regarding the objects presented to our senses, when as yet we had not the entire use of our reason, numerous prejudices stand in the way of our arriving at the knowledge of truth; and of these it seems impossible for us to rid ourselves, unless we undertake, once in our lifetime, to doubt of all those things in which we may discover even the smallest suspicion of uncertainty.
II. We ought also to consider as false all that is doubtful.
Moreover, it will be useful likewise to esteem as false the things of which we shall be able to doubt, that we may with greater clearness discover what possesses most certainty and is easiest to know.
III. We ought not meanwhile to make use of doubt in the conduct of life...
IV. Why we may doubt of sensible things.
Accordingly, since we now only design to apply ourselves to the investigation of truth, we will doubt, first, whether of all the things that have ever fallen under our senses, or which we have ever imagined, any one really exists; in the first place, because we know by experience that the senses sometimes err, and it would be imprudent to trust too much to what has even once deceived us; secondly, because in dreams we perpetually seem to perceive or imagine innumerable objects which have no existence. And to one who has thus resolved upon a general doubt, there appear no marks by which he can with certainty distinguish sleep from the waking state.
V. Why we may also doubt of mathematical demonstrations.
We will also doubt of the other things we have before held as most certain, even of the demonstrations of mathematics, and of their principles which we have hitherto deemed self-evident; in the first place, because we have sometimes seen men fall into error in such matters, and admit as absolutely certain and self-evident what to us appeared false, but chiefly because we have learned that God who created us is all-powerful; for we do not yet know whether perhaps it was His will to create us so that we are always deceived, even in the things we know best: since this does not appear more impossible than our being occasionally deceived, which, however, as observation teaches us, is the case. And if we suppose that an all-powerful God is not the author of our being, and that we exist of ourselves or by some other means, still, the less powerful we suppose our author to be, the greater reason will we have for believing that we are not so perfect as that we may not be continually deceived...
VII. We cannot doubt of our existence while we doubt, and this is the first knowledge we acquire when we philosophize in order.
While we thus reject all of which we can entertain the smallest doubt, and even imagine that it is false, we easily indeed suppose that there is neither God, nor sky, nor bodies, and that we ourselves have neither hands nor feet, not, finally, a body; but we cannot in the same way suppose that we are not while we doubt of the truth of these things; for there is a repugnance in conceiving that what thinks does not exist at the very moment when it thinks. Accordingly, the knowledge, "I think, therefore, I am," is the first and most certain that occurs to one who philosophizes orderly. (1)
This is indeed a most radical procedure, a veritable revolution of method. Descartes applied the method of universal doubt to "all things," attempting to empty the mind completely of all traditional views, preconceived ideas, and spontaneous convictions without exception. Nothing is allowed to remain, no matter how seemingly clear and evident. Even the simplest arithmetical and geometrical problem is not permitted to stand, like "2+3=5" and "a square has but four sides." As he expresses himself: "How do I know that I am not also deceived each time I add together two and three, or number the sides of a square, or form some judgment still more simple, if more simple indeed can be imagined?" (2)
Not only the whole physical world, our own body, sense-perception, and the internal states of our consciousness, are thus drawn into universal doubt, but also the trustworthiness of our cognitive faculties and the fundamental laws of thinking, like the principle of sufficient reason and the principle of contradiction. This a most important feature of his method that must not be overlooked.
Descartes' universal methodic doubt is not merely simulated for the sake of an unprejudiced search after truth; it is a real, genuine doubt. "As I desired to give my attention solely to the search after truth, I thought...that I ought to reject as absolutely false all in regard to which I could suppose the least ground for doubt, in order to ascertain whether after that there remained aught in my belief that was wholly indubitable." (3)
Mark the words: "to reject as absolutely false." He does not intend to hold his mind in a state of suspended judgment, or merely to leave his spontaneous convictions aside for the time being, in order to investigate their possible validity, which would be methodic doubt as generally understood; he is convinced that he ought "to reject them as absolutely false," and he actually carries out his plan, so that he really rejects everything down to the one indubitable fact: "Cogito, ergo sum -- I think, therefore I exist."
This is more than mere doubt, because a doubt presupposes a suspended judgment due to the absence of all reasons for and against a proposition (negative doubt) or reasons of more or less equal value for an against it (positive doubt). Descartes "supposes, for a time, that all these opinions are entirely false and imaginary," (4) and he "will continue always in this track until he shall find something that is certain, or at least, if he can do nothing more, until he shall know with certainty that there is nothing certain." (5) He assumes the attitude that all spontaneous convictions and laws of thought are errors.
It makes little difference whether Descartes could and did, actually and really, doubt everything without exception; or whether he merely thought he could and did. The fact is, he did thus doubt everything in principle. He was, of course, not a skeptic, since his purpose was to arrive at the ultimate base of certainty and truth and to rebuild on this indubitable foundation the edifice of knowledge. He compared himself to Archimedes. "Archimedes, that he might transport the entire globe from the place it occupied to another, demanded only a point that was firm and immovable; so also, I shall be entitled to entertain the highest expectations, if I am fortunate enough to discover only one thing that is certain and indubitable." (6) Descartes was fortunate enough to discover his firm and immovable fulcrum: his own existence -- "I think, therefore I am." He had now his fulcrum; what would be his lever?
It would have to be the trustworthiness of his reasoning powers. But how could he establish this, seeing that this also was involved in universal doubt and destroyed with all other spontaneous convictions? Descartes hit upon an ingenious idea. He would demonstrate the existence of an infinitely perfect Being, who must have given man faculties which are trustworthy and capable of discovering truth. The only thing absolutely certain so far for Descartes was his own existence; and from this fact alone he would be obliged to deduce God's existence.
Here is his line of thought:
We have in our mind the idea of God as an infinitely perfect Being.
But an infinitely perfect Being must have existence, otherwise it would not be infinitely perfect.
Ergo, God exists. (7)
This is an a priori or ontological argument.
Descartes attempts to prove God's existence a posteriori, by means of an argument from causality:
We have the idea of God in our mind.
Since this idea represents an infinitely perfect Being, we, as finite beings, cannot have originated such an idea in virtue of our own powers.
This idea being beyond our mental capacity, it could have originated only from a Being who possesses such infinite perfection.
Ergo, God exists. (8)
Having proved to his own satisfaction that God exists, Descartes proceeds to show that He is the creator of man. (9) But the infinitely perfect God cannot be a deceiver; consequently, He cannot have given man deceptive powers of knowledge, and man's faculties are thus shown to be trustworthy, "provided we separate what there is of clear and distinct in the knowledge from what is obscure and confused." (10) In the light of this criterion of "clear and distinct" knowledge all previous doubts about the world, sense-perception, and intellection must vanish. Skepticism is defeated, and valid knowledge is possible.
The Failure of Descartes' Method
Descartes' fundamental purpose was laudable; he desired to defend human knowledge against the attacks of skeptics. Generally speaking, he was justified in demanding...
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