Serious Errors within Rene Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy :: Philosophy Religion Essays

Serious Errors within Rene Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy One of Rene Descartes’ major culminations in Meditations on First Philosophy is â€Å"I must finally conclude that this proposition, I am, I exist, is necessarily true whenever it is put forward by me or conceived in my mind† (Descartes:17). This statement can be explicated by examining Descartes’ Cartesian method of doubt and his subsequent discovery of basic truths. Even though I do believe that Descartes concludes with a statement that is accurate: cogito ergo sum, there are areas of his proof that are susceptible to defamation. These objections discover serious error with Descartes’ method used in determining the aforementioned conclusion. In the first meditation, Descartes makes a conscious decision to search for â€Å"in each of them [his opinions] at least some reason for doubt†(12). Descartes rejects anything and everything that can be doubted and quests for something that is undeniably certain. The foundation of his doubt is that his opinions are largely established by his senses, yet â€Å"from time to time I [Descartes] have found that the senses deceive, and it is prudent never to trust completely those who have deceived us even once†(12). First, Descartes establishes that error is possible, employing the example of the straight stick that appears bent when partially submerged in water, as mentioned in the Sixth Replies (64-65). Secondly, he proves that at any given time he could be deceived, such is the case with realistic dreams. Further, Descartes is able to doubt absolutely everything since it cannot be ruled out that â€Å"some malicious demon †¦ has employed all his energies in or der to deceive me† (15). The malicious demon not only causes Descartes to doubt God, but also sends him â€Å"unexpectedly into a deep whirlpool which tumbles me around so that I can neither stand on the bottom or swim on the top†(16). Descartes has reached the point where he must begin to rebuild by searching for certainty. In the second meditation, Descartes is searching for an Archimedian point on which to seed a pearl of certainty. By doubting everything in his first meditation, Descartes consequently doubts his own existence. It is here that a certainty is unearthed: â€Å"If I convinced myself of something then I certainly existed†(17). However, Descartes â€Å"does not deduce existence from thought by means of syllogism, but recognizes it as something self-evident by a simple intuition of the mind,† or in other words, by natural light (Second Replies:68).