Descartes meditation

This term paper reflects Descartes meditation. It gives a critical analysis concerning the application of skeptical strategy by Descartes in meditation about the things that are great for doubt. The paper will also focus on giving a detailed analysis of the Descartes’ arguments concerning the evil demon, reasoning, dreaming, and mathematics. It will reveal whether there is doubt in reasoning, imagining and sense as per his arguments. Finally, the paper will come up with its conclusion after realizing that Descartes believed in his meditation.
In the first case out of his six meditations, he suggests that for a long period he has been misguided and the only way to be out of this trap is to remove trust in everything that he believed on. This started from the basic way that a person reasons, the assumptions surrounding the profligate culture all through to the senses’ evidence. Descartes argued that everything available in this world is in a position of having a truth that is unquestionable and therefore opting to be the pillar of knowledge if the respective truth is an obstacle from the skeptics. He says it is quite vital to demolish everything in the world and then start afresh as the best way of doing it (Loeb,2010).
Descartes argues that it will be just a sound and a rational thing beating the skeptics in their respective game by looking for the expected causes of doubts (2010). This will be possible by appreciating the truth that knowledge is a powerful thing. After this, he came up with mechanisms that were meant to give the validity of the assumptions that were observed during the process resulting to the facts that were not of any doubt.

In his perception, this was so essential for the development of human being and their well-being as it gives them a room that enables them to reason continuously.
Looking at his first meditation, we realize that Descartes has an opinion that the best way to avoid being misguided into falsehood is to start doubting everything in the world. The fact that he is using the strategy of a skeptic is because he wants to use their game as the best tool for defeating them resulting to the facts that are indubitable. This is the method that fully supports his facts as opposed to those from the skeptics.
There are three arguments that the philosopher has mainly used in the strategy of skeptics. There are the dream argument, the evil genius argument and the argument about deceiving God. These arguments suggest that human beings do not see the external things directly, but it is the mind that dictates the images that are formed due to the external objects in their minds (Cunning, 2010).
As a result, for Descartes to support that the origin of science is from the sound and a foundation that is strong, laying in our mind and not the senses, he uses the strategy of skeptics as one way of questioning our beliefs that have their origin in our senses (Brandhorst, 2010). It is to be seen that Descartes has no any intention of making us believe that external objects do not exist or believing on the existence of something, but he has an intention of depicting our minds that knowing of things via our senses creates a questioning room. This is a sign of doubt.
Brandhorst (2010) suggests that Descartes had a belief that if human beings obtained the knowledge they have through their senses, it is strong enough to trust that everything in the world existed. This gives an implication that through the fact we don’t have certain belief that external objects exist, it is difficult to acquire knowledge through our senses. Instead, he says that the mind is the best way through which we can acquire it (Brandhorst, 2010).
What opens our eyes is the argument of Descartes pertaining the evil demon, our senses, dreams, and mathematics. Brandhorst (2010) gives a suggestion that Descartes believed that when we rely on sense on a judgment that relates to an external object, is likely to be a deceptive thing mostly at the time when we are surrounded by the perceptive things that are not at our reach. As a result, he suggests that it is quite vital not to rely on our senses and trust them.
Despite the fact that there are some occasions when our senses fail, Descartes argues that not all occasions they can deceive us. He suggests that if this were to be possible, it would be hard for us to differentiate the perception moments. What compromises the reliability of our senses mostly is the way through which people figure out themselves. As a result, man is supposed to remove his trust on the obvious things and then start believing in the things that are against their reality. This is what makes human beings to be identified as lunatics.
Descartes’ arguments show that man is in a good position of detecting the things that are capable of undermining the trust of his sense. There is lack of the distinctness and clarity of the dreams, and thus, they are not capable of compromising our perception at the times when we are awake. This is what makes it possible for us to determine the perceptions that are valid and those that can be considered to be dreams. Thus, he suggests that we should believe in the perceptions that are discrete walking and the obvious ones.
His argument pertaining the evil demon is clear indication of our deception source. This evil demon is in a good position of cheating us as Descartes shows that even God can do so by deceiving the human beings from the issues that are clearly unquestionable.
For the imagination case, it quite obvious that the things available on earth represent our bodies, our arms and many more. The imagination issue raises the novel things despite them coming up with their respective components that are simple. Descartes suggests that it is imagination that enables us to have a clear difference between the people who are sane and those who are insane (Loeb, 2010).
We see that Descartes had an intention of ensuring that everything has been brought into doubt through questioning the level of our thinking. His goal was successful as he managed to bring the following issues into doubt; the way of imagining, the evil demon, the way of reasoning, mathematics, and the deceiving God. For the human being, it can be seen that knowledge is one thing that is essential for their development. Thus, to have a knowledge base that is indubitable is considered to be rational.
Descartes’ strategy of skeptics and the doubt method has shown that his stands are rational which is in line with the goal he had of proving wrong the skeptics on their respective game. The main point realized in this case is that man is a thing that is thinking.
On relating and supporting the assign works of Galileo, we find that Descartes and Galileo are referring mostly to the metaphysical issues. However, their responses are due to the claims of the first order that were made by the physicist. Galileo has a belief that things such as the shape of an object, its position, its motion, its contact and its number are in the respective while things like its taste, its odor, color and much more are due to consciousness. Galileo belief that the properties that are prominent in our daily experiences are not in the object unless they are prominent in science.
References
Brandhorst, K. (2010). Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy: An Edinburgh Philosophical Guide: An Edinburgh Philosophical Guide. Edinburgh University Press.
Cunning, D. (2010). Argument and persuasion in Descartes’ Meditations. OUP USA.
Loeb, L. E. (2010). Reflection and the stability of belief: essays on Descartes, Hume, and Reid. Oxford University Press on Demand.